The Oriental is a cat with a Siamese body shape but with a wider range of colours. The ideal Oriental is a svelte cat with long, tapering lines. They are very lithe, but muscular and strong. They have a wedge shaped head with large pointed ears and almond shaped expressive eyes.
The coat patterns and colours are very diverse - solids, (including such rare colours as chestnut and cinnamon), bi-colours, tortoiseshells, tabbies, shaded, smokes, pointed, etc.
The shorhair coat is very short, line textured and requires little or no grooming.
Recently, the longhaired verson of the Oriental has been recognized. All attributes are the same as the shorthaired variety with the longer, fuller coat length.
The personality of the Oriental is identical to that of the Siamese but they tend to demand a lot of attention from their owners. They are very active, great climbers-scaling curtains and sitting on the top of refrigerators and giving you a little love tap as you walk by. They are not the cat to acquire if you want a quiet peaceful life. They are an elegant extrovert!