Appearance and Character
Photo of Caleb: © copyright Helmi Flick
Intelligent, active and elegant best describes this cat. This is therefore a curious cat. As you can see the Turkish Angora cat is semi-longhaired and a very interesting looking cat. If you have visited the page on the Turkish Van you will know that these “Turks” like the water. They like is so much that some cats of this breed will have a bath with their human companion apparently. The cat intelligence can translate into assertiveness (alpha animal characteristic). This is reminiscent of the Chausie, for example.
I think this cat has a nice, fine and elegant bone structure, which is very attractive.
The classic coat is silky white, sometimes with odd amber and blue eyes. This conformation is the most desirable to the Turkish Angora cat. Although many colors and patterns are now acceptable to the cat registries. In fact the Turkish Angora “comes in all colours and divisions of the traditional category”1.
The coat has no undercoat so it is close to the body and therefore easier to maintain. They are not in the same size bracket as Maine Coons (which are large cats). This breed typically weighs about 5-9 lbs, which in fact is on the light side.
See a bundle of Helmi Flick photos of this cat breed in a massive slide show plus reference to the CFA breed standard by clicking on this link: Turkish Angora Breed Standard.
Breeders
Top 2 listed catteries on Google (co.uk) search (3 pages) 2008:
Turkish Angora Cats
Located ini Southern California, USA. Runby Michael and Lorraine Shelton. Lorraine Shelton is a co-author of Robinsons, “Genetics for Cat Breeders & Veterinarians”, a well known book on cat genetics.
Antioch Turkish Angoras — Located Central Ohio, USA. Update Nov 2016 – the link to the breeder’s website is now broken. Perhaps they have closed their business.
Photo of Nightingale: © copyright Helmi Flick
Thanks Liz. I’ll check that out asap. I have another on the TA – the real Turkish Angora!
hi, there are a few inaccuracies here about Turkey.
First of all, Anatolia is the name for the whole of the Asian part of Turkey (most of it) not an old name, it’s still in common use. Also, you say Angoras ‘used to be called Ankara cats’ which would make absolutely no sense seen as the city was called Angora until the 1930s – you’re the wrong way around!
Thank you
What picture would you like to use? Remember that a lot of the pictures are by Helmi Flick. These are copyright protected. Most of the others are published her under a creative commons license.
Do you take requests for the cat pictures? I’ve looked all over google and can’t find the picture I need.
Hi Michael Pity that Antioch Turkish Angoras does not have genuine Turkish Angoras.
I am very pleased to have you around to explain the finer points of this tricky subject. Thanks a lot Harvey. It was nice of you to take the time to respond to this lady.