Cat Breeds : Oriental Longhair

The Oriental Longhair, formerly known as the British Angora, is a breed of cat that features a tubular, Siamese-style body (known in the cat fancy as oriental type), but with a longer coat than the short-haired Siamese. The coat can also come in a variety of colors and patterns, including tabby, "tortie", and solid.

In 2002, the British Angora was renamed Oriental Longhair by British cat fancies. This avoided confusion with the Turkish Angora. With no globally recognised naming convention, other cat fancies refer to this type as Javanese, Foreign Longhair or Mandarin.

The Angora is the old name for the Oriental Longhair (European Javanese, Dutch Mandarin) British breed of cat. This Angora name was dropped by British Cat Registries in 2002 due to confusion with the Turkish Angora and bring it into line with Oriental Longhair elsewhere. They have the body type and nature of an Oriental cat - lean, sleek, intelligent and inquisitive - and a silky medium-length coat which is much longer and thicker than that of a traditional oriental cat or Siamese.

Oriental Longhairs can be any of the standard shorthair colours. The range of possible coat colours includes everything from self-coloured (black, blue, chocolate, lilac, cinnamon, caramel, fawn, red, cream and apricot), torty, smoke (silver undercoat), shaded or tipped, tabby or white. All Oriental Longhairs have green eyes, except for the whites, which may have green or blue eyes, or be odd-eyed (two different colored eyes).

If an Oriental Longhair is bred to a shorthaired oriental or a Siamese, the kittens will all be short-haired. However, if these kittens are reintroduced into a breeding program as adults, approximately half of their kittens will have long coats.

The Oriental Longhair is analogous to the CFA Balinese and Javanese, and the TICA Oriental Longhair breeds in the United States.

The British "Angora" should not be confused with the Turkish Angora, one of the most ancient breeds of longhaired cats. Originating from the mountainous regions of Turkey, the Turkish Angora is recognized by many official registries including CFA and TICA.

The Turkish Angora has a svelte, but not Oriental style, foreign body type. It does not come in pointed colors. It is a refined and elegant cat, with large ears set high and tight on the head, and offering smaller boning than the more well-known Persian cat. The Turkish Angora is a natural breed of cat, and is prohibited from outcrossing to any other breed, unlike the British "Angora" (which has since dropped the name due to pending GCCF recognition of the Turkish Angora).