Turkish Van

Turkish Van
Turkish Van
Origin:	Turkey
Alternative names:	Swimming cat, Turkish cat, Van cat
Fur length:	Longhair cat
Weight:	Male: 6 to 9 kg. Cat: 4.5 to 6 kg
generally recognized colors:	red, cream, black, blue, tortoiseshell
not generally recognized colors:	chocolate brown, lavender, point colors
permitted coat pattern:	Van drawing
not allowed coat drawing:	all other
Breeding standards:	FIFe: TUV, GCCF: 13d
List of cat breeds

The Turkish Van , also known as the swimming cat , Turkish cat or Vankatze , is a rare breed of cats from eastern Turkey . It owes its name to Lake Van , in whose rugged and remote region this breed allegedly developed over 2000 years ago. Characteristic for the Turkish Van are the dense, semi-long-haired fur and their coat pattern, known as the van pattern.

The Turkish Van is often confused with the Turkish Angora when it wears its summer fur . However, the two races differ significantly on closer inspection.

The van drawing

The drawing is simple and characteristic at the same time. It consists of two separate colored areas in the upper head area near the ears and the colored tail.

The van drawing is caused by the piebald gene , which must be present for this purpose. Van-drawn cats are common in the Middle East. This was noticed by artists in the 19th century and they depicted such cats in their pictures; an example is the painting "The Arab Scribe, Cairo" by John Frederick Lewis .

Occasionally, the van markings appear on rattleless domestic cats.

Origin, history

The Vankatzen have been found in their homeland, on Lake Van in Eastern Anatolia , for thousands of years. Archaeologists found images of a large white cat with a ring-shaped tail on arms and banners on relics of an ancient battle during the occupation of Armenia by the Romans .

In 1955 two British women, Laura Lushington and Sonia Halliday, saw Vankatzen in Turkey, took a pair to England and started breeding. For this purpose they later imported five more cats from Turkey.

In 1969 the breed was recognized by the GCCF , and in 1971 also by the FIFé .

The first Van cats were brought to the United States in 1982 and accepted for the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) championship show in 1994 .

Appearance

eyes

Van cat with different colored eyes

Tomcat (red and white) and cat (black and white)

The large oval and slightly slanted eyes can be amber, blue or of various colors (one blue, one amber).

Appearance, stature

The Turkish Van is a large and vigorous breed of semi-long haired cats. Characteristic are the chestnut brown markings, the clear ruff, the trousers on the hind legs and the round bushy tail. The head is wedge-shaped and the nose is long, the ears are large and pointed and covered with distinct tufts of hair. The chest is about as wide as the head. This cat has very strong muscles, large paws with tufts of fur between the pads and very strong claws, similar to the Maine Coon . The mirror , pads and ears are pink. The males weigh up to 9 kg and cats up to 6 kg.

As is common with large cat breeds, it grows quite slowly, with the growth process taking up to four years. It can take up to six years for the ruff and trousers to fully develop.

Fur drawing, color

The dominant color of the fur is 80% chalk white to cream in color. The drawing is simple and characteristic at the same time. It is mostly limited to two separate chestnut-red areas in the upper head area near the ears and the mostly ring-shaped tail. Smaller colored spots on the body are allowed.

Traditionally oriented breeding associations only allow the colors red and cream. Other clubs also allow the colors black and blue (with or without tabby pattern) and the matching tortoiseshell colors . The chocolate brown color or points are not permitted .

Turkish Vankedisi

There is also a Turkish Van without a drawing. These are completely white to cream in color and are treated by the breeding associations as Turkish Van with a cream color. However, since 2005 these have been provisionally referred to as Turkish Vankedisi (from Turkish : van kedisi , van cat) by the GCCF . The reason for this is that a different standard is applied to this breed in Turkey. But it is the same breed of cats.

Fur structure

The fur of the Turkish Van is half-length, silky and without undercoat. The tail is round and very bushy, and it has a distinct ruff. The unusually long fur on the belly, which is significantly longer than the torso fur, is also striking.

While some cats have up to three different types of hair at the same time, the Turkish Van only has one every six months. Due to the climatic extremes of her home country, she has a thick, warming coat in winter and a "feathery" thin one in summer. The summer fur feels slightly feathery, similar to cashmere or rabbit fur .

Essence

Van hangover

She is considered intelligent and capable of learning, is very active, curious and playful into old age. The Turkish Van is very sociable, extremely possessive and also explicitly demands attention. She is considered "talkative" and has a strong, distinctive and melodic voice. She usually has a particularly close relationship with her caregiver and is always looking for closeness.

As the Turkish Van has a noticeable predilection for water and is known for fishing in the wild, it is also known colloquially as the "swimming cat". This behavior in the home environment means that she also fishes in flower vases, aquariums and toilets. This preference represents a danger (poisoning, drowning) for the health of the cat, which is why it is urgently recommended to always keep aquariums and toilets tightly closed.

Vankatzen in Turkey

In 1992 there were only 92 white Van cats left in Turkey. There is a research center at Yüzüncü Yıl University in Van that deals with this breed of cats. There they want to save the breed from extinction and find out the genetic causes for the different colored eyes. The number of cats bred there was only 100 in 2006. This is nowhere near enough to keep the breed in its original form. The program was initially funded with 140,000 euros. A later government, however, canceled this support.

There is a fine of up to 35,000 euros for exporting this cat in Turkey.

Web links

Commons : Van Cat  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

• Breed standard (WCF)
• Breed standard (FIFe) (PDF; 652 kB)
• DTJ-Online : The Turkish Van Cat (Video, 1:19 min.) In: YouTube . June 13, 2016.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bruce Fogle, Katzen, die neue Enzyklopädie, Dorling Kindersley, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-8310-0287-8 , pp. 216-217.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Desmond Morris: Pedigree cats: the 100 cat breeds; which cat suits which person. Heyne, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-453-15355-3 , pp. 55-59.
3. ↑ The Turkish Van , article in "Geliebteätze", No. 01/2010, pp. 18-23, Gong, Ismaning 2010.