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I had always been a dog person until I adopted my half Turkish Angora Peewee (mom was a showcat, dad was an ally cat). He was a bit neorotic-the runt of the litter that my fellow students and I had to feed because mom rejected him-but he had far more personality than any other cat I had ever known. When he passed away in 2003, I was devestated. I thought I would never find another cat that was anything like him. I started reading about Turks, and I discovered that his unusual personality traits and intelligence were shared by most Turks. CatFancy magazine calls them "the border collies of the feline world", and that's a pretty fair assesment. In Turkey, they are considered a National Treasure. The prophet Mohammed was said to have owned five Turkish Angoras, and they were said to have been blessed by Allah with a special intelligence (the white kittens are the most prized, and they are ususally born with a gray spot on their head called "the mark of Allah"). Turks can be found on Petfinder, but they're rare. Here's some "official" info.
From the CFA breed article:
The Turkish Angora is thought by many people to be the original longhaired cat. Ankara, formerly Angora, is known as the home of several types of animals with silky, delicately textured, long coats. The goats and rabbits still provide fur for the creation of the beautiful angora knits manufactured today. Turkish Angoras still roam the villages and countryside of Turkey, virtually unchanged through many centuries. The character that has led to their survival is strongly instinctual and extremely intelligent. Today, they are adapting well to living with people, instead of living free, but they still maintain their own, strong personality traits. Anyone who has ever owned a Turkish Angora or shown one, is very aware of that fact. These cats will reward you with exuberant affection and they love to show off, but once an Angora makes up its mind about something, not even the most clever of us can change it. Perhaps one of the best Turkish words to summarize the breed is "yaman:" strong, smart and capable. They do everything with skill and agility, from leaping to the top of your kitchen cabinets, to watching you while you work, to finding ingenious ways of eluding you when it's time for their bath. They are fantastic breeders, both male and female, having healthy, robust kittens with little difficulty and much enjoyment during both the courtship and the raising of their litters.
The Turkish Angora has an unquenchable thirst for play. They love to race through the house chasing imaginary prey. Their long slender bodies and legs, having evolved for the hunt, have the need for the continued chase at home. They can be found in the most unlikely places - making the open door of your closet swing to and fro while sitting on it or playing hockey in the bathtub, with a bottle cap for the puck, in the middle of the night. Fortunately, the silky coat of the Angora is single, which means that it has no undercoat, creating an almost care-free, longhaired cat. This is great for the cat, as well as the owner, for then it has more time to devote to "helping" around the house. An Angora feels it mandatory to be involved in every aspect of your home and life. It will love you with a profound devotion and refuse to accept any less in return. You will find your Angora interested in everything that you do. Whether you are working at your computer or cleaning your bathroom, your Angora feels it must be present to supervise the proceedings. You know it means well, even if it is not always welcome. Please don't tell it so, however. You may hurt its feelings.
And here's an amusing story from another site:
Personality Profile
The Turkish Angora is one of two breeds reputed to be attracted to water. The other is its cousin the Turkish Van. Once known for being temperamental, the Angora has been refined through selective breeding into an intelligent, loyal and amusing companion. Indeed, those of us who own less resourceful cats are apt to be in awe of the deeds allegedly perpetrated by Turkish Angoras like Geordie. Five years ago Geordie made the news for dialing 911 and meowing at some length into the phone after his owner, Linda Anfuso, had left with her husband on a three-week vacation. The Anfusos had arranged for Linda's mother-in-law, Mary Anfuso, to come in once a day to feed, amuse and comfort Geordie and the other two Angoras with whom he lived, but Geordie obviously felt the need for more human interaction than that. Police officer Eric Olesen, who responded to the 4:15 a.m. call allegedly placed by Geordie, told reporters that the police dispatcher had traced the call to the Anfusos' house, which one reporter described as "a well-known landmark with its purple paint and a figure of the Tin Woodsman from 'The Wizard of Oz' that decorates the front lawn."
Once inside, Olesen said, he "was looking for someone who was hurt and unconscious. The only thing around were the three cats." Olesen surmised that Geordie was the one who had made the 20-minute call to 911 because the cat was still meowing into the phone when Olesen entered the house. Geordie sure must have had a lot on his mind. The conversation though had to be one-sided because Geordie, like many other odd-eyed white Turkish Angoras, is deaf. Even more blue-eyed white Angoras suffer from the same genetic malfunction, thought to be associated with the color white, which causes deafness.
In addition to making the 911 call, Geordie is suspected of perpetrating other misdemeanors prior to that while his owners were away. According to The Union Leader in Manchester, New Hampshire, Mary Anfuso noticed that closet doors had been opened and lights had been turned on in various rooms between her daily visits to the house. Because the Anfusos' other two cats had not gotten into any mischief when they had been left alone before, the one-year-old Geordie, whom the Anfusos had owned for about eight months, was the prime suspect in those unsolved incidents, too.
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