The Khao Manee cat is a breed of cat originating from Thailand. This cat breed is most prominent in its extremely mesmerizing eyes, sparkling like diamonds, and white coat.
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Learn about the Khao Manee cat breed
The origin of the Khao Manee cat
The Khao Manee is an ancient breed of cat originating in Thailand, with an average lifespan of 10-12 years. According to many researchers, the ancestral traces of this cat breed left on the land of golden pagodas date back hundreds of years.
According to the old legend, the Khao Manee cat was loved by King Siam Chulalongkorn Rama V, who kept it by his side and considered it a national treasure. After the French and British visited Thailand and said that they were fascinated by the beauty of this cat breed, the king ordered all cats to be hidden and only allowed to bring Siamese cats as gifts.
From then until 1999, the Khao Manee cat only appeared in Thailand until the American expert Colleen Freymuth – a conservationist of endangered animals, tried to buy this breed for reproduction and conservation.
Thanks to the breeding efforts of French expert – Frédéric Goedert, hundreds of Khao Manee cats were born and gradually appeared all over the world. Today, the Khao Manee cat is still kept mainly in Thailand but is also quite popular in many Western countries.
Physical characteristics of the Khao Manee cat
Besides the common name Khao Manee, this cat breed is also known as Khao Plot, the Thailand word for “completely white” The name refers to their distinctive coat feature – completely white.
Khao Manee has a rather slender body; an adult cat usually weighs only 4-6kg and has an average body length of about 25-30cm.
This cat breed possesses many common features of Oriental cats, such as a heart-shaped head, quite small; The ears are large, rounded at the top, and always erect, thin, and smooth.
Although there are many similarities with other cats, especially the Siamese breed, the Khao Manee still has different characteristics, such as:
- Full body white hair
- Firm figure but very flexible and agile
- The nose is quite long
- The edges of the mouth and cheekbones look quite wider than other breeds
- Outstanding eyes, extremely sparkling, especially possessing 2-color eyes that captivate anyone who sees them.
Khao Manee Cat Personality Traits
Love to wrap people and affection
Khao Manee loves to be wrapped around their owner; they are affectionate and often show loving gestures, expressing affection to their owners. But they are quite afraid of strangers, often wheezing or ruffling when they sense danger.
Kind and docile
Unlike many cat breeds that like to play and disturb things in the house, Khao Manee is extremely docile; they are very obedient to their owners, and training them is also quite easy.
Smart and easy to teach
Khao Manee is very gentle; they also handle it calmly before any situation. This cat breed is quite intelligent, so it won’t take long to train them to learn something new or make cute moves.
Likes to receive attention
Khao Manee cat is very affectionate, so they also need to be cared for, loved more, and like to be cared for and petted by the owner daily. They’ll often find ways to attract attention if they feel like they’re not getting attention.
How to take care of Khao Manee cats
Khao Manee Cat Food
Khao Manee is not a picky eater and is quite easy to raise. They can eat meat, fish, vegetables, soup, cat pate, milk, … depending on the economic condition of the owner. They should be fed with 3 main meals a day, regularly renewed to keep them healthy and limit digestive tract, liver, and kidney diseases.
How to care for and hygiene for Khao Manee cat
A special feature of Khao Manee is its pure white coat, which is short and very soft. They have the ability to take care of their hair every day to keep the hair from tangling. However, you still need to brush their hair once a week to help them remove dead hair and limit hair loss.
Khao Manee cats should be bathed once a week; bathe the whole body and clean the eye sockets, nose, and ears to help them to remove mucus, nasal rust, or earwax, if any. After bathing, they should be kept in a warm towel and dried thoroughly, so they should wear an anti-bite collar so that they do not lick their wet fur to avoid respiratory diseases. cold. Need to give Khao Manee heat and sun before letting them out to play.
Common Khao Manee Cat Health Problems
In general, the Khao Manee cat breed has good health and flexibility and has not detected rare or common diseases in this cat breed, and they rarely get sick.
However, they can also suffer from digestive diseases, helminths, periodontal diseases, skin fungi, and parasites due to the influence of the environment or diet.
Notes when taking care of Khao Manee cats
Although Khao Manee has good health and rarely gets sick, owners should still specialize in cleaning their homes and sleeping corners, not being too subjective. Giving cats full human vaccinations, regular health checkups, and periodic deworming is especially necessary.
Note when buying Khao Manee cat
The original Khao Manee breed is raised mainly in Thailand and is rarely exported, so finding a purebred Khao Manee seems to be very difficult, and the price is always very high.
When buying Khao Manee, you need to consider it carefully, so buy it at places with documents to verify the origin and genealogy of cats. The average price of a Khao Manee is not less than $5000, excluding costs, so the cases of selling too cheap are usually Siamese cat breeds with a similar appearance.
