Cats of the Seychelles

Terrie

"There is a native cat found in these isles which I have not seen elsewhere.  Elegant and fine boned with a blue eyes and a silky coat, pure white except for a few splashes of colour.  It's appearance is most dramatic."

Some years ago I came across this traveller's description of the Seychellois cats in a book.  There were no pictures but my imagination was alive with the thought of them.  I longed to one day work with these mysterious felines....

In the 1980s breeder, Pat Turner, set about trying to create Seychellois-like cats.  She used Siamese and bi-coloured (with white) cats in her programme.  She was successful in her aim but the breed didn't really catch on.  However, at the turn of this century there was renewed interest in the Seychellois and the breed is now becoming quite established.  Basically a Seychellois is just a Siamese cat but with a predominantly white coat, pure snow white, and just a few spots or splashes of colour.  They come in both shorthaired and longhaired varieties, the latter of which are extremely rare.

Seychellois come in three recognised patterns which refer to the proportion of white fur and distribution of colour splashes.  They are as follows:

Septieme - white with large patches of colour on the head, legs and flanks.

Huitieme - white with small patches of colour on the head, legs and flanks.

Neuvieme - white with small patches of colour on the head and legs only.

The tail is always coloured. 

Dewdrop

... In 2007, after previously just breeding Orientals, I embarked on my very own Seychellois project.  The first step was to breed my own bi-coloured Oriental boy who carried the genes for Siamese pattern and longhair.  His name is Iorek Byrnison.

From there I mated Iorek to Teardrop (below) who I had acquired from another Seychellois enthusiast, Jan Reed.  Adajan Teardrop is a seal tabby Seychellois variant (shorthair carrying longhair).

Teardrop

Tear and Iorek gave me 14 very special kittens, amongst them Rofe and Jonas.  Rofe is a Seychellois Shorthair neuvieme, the first of this pattern I have produced.  Jonas is a Seychellois Longhair septieme, he is one of just a small number of such cats and is thus very special to me.  He is the result of 2 generations of very selective matings. 

Rofe

Jonas