• Non-agouti breed numbers - Selfs, Torties and Smokes

• Agouti breed numbers - Tabbies and Shaded

• Oriental Longhair (Angora) breed numbers

• Unacceptable colours

 Oriental Breeds and Breed Numbers

A very wide variety of colours and patterns of Oriental Shorthair are recognised by GCCF.

With the exception of the Foreign White (35), Havana (29) and Oriental Lilac (29c), the numbering is quite simple:

37 - Selfs and Torties (non-agouti, non-silver)

42 - Smokes (non-agouti, silver)

38 - Spotted Tabby (agouti, silver and non-silver)

41 - Classic Tabby (agouti, silver and non-silver)

44 - Mackerel Tabby (agouti, silver and non-silver)

45 - Ticked Tabby (agouti, silver and non-silver)

43 - Shaded (agouti, silver and non-silver)

each followed by the letter which designates the colour.

Havanas, Lilacs and Whites were the first Oriental breeds and already had well-known breed numbers by the time the other Oriental breeds were recognised; they therefore retained these numbers although they are somewhat anomalous.

 Non-agouti Oriental Breeds

Non-agouti: Oriental Selfs, Torties and Smokes
Oriental Selfs			Oriental Smokes (Non-Self)
Foreign White	35
Oriental Black	37		Black Oriental Smoke	42
Oriental Blue	37a		Blue Oriental Smoke	42a
Havana	29		Chocolate Oriental Smoke	42b
Oriental Lilac	29c		Lilac Oriental Smoke	42c
Oriental Red	37d		Red Oriental Smoke	42d
Oriental Cream	37f		Cream Oriental Smoke	42f
Oriental Apricot	37fn		Apricot Oriental Smoke	42fn
Oriental Cinnamon	37k		Cinnamon Oriental Smoke	42k
Oriental Caramel	37n		Caramel Oriental Smoke	42n
Oriental Fawn	37r		Fawn Oriental Smoke	42r
Oriental Torties (Non-Self)
Black Oriental Tortie	37e		Black Tortie Oriental Smoke	42e
Blue Oriental Tortie	37g		Blue Tortie Oriental Smoke	42g
Chocolate Oriental Tortie	37h		Chocolate Tortie Oriental Smoke	42h
Lilac Oriental Tortie	37j		Lilac Tortie Oriental Smoke	42j
Cinnamon Oriental Tortie	37m		Cinnamon Tortie Oriental Smoke	42m
Caramel Oriental Tortie	37p		Caramel Tortie Oriental Smoke	42p
Fawn Oriental Tortie	37y		Fawn Tortie Oriental Smoke	42y

 Agouti Oriental Breeds

Agouti: Oriental Tabbies and Shaded
Colour	Spotted Tabby	Classic Tabby	Mackerel Tabby	Ticked Tabby	Shaded
Brown (Black)	38	41	44	45	43
Blue	38a	41a	44a	45a	43a
Chocolate	38b	41b	44b	45b	43b
Lilac	38c	41c	44c	45c	43c
Red	38d	41d	44d	45d	43d
Tortie	38e	41e	44e	45e	43e
Cream	38f	41f	44f	45f	43f
Apricot	38fn	41fn	44fn	45fn	43fn
Blue Tortie	38g	41g	44g	45g	43g
Chocolate Tortie	38h	41h	44h	45h	43h
Lilac Tortie	38j	41j	44j	45j	43j
Cinnamon	38k	41k	44k	45k	43k
Cinnamon Tortie	38m	41m	44m	45m	43m
Caramel	38n	41n	44n	45n	43n
Caramel Tortie	38p	41p	44p	45p	43p
Fawn	38r	41r	44r	45r	43r
Fawn Tortie	38y	41y	44y	45y	43y
Black Silver	38s	41s	44s	45s	43s
Blue Silver	38as	41as	44as	45as	43as
Chocolate Silver	38bs	41bs	44bs	45bs	43bs
Lilac Silver	38cs	41cs	44cs	45cs	43cs
Red Silver	38ds	41ds	44ds	45ds	43ds
Tortie Silver	38es	41es	44es	45es	43es
Cream Silver	38fs	41fs	44fs	45fs	43fs
Apricot Silver	38fns	41fns	44fns	45fns	43fns
Blue Tortie Silver	38gs	41gs	44gs	45gs	43gs
Chocolate Tortie Silver	38hs	41hs	44hs	45hs	43hs
Lilac Tortie Silver	38js	41js	44js	45js	43js
Cinnamon Silver	38ks	41ks	44ks	45ks	43ks
Cinnamon Tortie Silver	38ms	41ms	44ms	45ms	43ms
Caramel Silver	38ns	41ns	44ns	45ns	43ns
Caramel Tortie Silver	38ps	41ps	44ps	45ps	43ps
Fawn Silver	38rs	41rs	44rs	45rs	43rs
Fawn Tortie Silver	38ys	41ys	44ys	45ys	43ys

 Unacceptable Colours

The registration policy specifically bars any matings which could introduce the white spotting gene, the recessive white gloving gene which is seen in Birmans or the Burmese gene, so Orientals cannot be bred with Burmese or Tonkinese colour distribution.

(... and for those of you who know some of the old pedigrees, yes there are a few Burmese lurking there, plus Rex and just about everything else under the sun. The same goes for any breed if you trace it back far enough - either you find another breed, or an "unregistered" which could have been any pattern or variety or an import which, again, may have been hiding some very interesting recessive genes. However, these very rarely surface after so many generations.)

Oriental Bicolours are now being bred in the UK, but they cannot be used to breed non-Bicolour Orientals.

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These pages were brought up to date from the original by Julia May which is still accessible here:-

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