The Korats in Holland

The history of the Korat
(written by Wilma and Cor Wagner)

A Korat (Koh-rat) or Si-Sawat (see-sah-waht) is a symbol of good fortune in Thailand, its country of origin. The gift of a pair of Korat cats to a bride and a bridegroom ensures a good and fortunate marriage. While a kink in the tail is believed to gather extra luck for the owner of a Korat, our judges see this as a mistake and disqualify these cats. The factor of luck is present still now. You have to know that the Korat belongs to the farmers in Thailand. If the farmers need rain they make the "raindance" with the Korat. They carry the Korat in a high closed wooden cage. This "raindance" should bring luck, in this case rain. By the way, a Korat cat belongs to the farmers like the Siamese cat to the royal dynasty of Thailand.

This is a beautiful picture of
Grand Euro Champion Jenanca Zannha,
bred by Jen Lacey and owned by Wilma and Cor Wagner

"Si" means colour and "Sawat" means a lot of things, as for example, fortune, health and welfare. Therefore Si-Sawat is a composed word with the meaning of a colour-mix of grey and light green. So, for example, the special blue colour of the Korat is in accordance with the colour of the granite rocks in some provinces of Thailand and so they protect themselves against the continuing wars between Thailand and its neighbour countries. A second example is, that the colour of the coat is the same as that one of the silver-blue seed of the wild uneatable Sawat-fruits. This last example we can not prove true, but it is a fact that the colour of the granite rocks is the same as the coat of the Korats.

Probably the first Korat was shown in 1896 on an English catshow, but it was disqualified as a blue Siamese. You have to know that the Siamese cats at that time looked different than they do today. The differences between the two breeds were less.

In 1959 the first pair of Korats was imported from Thailand to USA. In 1965 the breed standard was recognized by the American KCFA. As far as we know, in this year the first Korat was exported from USA to Holland. By the way, this was a female which moved later to Switzerland. In 1972 the first Korats came from USA to England, too, where they were recognized by GCCF (Governing Council of the Cat Fancy). At catshows in traditional systems of the independent clubs the standard is recognized as the GCCF prescribes.

The behaviour of the Korat

The Korat cat is known as friendly, affectionate, clever and a very active and agile cat. They are always disposed for little games. They love to play with humans but also with other cats. From our own experience we can emphasize all these points. Even with little children our Zannah gets on well. The Korat can live together with other cats but from time to time the others have to play with the Korat. Our Zannah is very affectionate and after playing for a while she can lay on our lap for hours. They are not shy. They love to be the centre of attention. It is not destructive in its behaviour. The Korat likes to play a bit more rough. They like to eat but they are not gluttonous. The weight of an adult female Korat is about 3 Kilos and a male is about 3,5 - 4 Kilos; so it is not a very big cat. The sound of its voice is of mediocre loudness. Korats are known as relatively silent cats, but we have to remark that we talk from time to time with our Zannah, at which she answers our questions with changing sounds of her voice. When she wants to play she can get louder. The "beauty-care" of the Korat is very simple, because the Korat looses only a few hairs. From time to time some strokes with the brush are surely enough.

Wilma Bos and Cor Wagner
DUDINKA Cattery - The Netherland