Turkish Van Cats also known as "Swimming Cats" originally came from the Van Lakes Region of Turkey. A relatively rare breed, Turkish Vans are one of the smartest and oldest cat breeds in the world. There are swimming cats depicted in ancient mosaics thousands of years old.

During the Byzantine Empire Chrisian monks would keep Turkish Vans in their monasteries and churches as mousers and companions. Vans have a mostly white coat with distinctive colored patches on their heads seperated by a white strip down the middle and a colored tail. True Turkish Vans also tend to have a small dot of color on the back of their neck which is said to be a thumbprint from God. It got there perhaps when he was swatting them off the kitchen counter but no one knows for sure.

Turkish vans aver a very sporting breed and love to play with toys, strings, water, ice, and anything that moves, in fact they get grumpy and mischievous if they don't get their regular play time. Vans ave very social, very vocal, and very demanding of your time and attention. They are also very lovable and devoted to their owners. We don't have a pool anymore so our cat has to enjoy himself other ways including other ways with no water.

When we adopted our cat at a local shelter we had no idea what kind of cat he was, he was just one of the friendliest and completely comfortable with us even though we were total stranges. We knew he was the right choice for us. When we got him home we instantly saw how interested he was in water and ice. When we got him some water he would swim in place with his paws on the counter, if you get some crushed ice from the fridge door he will try to take it from you and you can't brush your teeth or turn on the tap without him showing up out of nowhere. You may find that other cats do some of these same things but our Turkish Van does them all to the extreme.


This video is an original work I created using video and still images I shot.

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