Balinese
The Balinese is a breed of oriental cat
with long hair and Siamese-style markings, or points.
They resemble a Siamese with a medium-length silky coat and
a plumed tail, but not nearly as fluffy as a Himalayan, and
they require much less grooming. Balinese are extremely
intelligent cats, although less talkative than their Siamese
ancestors.
The Balinese was originally registered as a 'longhaired
Siamese', and examples were known from the early 1920s. The
occasional long-haired kittens in a Siamese litter were seen as
an oddity, and sold as household pets rather than as show cats.
This changed in the mid-1950s, when two breeders, Mrs. Marion
Dorsey of Rai-Mar Cattery in California and Mrs. Helen Smith of
MerryMews Cattery in New York, decided that they would commence
a breeding program for the longhaired cats. Helen Smith named
the cats 'Balinese' because she felt they showed the grace and
beauty of Balinese dancers, and because 'longhaired Siamese'
seemed a rather clunky name for such graceful felines. The
breed became quite popular after this, and a number of breeders
began working on 'perfecting' the Balinese appearance. This led
eventually to the development of two entirely separate
'strands' of Balinese cat - some owners prefer a traditional or
'apple-headed' Balinese, while breeders and judges tend to
prefer a more contemporary appearance.
Like the Siamese, there are now two different varieties of
Balinese being bred and shown - 'traditional' Balinese and
'contemporary' Balinese. The traditional Balinese cat has a
coat approximately two inches long over its entire body and it
is a sturdy and robust cat with a semi-rounded muzzle and ears.
The traditional Balinese closely resembles a Ragdoll Catt
although they do not share any of the same genes or breeding
other than having a partially Siamese ancestry.
A 'contemporary' Balinese has a much shorter coat and is
virtually identical to a standard show Siamese except for its
tail, which is a graceful silky plume.
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