Balinese Cat

The Balinese cat is a semi-longhaired Siamese cat. As this is essentially an American cat (Made in America!)  and as in America the Siamese cat is a very slender, highly developed, cat breed, this cat is also slender. The cat body shape is called "oriental" in the cat fancy but I don't think the shape is actually truly oriental (see cat body types). There is some controversy over the original shape of the Siamese cat. The breeders of Siamese and Balinese cats say it was a very thin cat. I say balderdash. It was a normal shaped cat, which common sense dictates is the truth.

You have to be a fan of of the slender cats to like this cat breed. If you prefer what people refer to as the traditional appearance you will might find this cat too heavily bred.

Through selective breeding, breeders have gradually turned the Balinese cat into a large eared, long legged, tubular bodied cat with pointing and blue eyes and....a gorgeous plume of a tail.

Balinese cat. Photo: Helmi Flick.

Personality

As is the case for the Siamese, the Balinese is vocal and quite loud! They like being close to their owners (I should say caretakers) and are sweet and loving cat companions. This cat tend to be energetic and "exhibitionist". They are said to be not quite as demanding as the Siamese, however. Demanding cats are nice if you like a close relationship with your cat.

History

How did the long hair get introduced into the Siamese cat? It seems that the recessive gene that produces the longer hair was introduced sometime between 1928 and about 1945 - or it may have been between 1918 and 1939. Dr. Fogle (Encyclopedia Of The Cat) says the date of origin is 1950s. Place: USA.

Finally, it seems possible that this gene may have been introduced naturally in Siam as it then was. You can see how cat history gets a bit fuzzy. Actually, I wrote a page about Balinese Cat History about four years ago. It may help.

The long haired Siamese must have been around informally for sometime before formally recognized. They were then formally recognised in 1961 as a separate breed and then recognised by the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) in 1970. It should be said that for the CFA the Balinese is a semi-long haired Siamese with the classic pointing colours of seal, lilac, chocolate and blue. If the cat has pointing beyond these core colours/patterns they call the cat the Javanese. This is particular to the CFA.

TICA recognise it as a Balinese whether the cat has the classic pointing or new pointing as they accept the full range of colour points for the Balinese. The CFA is rather old fashioned and some people like that. For example they don't recognise wildcat hybrids either. The Balinese is recognised by GCCF (UK association), FiFe (European mainland), CFA (USA) and TICA (World - International). See Cat Associations for a list.

The Balinese was imported into the UK in 1973. I think it fair to say that the slight differences in the breed standards between the cat associations results in a certain amount of confusion in respect of point colours. There is also the differences in modern (slender) and traditional (standard) appearances.

Balinese Temple dancer
photo by tripletrouble

Balinese Temple Cat

It appears that this breed was named "Balinese Cat" because it resembled the Balinese temple dancers.

I am not sure that I can see the connection. Perhaps the dancers wear robes that flow like the plumed tail of the Balinese cat. Wrong apparently! The temple dancers exhibit poise and a lithe physique reflected in the Balinese cat (src: Dr Fogle).

Balinese Cat Photo

Think Modern Siamese cat with medium long hair and a plumed tail. The hair however is not shaggy as for the Maine Coon but it lies close to the body. This must be a single coated cat. The hair looks fine, silky and slick. This will be nice to stroke and you will see and feel the body underneath. See Cat Hair.

I'll show you two photos. They are both by the professional cat photographer, Helmi Flick and are protected by copyright. Don't copy, please.

Balinese cat "Samson" - photo copyright Helmi Flick

All the photos and text on this page are protected by copyright except where indicated. Violations of copyright are reported to Google.com (DMCA).

Balinese cat "Kareem"
photo copyright Helmi Flick

As you can see the pointing is extremely subtle on occasions and the tail is very prominent as are the large ears. Breeders tend to like large ears. They stand out. In the wildcats, very large ears are rare. The serval has large ears as it hunts in long grass.

The Balinese as mentioned is a pointed cat and the point colours can range from solid points such as seal and lilac, the lynx points (tabby coat pointing), tortoiseshell pointing, silver lynx, shaded and chinchilla. When the pointing is broken up by the genes that produce the tabby coat or the tortoiseshell coat, it becomes more subtle, less obviously pointing.  You will get some banding (or barring) of the fur in lynx pointing on the legs and tail. A lack of barring on the body for all types of pointing is desired.

You also have what are called "Balinese Variants". These are shorthaired Balinese. Not sure why they aren't called Siamese cats.  Perhaps it is because they carry the recessive longhaired gene and because the coats are slightly different.

Southern California Balinese Cat Rescue

For me it is always better to see if you can adopt a rescue cat. Purebred cats can be rescue cats - sometimes. There are some great examples on PoC: Tootsie and a Princess of a RagaMuffin.

You will find traditional type Balinese cats I suspect at cat rescue organizations as well as the modern look.

Independent Balinese Rescue is based in Southern California (as at May 2011 it appears to be running). It is run by an individual, Marva, as I understand it. No website but contact details are as follows:

• Email: marva@allpets.com
  Phone: (626) 794-9445

In the UK a good starting point I think is the Balinese and Siamese Cat Club. They have a re-homing page (click on "welfare cats" in the nav bar on the left of the page).

In the UK the website Cat Chat.org is a good resource for purebred cat rescue. Click here and scroll down the breeds.

In the USA "Specialty Purebred Cat Rescue" re-home Siamese and Orientals (a modern Siamese cat with a wider range of coat types) . I can't see Balinese but they may be able to help.

I have a page on PoC on purebred cat rescue that may lead to success. I would also recommend this Yahoo Group as it may well lead to finding a Balinese cat that needs a new home. I also have a page on Siamese Cat Rescue. People who rescue Siamese cats might also rescue Balinese.

Balinese Cat Breeder Victoria Australia

Guatama located in outer Melbourne, Victoria, Australia looks like a nice Balinese cat breeder. At the time of writing this they were rebuilding their site. Click here for their temp. site.

KUTIE BALINESE is another Victoria Balinese breeder.  Their cats look more traditional in appearance.

Please note that over time things change so these breeders may not in due course be breeding.

Balinese Cat Poo Coffee

In this instance the word "Balinese" refers to the country Bali, Indonesia, which appears to be the home of the civet that produces the poo that is used to make cat poo coffee, the most expensive in the world. A civet is not a cat however! The civet eats beans, partly digests them and then defecates the mashed beans...read on: Cat Poo Coffee.

Balinese cat breeders

Well, I think one of the best ways to find Balinese cat breeders is to go to the major associations and clubs and use them as a spring board to find more details. That and a general internet search.

I would start with TICA - errr.. they have no breeders listed at this time but they have a nice article about selecting a good breeder (PDF file).

The CFA list eight Balinese breeders on this search results page. Clubs are good resources for breeders. The Balinese and Siamese Cat Club in the UK has a nice list on their breeders page.



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Californian veterinarians have no right to complain about unlicensed providers

The California Veterinary Association (CVMA) are complaining about unlicensed animal healthcare providers. This is in response to the increase in people who are not qualified veterinarians providing animal healthcare services such as dental cleanings without anesthetics as I presume they are unqualified to anesthetize an animal. These unqualified people also provide services such as "physical therapy"(not sure what that is) and chiropractic services (spinal adjustment - never heard that being performed on animals particularly companion animals).

The point that I want to make is this. The Californian vets haven't a leg to stand on. They have no right to complain. It is the pot calling the kettle black.

The CVMA cynically defended at every possible stage the ban on declawing in eight cities in California. They did this with poor tired arguments that fail to stand up to scrutiny. They would support the declawing of cats to their last drop of blood while being totally blinkered to the fact that the process is in breach of their oath, the foundation stone of their work. Declawing is more than that. It is a cynical abuse of trust and a money spinner that greedy vets hang on to. It is outdated. It is morally wrong - obviously.

The Californian vets have chucked out any moral standing. As they are mutilating cats for the mere convenience of the cat's owner, they have forfeit the right to criticise and complain about unlicensed practitioners some of whom may be better than them.

Of course care should be exercised when seeing an unlicensed animal healthcare provider but the same can be said about vets! There are a lot who have casually sliced of the tip of the toes of thousands of cats with a guillotine, a device that one vet says is blunt and hard to use precisely that may leave bone fragments in the mutilated toe.

Shut up California vets! You have lost your right to criticize. Change your ways. Get real. Become moral. Wake up and start educating cat owners in how to care for cats without chopping off the last joint of the toes.

Then you will regain the moral high-ground and only then will you have the right to look down on unlicensed healthcare providers.



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Special Needs Cat

Do something selfish and adopt a special needs cat from a shelter that is about to be euthanized (actually killed) because no one wants to re-home him or her.

What do I mean by being selfish? Surely when someone adopts a cat that has special needs it is an act of altruism? It is a gift of life to a cat that few people want.

Binnie

I think that is wrong. There is a special reward for the person adopting a special needs cat. There is the joy in knowing that you are doing something good. There is the pleasure that you are doing something few other people do; making you special. And there is the satisfaction in knowing that you have probably saved a cat's life. It doesn't get better for a cat caretaker.

I am not particularly altruistic but I happen to care for two special needs cats. They were, in a way, foisted on me - I had no choice.

My old lady cat, Binnie, I rescued from the street about 19 years ago and she must has been about one year old or more then. She is deaf and a bit senile. A lot senile, maybe. You can't really tell. She needs me and she comes to me for cuddles and contact. I love giving it to her as it is good for me as well.

Charlie

My boy cat, Charlie, has three legs. I took him on when my mother died over a year ago. His missing leg is the front-right. I think a missing front leg is harder for a cat than a missing hind leg.

Cindy Sakiyama, writing in the Cat Fancy magazine, adopted a Siamese mix with cerebral ataxia (the cat will move in an uncoordinated manner) from a shelter that was probably planning to kill the cat. She says she loves him. She loves his "goofy face". You can get a fantastic bond with a special needs cat that goes beyond the ordinary.

Please adopt a special needs cat. Walk into the cat shelter and ask for the most unpopular cat or if they have one, a cat with special needs.

He or she will look up at you with soft, pleading eyes and you will not, no way, be able to say no. It will be a selfish act when you adopt as you will get more from the relationship than the cat.



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A great use for hair balls in cats

Man made cat hair balls look great when used in imaginative, designer jewellery. We know that hair balls in cats can cause the cat to throw up. This is all pretty normal stuff. Sometimes they can become compacted and cause an intestinal blockage leading to vomiting and worse - serious stuff.

This page, though, is about a completely different aspect of cat hair balls. I am reminded how useful hair balls can be. They can be made up into cat toys as well.

Hair Ball Jewellery - see base of page
for copyright issues

Cat hair combed out is very fine as it is usually the undercoat, the downy fine hair that is brushed out with some binding awn hairs.

This fine, pleasant to touch cat hair rolls up very easily in the hand, between two hands or the fingers of one hand into a shape of your choosing.

Cat hair is something that people who dislike cats, hate. But it is a really pleasant material that is easy to work with. It binds together very nicely.

In this instance small man made hair balls in muted greys and fawns accompany precious metal such as silver to form very interesting jewellery including necklaces. Perhaps the idea came from a well known video on home made cat toys using cat hair.

The creator is designer and silversmith Heidi Abrahamson. It is popular jewellery, mark my words. In the USA, there are, after all, 80 million domestic cats in homes with about 1.5 cats per home (a guess), which makes over 50 million potential and ready made customers!

There is one little caveat. Cat hair might have the cat allergen Fel D1 on it as this protein comes from the cat's saliva and is deposited on the fur when the cat grooms.

If you are allergic to cats the jewellery might affect you. However, I wonder if Heidi washes the cat hair before forming it into neat balls. I would have thought that she might but I have a feeling that she does not as washing it would change its properties even after drying, I suspect.

One other thing. Cat hair balled up in the hand is quite rigid and firm but it has a certain fragility about it too. It can be easily forced into a different shape and damaged. Does Heidi do something to the cat hair balls to protect against this?

Maybe she will tell us by leaving a comment. Thanks Heidi for an imaginative use of cat hair. The idea will help cats too. Some people think cats are useless - wrong. This is one good example.



From to Home Page

Image of Heidi's jewellery - this is reproduced here under fair use as it is small, does not have a negative impact on her business, quite the contrary, it promotes her business.

The Abandoned Cats and Dogs of Japan

Kesennuma, Miyagi, Japan
Photo: by @KiyomuTomita

The abandonment of cats and dogs following the nuclear power plant disaster would not have happened if individual people and government agencies had cared sufficiently.

The disaster of the destruction of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant following the double whammy natural disasters of earthquake and tsunami has left an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 companion animals abandoned including cats, dogs, horses and pigs. It seems there is abandoned livestock as well. The Japanese sometimes tie up their dogs to chains and these dogs were abandoned. That is tantamount to a death sentence.

At the time the people left the area that was contaminated by radiation from the power plant, they were not contaminated themselves. Or if these residents were contaminated it was slight.

Because these animals have been in an area for a considerable time that has radioactive contamination in the atmosphere they now need to be professionally decontaminated. This compounds the difficulties in rescuing them. Those that are still alive, I should say. This would not have been the case if they had left with their owners. I also must presume that some will suffer health problems over time.

I would just like to think about why the animals were abandoned. I don't think we can make the presumption that people should abandon companion animals when they are saving their own lives. They are considered family members. Most people would have made their own way out of the area. Some would have been rescued. Apparently the rescue teams refused to allow dogs and cats to be rescued with the people. That was probably an acceptable expediency.

But it is the large number of mainly dogs and cats that have been abandoned by people leaving under their own steam that concerns me, combined with a governmental ban on allowing them to return to rescue them. Fortunately, under intense pressure, the government has now, as at 10th May 2011, allowed people into the contaminated zone to collect abandoned pets if they are alive. This is late in the day.

If a family is leaving in a car is it not reasonable to assume that the cat or dog can be placed in the car with the people? What happened? Why did people leave their dogs behind chained to a post?

A lesser version of this mass abandonment has occurred in the USA when people lost their homes due to an inability to pay the mortgage. Some people just left the cat in the living room, closed the front door and drove away - cat starves to death. I mean the cat is locked in!

Are not all these cases of animal abandonment examples of animal cruelty? Japan has good animal welfare legislation, which apparently includes a prohibition on animal abandonment. It could be argued that there is defence to animal abandonment and the circumstances under which these animals were abandoned meets the requirements for that defence - i.e. it is acceptable to abandon under these circumstances. But is it?

I don't see it that way. If a person can get out they can bring the dog with them, surely?

The reality is that when push comes to shove, the vulnerable lose out. Cats are considered family members in the USA and I am sure that is the same in Japan and elsewhere. But they still declaw their cats for their own convenience.

I just don't understand why such a large number of cats and dogs were abandoned in the first place. It is no harder to look after a cat than a child. The child is taken from the contaminated zone, the cat is left behind.

Conclusion: Bottom line when tested a lot of people don't care sufficiently about their companion animals. We need to make sure that the people who wish to keep cats and dogs are suitable for that task. It is time to raise the standard of companion animal caretaking.



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Abandoned Cats And Dogs

While America does very little to stop the flow of abandoned cats and dogs, Australia is doing something about it. It is taking those much needed but rare first steps by instigating a proactive and planned approach to managing abandoned cats and dogs rather than the lazy reactive approach which essentially entails picking them up and killing them.

Sometimes they get rehomed through shelters but the majority get "euthanised" a euphemism for killing.

So, what are the Aussies doing? Well they kill cats too as it happens: Ground Shooting of Feral Cats. But certain states in Australia including Queensland have decided to introduce a combination of measures. This is a bold step into the unknown. And there are many skeptics who say it won't work - just shoot 'em and be done with it, they would say. This does not work and is a short term measure that is cruel.

Feral cat, Sydney, Australia
Photo by Frangipani Photograph

Mandatory registration of cats was introduced 2 years ago in Queenslad, so it is a good time to see what has happened. Has there been a reduction in the process of killing unwanted cats? That must be a measure of success.

The answer is a cautious yes to success. Although only an estimated 18% of the total number of cats have been registered after two years. Poor, don't you think? Yet, there has been a reducing in cat killing. It would seem to be a decent start. Something this new is bound to take time to get ingrained into the psyche. People expect to register dogs and it will take time for people to get to know about registering cats so that it becomes a routine.

In a poll on the Queensland Times website, people in that state and/or Australia strongly agreed (84%) that people should get a license before owning a pet. There is a desire in Australia to tackle irresponsible cat and dog ownership in a responsible way.

Registration is one aspect of the process to smarten up cat caretaking. Another proposal is compulsory spaying and neutering other than from cat breeders. In fact cat breeders often stipulate neutering if the cat is being sold as pet as opposed to a breeding cat.

The conclusion is that things can be done to reduce the mass slaughter every year of cats in the USA and elsewhere. It is time to take sensible, long term proactive steps which will be better for the community and for the cats in the long term.



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Blogger Posts in Hindi

It just occurred to me today. I wondered if we should write Blogger posts in Hindi. Hindi is the primary language of India. English is the second language. Hindi is the fourth ranked language in numbers of people who speak it as a native language. The estimated total number of Hindi speakers is 405 million.

I have just written a page on cat breed info in Hindi! It is a Google translation of course. Hindi is written left to right so that helps.

The point is this. India is a rapidly developing country and there are a good number of billionaires in India. They manufacture cars for export to Europe in India for example. The people are becoming westernized. In the west the domestic cat is a very popular family member. There are about 80 million domestic cats in America.

Is it not possible that Hindi speaking Indians might want to read Blogger posts about cats in Hindi? Why impose the English language on people whose first language is Hindi? To publish in Hindi might encourage visits from a sector of the world internet community that is currently excluded.

What is interesting is that my hosting company cannot deal with Hindi script. It just converts it into nonsense numbers! My HTML editor (Kompozer) does the same - complete meltdown. All the SEO stuff goes out the window as the file name has to be in English or Western style script.

But Google Blogspot Blogger sites like this one, which is a subdomain of PoC can cope beautifully with the Hindi script.

Google themselves are, I think, sympathetic to producing services in non-English languages including Arabic type scripts.

It seems to me that we should not automatically assume that all Hindi speaking people in India speak English well enough to understand a website in English or if they do we should respect their first language, Standard Hindi.

The big question mark is how good is the Google translation using Google Translate? I will need someone to make a comment on the post I have just made.



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