Fabric eating by Oriental purebred cats may be due to stress

Dr. Bradshaw who wrote the book Cat Sense discusses the reason why the Oriental breeds have a predisposition to eating wool. Because the Oriental breeds - by which I mean the Siamese and the Oriental Shorthair and associated breeds within the Siamese family - are predisposed to this form of pica, Bradshaw says that it must have a genetic origin. 

Lilac Siamese eating wool. Photo: copyright Warren Photographic.

And if it does, it is not inherited directly. He did a little survey for himself it seems of 75 kittens produced by seven mothers. Three of the mothers were fabric eaters while four of them were not. One third of the kittens had become fabric eaters. But many had normal mothers i.e. they were not fabric eaters. Therefore, he couldn't explain fabric eating in these kittens on the basis of genetics or their mother's behaviour.

SOME PAGE ON WOOL SUCKING

He also found that many of the fabric-eating cats had other forms of abnormal behaviour. These included fighting their owners and excessive scratching. And he found that among Oriental cats the desire to eat fabrics starts within a few weeks of the cat entering a new home. That is an interesting observation because at that moment the cat is going to be stressed and the stress might last quite a long time in the average domestic cat.

Also, the beginning of the desire to eat fabric can occur at around one year of age without a move to a new home. At one year of age a cat is becoming independent which carries the possibility of conflict with other cats. When cats become independent, they want their own home range which leads to this potential conflict. And this conflict doesn't need to happen towards cats in the home. It can also be a problem if a mature cat inside the home sees a strange cat outside the home as they feel that that cat is invading their territory.

Based on these observations, Dr. Bradshaw believes that fabric eating may start "as a soothing oral behaviour that these cats adopt when they feel especially stressed rather like thumb sucking in human infants". Interestingly, you will see kittens sucking their thumbs just like humans on the Internet. This is an alternative to wool sucking.

Kitten thumb sucking an alternative to wool sucking due to anxiety. Video screenshot.

It is possible that domestic cats can slide into anxiety issues quite easily because they have been shoehorned into the human home when mentally and emotionally they are still wild cats.

Picture of ebony Oriental Shorthair show cat

This is a Flickr photograph by Terje Sund of a black (ebony) Oriental Shorthair (OSH) at, I believe, a cat show. The photographer describes the cat as a "world winner". I believe that this cat is female. The cat looks fierce but that's just chance and misleading which can happen sometimes in photography. The cat is simply opening their mouth at the same time as the photographer took the photograph. 

Black Oriental Shorthair show cat looking aggressive. Photo: Sund

It gives an impression of aggression but I don't think this is true at all. Although the ears are flat which sorta gives the impression that the cat is trying to protect them, a precursor to aggression. However, I think this too is misleading because often Oriental Shorthair cats are bred with ears that come out of the side of the head rather than are positioned on top of the head. 

This is selective breeding and it looks odd to me and I wondered why it should happen. It should be in the breed standard but it appears not to be. The ears are meant to be "very large with a broad base and pointed. They are set so that the outer edges continue the sides of the wedge". 

There's nothing in there which indicates that they should be horizontal! I'm referring, by the way, to the World Cat Federation breed standard. I have referred to that standard because I believe that this cat is in Europe and has been bred by European breeder.

I recently wrote a short article about black Oriental Shorthair cats. This is another one and I think black goes very well with this breed because it helps to outline the body shape which is very particular for this breed being very slender. The head, too, has a particular profile with a very straight line between the forehead and the nose.

The photographer describes the picture as: Black (ebony) oriental shorthair, OSH n. World Winner, females, 2010 (St. Etienne France) and 2011 (Poland). Coco Chanel's V for Vendetta.

Black Siamese Cat Breed

People search for "black siamese cat breed". There is no such thing as a black Siamese cat but the Oriental Shorthair is a cat breed that is closely related to the Siamese cat. I should be more precise. It is closely related to the modern Siamese cat, the cat breed that is very slender to an extreme.

The difference between the Oriental Shorthair and the Modern Siamese is that the former can be any colour/pattern including black while the Siamese as we know must have pointing.

It is a breed that was probably invented or created by a Siamese cat breeder who felt restricted by the limitations of the four pointing colors at the CFA but who liked the slender body shape. Most people, incidentally prefer the traditional Siamese shape over the modern.

Here is a video I made of a very vulnerable Oriental Shorthair kitten - a tabby - being photographed by Helmi Flick.

Siamese are oriental cats

Yes, Siamese are oriental cats, in two senses actually. To be more accurate some types of Siamese are oriental in two senses. Please let me explain.  There is more than one type of Siamese cat.

The modern, super slender Siamese cat is described in the cat fancy - the group of people engaged in cat breeding and showing - as "oriental". This word describes thin cats to put it bluntly - see cat body types for the full range.

In addition Thailand (once Siam), the place where Siamese cats come from, is in the orient. Orient means "the East." And the east looking at the world map (i.e. looking to the right part of the map!).

There you have it. Traditional Siamese do not have oriental body shapes (per the cat fancy) but do come from the orient.

Here is the twist. The modern "oriental" Siamese does not come from the orient at all but from the catteries of breeders in the West!