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CFA Oriental Breed Profile

CFA Oriental Breed Standard

      

CFA OSH CONFORMATION AND COLOR STANDARDS

With two important modifications, the CFA Siamese conformation standard was adopted for the OSH . Although the Siamese Standard is generally considered to be one of the most definitive ones, some changes were absolutely necessary.  “HEAD: Long tapering wedge. Medium size … BODY: Medium size. Dainty, long and svelte …” is written in the Siamese standard. The use of the words “medium” and “long” for the same part of the anatomy is contradictory. Since the Orientals were to have long heads, the head description simply stated that fact.

The word “dainty”, which shares its roots with the word “dignified”, was also dropped from the OSH standard, because the usage of this word had been altered by the Fancy to describe the “size” of the cat rather than the “style”. The Oriental designers suspected very strongly that the meaning attributed to this single word was responsible for the miniaturizing Siamese programs that have been launched from time to time in the United States .

The OSH must have a long refined head, and therefore must be tall and long bodied in order to achieve the proper esthetical balance. There is no room for “cuteness” in the OSH and even less room for undersized cats. This point has been further stressed in the standard by requiring disqualification for miniaturization.

Since 1978, the Oriental and Siamese standards have diverged even further. The Siamese breeders felt it necessary to allocate an additional 5 points for body muscle tone. While this might ne necessary for the Siamese, it was certainly not applicable for the OSH , which have been acclaimed by many judges as having outstanding body conformation. Instead, the OSH standard placed 5 additional points on the head to emphasize the distinguishing character of the breed.

The Oriental colors are those naturally occurring in nature in addition to the variations obtained from the Siamese Chocolate and Lilac factor. The nomenclature for the OSH colors was chosen carefully to avoid ambiguity with other breeds and in accordance with Oriental breeders the world over. OSI sought consistency for the names of OSH colors within the breed and across international registries, rather than consistency of nomenclature with other breeds. The colors unique to the OSH breed introduced by the chocolate gene requires this intrabreed consistency. For instance, the American Shorthair standard describes a brown tabby which has a brownish undercoat and black stripes. The OSH has a similar tabby with black stripes as well as a tabby with brown stripes. In order to distinguish these two tabbies, the color of the stripes, rather than the undercoat (which is the same color in both tabbies) is used. Therefore it is essential to have the Ebony tabby for the first case and the Chestnut tabby for the latter. There are those who advocate for identical color nomenclature for all breeds, but I can hardly believe the Siamese and Himalayan breeders would be willing to rename their Seal Points to Black Points, or their Chocolate Points to Brown Points, nor for that matter would the Burmese breeders abandon their beautiful descriptive “Sable” for the genetically precise Black.

It is my opinion that the conformation section of the Oriental standard with change very little if at all in the years to come. The color descriptions, however, will need revisions for purposes of clarification and to accommodate those colors which have been inadvertently omitted.

The Oriental tabbies are defined in all four known tabby patterns: classic, mackerel, spotted and ticked. The spotted tabby carries spots rather than the stripes of mackerel; it is not a mackerel with poor pattern. The spots on a well marked specimen must be randomly placed on the body and must not form broken lines. Bikkuri, CFA’s Best Oriental of 1977-78 is an example of this pattern. The ticked tabby pattern is the wild agouti – the cat sports bars on legs, tail and neck, but shows no pattern of lines or bars on the body.

To state it simply, the overall appearance of the Oriental must set it apart from any other breed by its extreme head and body length while retaining refined bone structure and the straight uncompromising lines of the wedge and profile. The body must have excellent musculature and the cat must have surprising weight for its appearance. The coat must shine as though it had been coated with polyurethane, a result obtained only through good health, lots of exercise, and excellent diet.

 

                                   

                           

 

RECOMMENDED BREEDING PROGRAMS

            The amazement of both judges and breeders on how quickly the Oriental had reached its standard has been heard over and over. Certainly this was not due to an easy or deficient standard. The difficult Siamese standard was followed and even exceeded. What probably surprises these observers the most is that American Shorthairs are allowed as a possible parent in Oriental matings. However, what is not understood is that the ASHs are only used to introduce a new color or pattern, and once obtained, usually in the first generation mating, ASHs are never used again in that program. Most of this first generation work has been done for us by English breeders over 30 years ago!

            The OSH breeding advisors continually stress the importance of only using the highest quality Siamese for Oriental matings. Such lines as Shoreham, Da-Glo, Felitan, Webb-Barr, Thaibok, Sand ‘N Sea, Tap-Toe, Petmark, Kalyan, Catana, Che’ Ree, SiaMews, Faro, Dahin, etc., to name a few are behind our present day Orientals.

            The delightful disposition of the Orientals was achieved by careful selection of the ancestors. A cat with a timid or hostile attitude cannot be shown or placed in a pet home, and therefore contributes nothing whatsoever towards his breed except discontent and adverse criticism.

            Most OSH breeders find no personality differences between Orientals and their Siamese. However, the female appear to be in season less frequently than their Siamese cousins. The OSH voice is usually less raucous: to paraphrase Mrs. Hargreaves, they use Oriental for ordinary conversation, and Siamese for matrimonial purposes.

            Breeders interested in embarking in an OSH breeding program are encouraged to obtain the Oriental Express for guidance. This publication gives detailed breeding programs and genetic advice for the Oriental breed.

 

FUTURE PLANS FOR THE BREED

            Many new color programs are presently being developed which include a wider range of silver colors, i.e. silver with chestnut, or blue, etc. tippings. Torbie and torbie smokes are already in existence and should appear on the show bench shortly. Also, several cats with a new solid color, Caramel, (a butterscotch color), will be presented this coming year. Again, since the Oriental is defined only by its highly stylized type, no color should be excluded.

            In the next few years OSI will be preoccupied by the proper description and classification of the new colors as they appear. Further investigation will be carried out for the bi-colors, the calicos, and the odd-eyed whites, which were initially excluded on the basis of present day genetic speculation. New colors, once classified, should be easy to incorporate in the Oriental breed, as they do not obtain cheap awards by having a minority color, but rather increase the competition within their division.

            Ticked Tabby Orientals have given us greater insight into the various tabby patterns carried by their Siamese parents. The research into ghost tabby markings started by Barbara Harr should provide important information to the solid color Orientals, as well as for Siamese programs. Knowing the tabby patterns carried by the Siamese could eventually eliminate the problems of “shadow bars”.

            As mentioned earlier, Siamese can be produced in Oriental matings. Under CFA registration procedures these Siamese are referred to AOV Orientals. These cats have proven valuable in the Oriental breeding program, and breeders have been encouraged to register them and show them in the AOV class. Their quality has already been noticed by the judges, and I suspect that a greater number of these AOVs will appear on the show bench in years to come. Some of these AOVs have been exported to Europe , where they must be registered as Siamese, and where they have won major honors.

            A computerized record keeping facility is presently being developed and will be made available to all OSI members. The chief uses of the computer in the present planning will be to collect data in the areas of color inheritance, genetic problems that may arise in the breed, stud cat productivity, as well as show results. Periodically, these records will be published in the Oriental Express for all to read.

            Much work has been done, but more is still needed to continue the performance of our first years.

 IN CLOSING

             This story would have been incomplete without the inspired photography of Ted and Suzanne Allen, and Larry Levy. Special acknowledgment is also due to Jane Cox, current president of OSI, who has devotedly edited the Oriental Express since its inception. Doug Cox has helped all of us keep a proper perspective with his humorous cartoons.

            No single individual and no single cat could have brought about the present day success story of the Orientals. It is the entire membership of OSI, it is all of the lines behind our OSHs, it is the numerous judges that befriended our cats, it is our overseas correspondents who were willing to share their experiences, it is those CFA Board Members with foresight and breed knowledge who made this story possible. Thank you, everyone.

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