Turkish Van

The Turkish Van belongs to the natural breeds which means that he has been able to develop himself without human interference. It is the more robust, however elegant nephew of the Turkish Angora. The first portrayal dates from the period in which the Romans occupied Armenia (75-387 before Christ). A Roman shield shows a long-haired cat with two spots on his head and a colored tail. In 1933 the cats came in Western Europe for the first time, in Normandy. Mr. Karulu form Turkey brought two female cats, one of them was in kitten. The offspring has mixed itself with the local (house) cats. In the middle of the last century the cat was discovered by 2 English people, Laura Lushington and Sonia Halliday. They brought five red with white cats and started to breed with them.    

The Turkish Van was registered in 1969 by the GCCF. It only concerned the red white or as we call them the auburn white variety.

A number of years ago the Fife, CFA, TICA followed. We had to struggle a lot in order to have the other natural colors (black/white, tortoise/white, the dilutions and the tabbies) acknowledged. 

The fur length depends on the season (in the country of origin the temperature in summer is 50 C and in winter -40C); the fur can be short after a hot summer, the tail betrays the long-hair factor. A soon as spring starts he will loose many hairs in a short period of time. With castrated cats this is different. Import of cats from Turkey remains necessary in order to obtain fresh blood. They cannot only be found in the area of the old Armenia, but also on the Turkish Riviera and inIstanbul. For most Turkish people “our” Van isn’t a Van cat.
 

The real Van cat or Van Kedisi is a white odd-eyed cat, the hair length doesn’t matter. Our Van is considered a “mixed breed” and it therefore concerns ordinary house cats.

The Turkish Van is an extreme cat. He is a sweet, affectionate cat which is very people-oriented. It is said that they pick a person, but I have never noticed this so far. They love visitors and try to draw their attention. Before you know it a toy is placed at your feet and you are supposed to play and throw it away. They love to fetch and can play this game for hours.

They are real chatterboxes; they love to tell whole kinds of stories in order to explain us something. They also give negative answers, when they are accused of something, they use an intonation like: Did I do that?

You can teach them things like a dog. Walking on the leash isn’t a problem, if you started this on a young age.

They are very inventive, they open doors (even if the door handle is up), open refrigerators, candy cans and they sometimes dig a tunnel to the neighbor’s house.

They are also called swimming cats. They will not jump in the water on a hot summer day but the will enter the water during hunting. They do play with the water; this varies from digging up the water bowl to throwing toy mice in the water and getting them out of the water again. Initially I didn’t know why the mice became so dirty. The kittens, which ended up in households with one or several dogs, already become friends after one or several days. The Turkish van is a nice housemate, but when he has to swallow a pill he can become a real wild cat.

The best way is to surprise him while he is sleeping, however if it concerns a course of treatment this becomes difficult since you don’t manage to get the medicine in without help.

You can show the cats to a certain degree and the behavior which they used to show isn’t seen anymore (some inspectors still are a bit hesitant). Having to wait long during the Best in Show election is often a problem.

They require little care concerning their fur, which you wouldn’t expect from a largely white cat. Since they don’t have a woolly undercoat you only have to comb them once a week. When they go outside, they loose dirt and dust after about 3 days and you therefore have to wash them rarely.

Pictures & breedinformation by: Cattery Aghtamar