Videos Turkish Van Breed Information
Common Nickname -
Van, Swimming Cat
Country of origin -
Turkey
Breed standards -
AACE, CFA, ACFA, TICA, ACF,
GCCF, FIFe
Notes
Occurs naturally in the Lake Van
region of Turkey
The Turkish Van (Turkish: Van Kedisi) is a rare, naturally
occurring breed of cat from the Lake Van
region of present-day Turkey. For Turkish
Vans, the word van refers to their color pattern, where
the color is restricted to the head and the tail, and the rest of
the cat is white. It is the maximum expression of the piebald white
spotting gene that makes the van pattern. [1] The spotting gene
(Leucism) appears in many different
species (like the horse and ball python). It also shows up in the common
house cat, so a cat that shows this color pattern but is not
registered or from the Van region, is called a
"Vanalike".
1. Characteristics
The coat on a Van is considered semi-longhaired. While many cats
have three distinct hair types in their coat - guard hairs, awn
hairs and down hairs - the Turkish
Van only has one. This makes their coat feel like cashmere or rabbit fur, and the coat dries
quickly when wet. Lake Van is surrounded by a region of temperature
extremes and the cats have an environmentally-appropriate coat that
grows thick in the winter with a large ruff and bottle brush tail
for the harsh winters and then sheds out short in the body for the
warm summers. The full tail is kept year round.
The Van is one of the larger cat breeds. The males can reach 20
lb (9 kg) and the females weigh about half of that. They have
massive paws and rippling hard muscle structure which allows them
to be very strong jumpers. Vans can easily hit the top of a
refrigerator from a cold start on the floor. They are slow to
mature and this process can take 3-5 years. Also, their fetching
skills are quite good and they are quick to learn.
Perhaps the most interesting trait of the breed is its
fascination with water; most cat breeds
dislike being immersed in water and staying in the open when it is
raining. Vans have been nicknamed the "Swimming Cats" for
this most unusual trait.
2. Breed standards
Breed standards allow for one or more body spots as long as
there is no more than 20% color and the cat does not give the
appearance of a bicolor. Although red tabby and white is the
classic van color, the color on a van's head and tail can be
one of the following: Red, Cream, Black, Blue, Red Tabby, Cream
Tabby, Brown Tabby, Blue Tabby, Tortoiseshell, Dilute Tortoiseshell
(also known as blue-cream), Brown Patched Tabby, Blue patched Tabby
and any other color not showing evidence of hybridization with the
pointed cats (Siamese, Himalayan, etc).
3. Preservation
Turkish Vans are a naturally occurring breed of cat. They can
still be found in east Turkey, near Lake
Van. Their numbers have diminished, but both the Vans and the
Turkish Angora, (which is a
separate breed with different characteristics originating in
central Turkey) are under the protection of the Turkish government
and are bred at the Ankara Zoo. The
genetic traits of the cats have not been modified from their
originals and breeding programs seek to preserve their unique
combination of athleticism and loyalty.
Vans are sometimes confused with Turkish Angoras, although a
side-by-side comparison reveals vastly different characteristics.
Angoras are named after Ankara (Angora)
and descended separately from the Vans. Angoras also carry the W
gene associated with white fur, blue eyes and deafness while Vans
do not. Van eye color can be amber, blue or odd (one each, amber
and blue) but Vans with two blue eyes are not deaf like Angoras.
The breed should be thin and nimble and should be very independent
to each other.
4. Origins
In the Complete Cat Encyclopedia, edited by Grace Pond
and published in 1972, Laura Lushington wrote that:
"One of the two accepted breeds in Turkey, the Van Cat is
now known in Britain as the Turkish Cat. Originating in the Lake
Van area of southeastern Turkey, these cats have been domesticated
for centuries (in fact for as long as the famous Saluki Hound); they are much loved and prized by
the Turks for their exceptional character and unique colouring.
Apart from their great capacity for affection and alert
intelligence, their outstanding characteristic is their liking for
water, not normally regarded as a feline attribute. They not only
dabble in water and play with it, but have been known to enter
ponds and even horse-troughs for a swim - they soon became famous
as the 'swimming cats.' I was first given a pair of Van
kittens in 1955 while traveling in Turkey, and decided to bring
them back to England, although touring by car and mainly camping at
the time - the fact that they survived in good condition showed up
the great adaptability and intelligence of their breed in trying
circumstances. Experience showed that they bred absolutely true.
They were not known in Britain at that time and, because they make
such intelligent and charming pets, I decided to try to establish
the breed, and to have it recognized officially in Britain by the
GCCF."
The first Vans were brought to the United States in 1982 and
accepted into championship for showing in the Cat Fanciers' Association
(CFA) in 1994. Since then, CFA has registered approximately 100
Vans born each year in the US, making them one of the rarest cat
breeds. However, the gene pool thrives because it still uses Vans
imported from Turkey. Imported Vans have no human breeding
intervention and are quite robust.
5. Vans as pets
Turkish Vans are very intelligent, and will easily take over
their home and owners. Vans are people cats that want to be with
people wherever they go. They like to play and jump and explore
anything in their reach, which is quite large. They are energetic;
they play hard and sleep hard. Many Vans are dedicated to fetching
their particular object of interest, and many owners describe them
as "dogs in a cat suit" because of their unusual
personalities.
Copyright (c) 2008 Kitt Killion Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
Taken or modified, in whole or part, from Wikipedia.org
