Khao Manee Cat Breed Description

Active: Khao Manee are active cats but their activity levels come and go - sometimes highly active and sometimes subdued and ready to spend some quality time cuddle up with their human. They are social so they do well in a home with multiple family members or other pets to keep them entertained.

Size: Khao Manee cats are medium in size with medium bone structure. They typically weigh between 6 - 10 pounds.

Characteristics: The Khao Manee cat is a beautiful, white-coated cat with one particularly interesting feature - many have two different color eyes (odd-eyed). Eye color can be blue, yellow, amber or green and while many are odd-eyed, some have two eyes that are the same color. Additionally, each individual eye can be bi-colored as well. Khao Manee have wedge-shaped heads with medium-large ears that sit high on the head.

Temperament: Khao Manee cats are a playful, active, affectionate cat breed. Because of their love of attention and play, they make a great addition to a family that has children and will keep you endlessly entertained. They are highly intelligent so they love a challenging toy or game and they are easily trained. Additionally, they are quite curious and love to leap, climb and explore to learn more about their surroundings. They are highly sociable and very affectionate and they will leap up into your lap to snuggle. While they are there they will probably want to have a long chat because they are highly vocal, much like Siamese cats.

Care: Khao Manee cats are very low maintenance and require little grooming. They have only a small amount of undercoat and do not shed much so a good combing or brushing every now and then will keep their coat looking nice but they will maintain it primarily on their own. Some Khao Manee may have hearing loss or be deaf, as is common with many white cat breeds.

Coat: All Khao Manee cats have a short, white coat that is soft and smooth.

Origin: While you may not have heard of Khao Manee cats before, they have actually been around for hundreds of years. The rare breed is one of only a few breeds that originates in Thailand. As the story goes, these majestic cats were quite prized in Siam (now known as Thailand) and King Rama V, who ruled from 1868 to 1910, had 9 beloved Khao Manee cats. There are reports that date back to the 1300s that reference the Khao Manee, which translates literally to "White Gem," though at the time they were referred to as Khao Plort and many say they are the true cats of Siam, competing for the title with their Siamese cat friends. Other cats that originated in Thailand, such as Siamese, Burmese and Korat are more well known worldwide but the Khao Manee cat breed began growing in popularity in the late 1990s. In 1999, American breeder Colleen Freymouth imported Sripia, the first Khao Manee cat from Thailand to make its way to make its way to the United States. Sripia had a litter of kittens and thus the Khao Manee breed began to grow in the United States. Elsewhere in the world, breeder Janet Poulsen imported a Khao Manee cat to the UK and in both the U.S. and U.K. breed popularity continues to grow today. The road is still being paved for acceptance into different registrations and associations. In 2009, the Khao Manee was accepted for Registration Only status by TICA but soon after, in 2011 the breed was granted full recognition. As of May 2012, TICA has granted the Khao Manee breed Preliminary New Breed status. In 2010, the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) granted Breed Name status to Khao Manee cats and was granted pre-affiliation in 2011.