History

The foreign white cat is a blue-eyed, all-white Siamese without any point colour on tail, face, paws or ears. The foreign white Balinese is the semi-longhair variation of the foreign white Siamese.

It was in 1960 that people in England had the idea to breed a Siamese which would be completely white. Due to the blue eyes and white cats combination, a solution had to be found to prevent deafness of the kittens.

In 1962 Pat Turner, a famous cat geneticist, started to mate a white British shorthair cat to a Siamese with the darkest blue eyes, the seal-point. Out of this programm the modern foreign white cat was developed, which is today accepted by all breeding associations.

Foreign Whites are extremely attractive and always an “eye-catcher”, the breed is still rare.

At a glance

  • Extremely attractive
  • Lives 13-20 years
  • Highly intelligent

Characteristics

The refined body type is similar to the modern Siamese, which they also resemble in temperament. Like all other oriental breeds, they are very affectionate, full of temper and highly intelligent.

These are lean, strong, muscular cats and are quite striking in looks.

The Foreign White has been noted for its elegance, refinement, length of body, almond shaped deep blue eyes, and wedge shaped head, as well as for its vocal range and its people friendly attitude.

This breed is often described as a “dog without all the work”, and it lives up to its reputation

Health

With proper veterinary care, nutrition and exercise a Foreign White can live to be anywhere from 13-20 years old.

A common problem of blue eyed white cats of many breeds is partual or complete deafness. Luckily, this is very rare in the foreign white Siamese. Strict breeding and rigorous selection have produced a white cat with deep blue eyes and almost no deafness problems.

Foreign White cat health problems is mainly a discussion about the breeding of the “Modern Siamese” and whether during the development of the contemporary version of the Siamese cat health problems were developed at the same time due to breeding too closely (inbreeding).

Inherited problems in this breed can include;

  • Mammary tumours- These are the most common feline tumour accounting for 12% of all feline tumours and 17% of tumours in queens. The masses may be ulcerated, inflamed, oedematous (swollen) or associated with discharge from the nipple.
  • Congenital peripheral vestibular disease-This has been reported in Siamese kittens. Clinical signs develop at 3-4 weeks of age and there is usually an improvement in clinical signs by 3-4months of age. Clinical signs of peripheral vestibular disease include a head tilt, imbalance, nystagmus (rapid horizontal orrotatory eye movements) and ataxia (uncoordinated walking).
  • Hydrocephalus- Hydrocephalus is the most common anomalous disease of the brain. It can be genetic, However, it more commonly results from many other types of disease, including trauma or infection.