Breed Profile of the Korat

Dr David Richardson August 2005

History of the Korat

The Korat a year is a natural breed from the Korat province of northern to Thailand.  It is one of the oldest known breeds, first having been described up in the Book of the Cat together with illustrations published in 1350 AD.  To this day the Korat is said to bring good luck to its owners.

Description of the Korat

The Korat is a small to medium blue coloured cat and with emerald green eyes, a heart-shaped face and a silver frosting on its coat.  Its green eyes have been likened to “dew drops in on lotus leaves”.

The head of the Korat is heart-shaped with breadth between and across the eyes.  The eyebrow ridges form the upper curves of the heart and the sides of the face gently curved down to the chin to complete a heart shape.

The Korat has a short nose with a downward curve at the tip.  The profile demonstrates a slight stop between the forehead and the nose.

The eyes are round, large and luminous and well opened with a slight slant when closed or half opened.  The eyes seem rather oversized for the size of the face.  They are a brilliant green, however amber of it is acceptable in younger cats as the green eye colour may take up to two years to come in.

Ears should be large, with slightly rounded tip, & flair at the base. They are set rather high on head giving an alert expression. The inside of the ears should be sparsely furnished at the outside well covered.

The body of the Korat is medium sized and sometimes described as semi cobby.  It should be muscular and supple with males powerful but not heavy in appearance and females smaller and daintier.  Both sexes are heavier than they appear.  Legs are in proportion to the body leading to small oval paws.  The tail of the Korat is medium to long, heavier at the base and tapering to a rounded tip.

The Korat has a single coat of short to medium length which should be glossy fine and lying close to the body.  The coat over the spine is inclined to break as the cat moves forming a herringbone pattern.

The coat is always blue in colour but preferably has a frosting of silver.  This is similar to that seen in Russians and histologically is due to the ends of the hair being so fine that the blue pigment articles cannot fit into the tips.

What I'm looking for when judging the Korat.

I'm looking for a medium size blue cats and of a silver frosting.  I'm looking for brilliant green large luminous eyes prominent in a heart shaped head.  I'm looking for a heavyish but muscular body, a medium tail and large ears were slightly rounded tips.

Scoring the Korat

40 points are given over to the head including 10 for the eye shape.  30 points are given over to the coat and 25 to the body.