last updated:

Friday, 26-Jan-2007 19:26:12 CET

    

Personality of the Turkish Van

It is difficult to generalize a set of characteristics for all cats within a given breed. The Turkish Vans are very individualistic with personality traits varying from kitten to kitten and manifesting at a very early age. However there are some traits that do occur more frequently and will be explained here. Remember, these are just generalizations and all Turkish Vans will not necessarily exhibit these.

 

The Turkish Van is a vivacious cat with a mind of its own. It is fond of socializing with both humans as well as other cats. You get the impression that the cat does not think of itself as a pet but more as a companion. The Turkish Van generally does assert itself as the dominant member of the household. It will not accept being ignored by its humans and expects to be greeted as soon as you come home even if it does appear to have missed you. If the cat wants to be cuddled it will let you know. The cat will stomp around just at the centre of your attention and will keep on doing this until it is satisfied with your attention. If you should choose to ignore the cat it may punish you by knocking something on to the floor. The cat expects you to be there if it needs you and it is sure to make you aware just how important it is. The cat has a great memory and is quick to learn from its mistakes.

The Turkish Van enjoys being close to its humans in order to keep an eye on them or even crawled onto your back. But it is no elegant cat, it has a tendency to suddenly fall down when it is relaxing but off course it will pretend nothing has happened. After all it is a proud cat.

 

A Turkish Van like to play with a variety of things, some of which you may not want them to play with (such as your socks). Some actually enjoy fetching and retrieving. You can throw a crumpled paper ball or their favorite furry mouse and they'll keep bringing it back to you for more. You will tire of this long before they do. When Vans play they go all out. They will leap in the air to catch a feather teaser and do all manner of acrobatics. They play very hard until the point when they just flop on their sides and pant like a dog.

 

A Turkish Van know EVERYTHING that is going on in their house. If you bring in something new, they will have to inspect it thoroughly. They can also figure out how to open doors and cabinets. You can almost see those wheels turn in their heads as they work out a solution to a problem.

 

The Turkish Van is also fond of water. One of its trades is that it is the cat that loves water and sometimes you will hear the Turkish Van referred to as “the swimming cat”. This characteristic is probably a left over from its natural habitat where it was used to catching food in the lake and also benefited from the many minerals in the water that you find in the Van lake due to its location high above sea-level. Many people find that the Turkish Van is fascinated by running water and is known for playing with the water. Also you risk a visit from the cat when you are in the shower or in the bathtub. But if you want to wash the cat with shampoo it suddenly looses interest.

The Turkish Van also loves to roll around in dry dirt or sand but shortly after the coat is completely white again. This is also a left over form nature where it used dirt and sand as a mean to keep vermin out of the coat.

Furthermore the Turkish Van is not afraid of the changing weather. The cat does not mind going out to play in the snow and is fascinated by raindrops.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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