Oriental Shorthair

Oriental Shorthairs can do well with children who already know how to be calm and gentle. Expect an average-sized cat that is high-energy, barely sheds and needs very little grooming. Very talkative by nature.

How long is that, really? Cats live longer than most people expect — about 11.7 years on average across every breed, and a well-looked-after Oriental Shorthair can reach 20 years. A kitten you bring home this year will still be curled up somewhere warm long after you have finished school.

Sources: VCA Animal Hospitals · PDSA breed guide · Teng et al., Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery (2024).

Day to day. High-energy — this is a cat that needs height to climb, things to hunt and someone to play with. A bored one of these gets into everything, and that is not naughtiness, it is boredom. Ten minutes with a wand toy in the evening covers most of what it is asking for.

The coat, honestly. This breed barely sheds and needs very little grooming. Next to nothing to do either way — the odd brush is a treat rather than a chore, and this is about as easy as a coat gets.

Company and noise. This one is sociable without being clingy and very talkative. That is the easiest version of a cat to live with: it will come and find you, then get on with its day. And it will talk to you constantly, expecting an answer. Have the tray, the scratching post and a high shelf in place before it arrives and it settles fast — the setup checklist is short.

• Someone will actually play with it every day, and it can climb high
• You would rather brush and pay a groomer than vacuum every day
• You want a cat whose coat looks after itself
• You would enjoy a pet that genuinely talks back

• Nobody has ten minutes twice a day to play with it properly
• Anyone in the house needs quiet to sleep, work or study

Rough running cost: $$ (middle of the pack) — because there is no single expensive thing about it — just the normal food, vet and insurance costs every cat brings.

Those are relative bands, not live prices. For real numbers across every pet we cover, see the pet cost study and the cost calculator.

Picked for this breed’s coat, size, energy and known health issues, not a generic list.

Rescues do have Oriental Shorthairs and Oriental Shorthair crosses, usually adults whose size, coat and temperament you can see rather than guess at.

Siamese

Sleek, clever and extremely talkative — a cat that expects to be part of the conversation.

🐈 Average⚡ High energy✨ Low shed

Abyssinian

A lithe, ticked, endlessly curious cat that treats your house as terrain to be surveyed.

🐈 Average⚡ High energy✨ Low shed

Burmese

A compact, glossy, surprisingly heavy cat that is about as dog-like as cats get.

🐈 Average🙂 Moderate✨ Low shed