|
Turkish
Angora Cat
The Turkish Angora Cat is a breed of
domestic cat. Turkish Angora cats are one of the ancient, naturally-occurring
cat breeds, having originated in central Turkey, in the Ankara region.
|
Turkish
Angora Cat
Click
Pic To Enlarge
|
Most Turkish Angora Cats have a white, silky,
medium-long length coat, no undercoat and fine bone structure.
There seems
to be a connection between Ankara Cats and Persians
(see below), and the Turkish Angora is also a distant cousin of the Turkish
Van.
Although they are known for their shimmery
white coat, currently there are more than twenty varieties including black,
blue, reddish fur.
They come in tabby and tabby and white, along with smoke
varieties, and are in every color other than pointed, lavender, and cinnamon
(all of which would indicate breeding to an outcross).
Turkish Angora cat eyes may be blue, green or amber, but it is
often a combination of one blue and one amber.
The W gene responsible for
white coat and blue eye is closely related to the their hearing ability, and
presence of a blue eye can indicate the cat is deaf to the side the blue eye
is located.
However, a great many blue and odd-eyed whites have normal
hearing, and even deaf cats lead a very normal, if indoor, life.
Turkish Angora cat ears are sharp and relatively bigger, head
is long and wide.
Another characteristic is the tail, which is kept parallel
to the back.
Turkish Angora cats are intelligent, adorable
and very curious breed, very active throughout their life-span.
Turkish Angoras love
to bathe with their owners (another link to the cousin Turkish
Van cat, which is known as "the swimming cat").
They also tend
to bond with their owners and try to be the center of attention, often doing
their part in conversations.
They usually don't like to be held for long,
but like to stay in human presence, happily playing for hours.
Turkish Angora cats are also very fond of
high places, such as the tops of doors and bookshelves.
Owners of Turkish
Angora cats should be careful to avoid letting electrical wires dangle out
in the open. The Angora will chew them with their exceptionally sharp teeth.
Turkish Angoras are also known to run the household by supervising every
activity of their owner, and are the only breed of cat known to have a sense
of humor.
Like many domestic cats, it is likely that
Turkish Angora cats descended from the African wildcat and led the way to Persian
cats.
The mountainous regions of Turkey allowed for confinement of the long
haired breeds like Turkish Van Cat and Turkish Angora, and it is reported by
French biologist de
Buffon that long-furred cats have originated in Asia Minor.
Longhaired cats were imported to Britain
and France from Turkey, Persia and Russia as early as the late 1500s, though
there are indications that they appeared in Europe as early as 1300s due to
the Crusades.
The Turkish Angora cat was recognized as a distinct
breed in Europe by the early 1600s.
Attempts to breed them outside Turkey
yielded little success. One theory speaks about the strong negative
electrical fields dominant in Central Anatolia, especially in Ankara.
In the early 1900s, the government of
Turkey in conjunction with the Ankara Zoo began a meticulous breeding
program to protect and preserve the pure white Angora cats with blue and
amber eyes, a program that continues today.
The zoo particularly prized the odd-eyed
Angoras (cats with eyes of differing colors).
Prophet Muhammad's
Angora, Muezza, was reputed to be an odd-eyed cat.
The Zoo has its own cat
facility which houses both the Van cat as well as the Angora cat.
According
to Dr. Can Ersoy, a biologist working at the zoo, the Van cat is about to
become extinct, but there is a great deal of work being done in eastern
Turkey to try and stop this. At the zoo, the Angora cat is kept under strict
supervision, and kittens are sold only to people who can provide them with a
good home environment.
The Turkish Angora cat, which was brought to the
United States in 1955, was accepted for pedigree.
Most longhaired cats are
descended from the Angora, and the Persian is the result of selective
breeding with Angora cats.
In 1970, the CFA was the first U.S.
registry to accept the Turkish Angora cat for registration.
In 1973, the CFA
accepted the Angora for Championship, but, up until 1978 only pure white
Angoras could be registered.
Today, all North American registries accept the
Turkish Angora cat.
While numbers are still small, the gene pool is growing,
with the registration totals gaining ground each year.
|
