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Turkish Angora Cats

Family: Felidae

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Felis domesticusPhoto © Animal-World: Courtesy Justin Brough

     This rare breed is a valued treasure in the cat fancy community. With its beautiful, lush coat, but minimal grooming requirements, the Turkish Angora is a great pick for cat owners that love long-haired cats, but cannot commit to daily grooming.

    The Turkish Angora is an out-going, intelligent, and social cat. It is very affectionate and loving toward people and other animals, making it a good family cat. It is playful, graceful, and adaptable, making it a good companion for children. It is a well-behaved breed. Though it has a long coat, the Turkish Angora requires infrequent grooming, since it has no wooly undercoat. They can be taught to retrieve and perform tricks. They have a long average life span of 15 or more years.

    This breed originates from Turkey. The Ankara Zoo works to breed and preserve this valued breed. It is currently found in America and Europe, but less so in Britain, since it is not recognized by their main cat fancy association, the GCCF.

Common Name(s)     Turkish Angora.

Background     The Turkish Angora originates from Western Turkey, near Ankara, formally named Angora, the city this breed was named after. These cats are believed to be descendents of longhair cats brought to Europe by the Vikings in the 10th century. By the 1900's, this breed was used in Persian breeding programs. The Persian became widely popular, while the Turkish Angora almost vanished. In the 1950's, a few of the remaining Turkish Angoras were imported to the United States from the Ankara Zoo, and new breeding programs were begun. This white version of this breed was first registered by the Cat Fancier's Association (CFA) (the leading American cat breed organization) in 1968, and colored varieties were accepted ten years later in 1978. The Turkish Angora is currently not recognized by the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) (the leading British cat breed organization), but is recognized by other associations in Europe.

Description     The Turkish Angora is a medium-sized, finely boned breed. It has a long, slender torso and neck. The head is small to medium-sized and tapers toward the chin. The ears are large, pointed, and tufted, and the eyes are large and almond-shaped. The tail is long and tapering. This breed ranges from 6 to 11 pounds.
    The Turkish Angora's coat is medium-long in length, fine, and silky. It develops a thick coat in the winter, but sheds it in the summer, causing it to look like a short haired breed. Turkish Angoras were originally only accepted in competition if they were white with blue eyes, but they are now accepted in a variety of colors. They are accepted in many colors, excluding the color patterns that indicate hybridization, which are chocolate, lilac, cinnamon, fawn, color point, or Burmese color patterns.

Care and Feeding     This breed requires no special diet. It prefers meat, but is not finicky.

Housing Your Cat     This breed can live in an apartment or house. It would enjoy a yard, but does not require one. It should be provided with toys and a scratching post indoors.

Maintenance     Unlike most long hair breeds, the Turkish Angora only needs weekly brushing and combing.

Social Behaviors     This is a social breed that gets along with people and other animals, including dogs. It is a good cat for families and couples.

Activities     This is an active breed that enjoys playing. It should be provided with toys and room to run. Some sources say Turkish Angoras enjoy water, while others say they don't, suggesting that some individuals enjoy it, while others do not.

Breeding/Reproduction     Turkish Angora kittens become active and begin playing early, but they do not develop the full angora coat until age two.

Common Health Problems     This is a strong, healthy breed, save one genetic tendency. White Turkish Angoras with blue eyes are often deaf, and those with one blue eye are often deaf on the side with the blue eye. However, this tendency related to the coat and eye color of the cat is found in most breeds; not only the Turkish Angora.

Availability     This is a rare breed, but breeders can be located on the internet. Prices range from $150 for a pet quality adult to $400 for a pet quality kitten to $700 for a show quality kitten to over $1000 for a show quality white kitten with blue eyes and no hearing problems.

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We have two turkish angoras, one spaded female named Alice aka allie, and newie. He is neutered, he got his grand championship before he was retired (they couldn't use him for breeding because he was sterile). We love both of them so much, they are so entertaining. They are both deaf and stay indoors. Even if they could hear I would never let them outside because it's not "if" something bad will happen, it's when. gloria allen 2009-07-31
We were discovered by a little Turkish Angora Maine Coon mix, with more prominence to Turkish Angora. She quickly grew to be a large cat and very intriguing. Of all our cats, she is the most strange. She doesn't meow, but chortles. She never learned to use the cat door, however we're sure she's aware of its existence. Unlike our other cats, as a kitten, she was never headstrong about getting to the outdoors on her own. Instead, she prefers to be let out for a few hours at a time. She's highly curious and loves to talk to people, especially if they talk back. She's great friends with our only male (generic tiger tabby) and Maine Coon, unlike our Himalayan Persian mix, who tends to be a little hostile. Our Angora mix is highly intelligent and loves to play. Like our Maine Coon, she uses her paws a lot. She's very quirky and fun-loving. ~L.K. 2009-06-09
My cat is a mix between a turkish angora and a flame point siamese cat and she is the prettiest thing I have ever seen before! She likes to sleep inside of plastic bags and she won't drink any water unless it's coming out of the faucet, or if the water is in someone's cup! She's very talkative and always thinks she needs to be scratched! Brooke 2009-03-30
I adopted Snowhite and Prince Charmin at a local rescue shelter. They are brother and sister and are almost 1yr. old now. They are amazing! They treat my Malteese as one of them. The male has one blue eye and one green. The female has green eyes. I just found out they are Turkish Angora's through reserch. I have owned cats all my life and knew these two were special. I thought it was unusual that they came running to play with the water coming out of the kitchen faucet. They run to the door to greet each guest and have to check out every shopping bag brought into the house. The male is larger then the female and has longer hair so far.They are BEAUTIFUL!! Phyllis Hefner 2009-02-18
I wrote towards the end of last month about us losing Snowdrop. Well since then we have taken in 2 Turkish Angoras (Ice and Snow)!! I think at first my wife hoped they would be just like Snowdrop but its amazing how different in character they are!! They are so funny. We think that they are father and son and let me tell you the son gives the dad a hard time!! We will also shortly be bringing home a Westhighland Terrier. I am convinced that it was Snowdrops legacy to make us once again a happy home. Chris Elford 2008-10-17
Comments Dr Jungle REALLY Likes to Hear!
nice cats eg erica guy 2008-02-05

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