Oriental Shorthairs?

Is there anyone who can tell me more about Oriental Shorthairs? Since two of my cats are deaf, I have begun re-researching why they are deaf. I keep coming back to the Oriental Shorthair being the cause of the deafness in Lola & Twitch, but I don't know. Are Oriental Shorthairs prone to deafness(that would make me like one even more )? I just thought that someday, if I ever own a purebred cat, that I might like an Oriental Shorthair. This is solely based on pictures, though. Being so thin boned, do they break easily? I know that question may sound stupid, but I like big dogs, too. I would want to be able to have a big dog & an Oriental Shorthair. Someday, I might have kids, too, but I am too young to be thinking about that now. What type of personality do they have? I read(Googled them) that they have a personality similar to a Siamese, but I don't know what sort of personality a Siamese has. I don't care about looks, or pedigree, for my cat would be spayed or neutered. I don't think I have what it takes to breed or show.

I love this girl.
http://www.petfinder.com/pet.cgi?act...=0&tmpl=&stat=

Just wondering aloud.

Blue-eyed white OSH's are rarely deaf. OSH's are from siamese and the blue eyes are the "siamese" type - not the normal blue eyes of other breeds.

I do know that BICOLORS can produce deaf cats - the white spotting gene is to blame for deafness. I found this out by surprise. My odd-eye white rex (which comes from pointed hearing colors in the background) was bred to a bicolor. The resulting gold-eye white kitten was deaf! I found out from genetic breeders that the white spotting gene from the bi-color was to blame.

So maybe a normal blue-eyed white is really a white with white spotting gene.

As far as personality, they are very much people oriented and very vocal (like Siamese). They are long, lean and active. They are tougher then you think, but very young orientals should be protected against rough handling by small kids.

I just rescued a chestnut oriental she is beautiful! I was wondering if oriental owners can lead me to a site to learn about their nutritional needs and what specifics to the breed RE what I should be aware of. I have searched the net but all I find are sites with basic descriptions. Any help appreciated. Here she is she is 15 months old meet
Pandia

Originally Posted by dmcwlvssr

I just rescued a chestnut oriental she is beautiful! I was wondering if oriental owners can lead me to a site to learn about their nutritional needs and what specifics to the breed RE what I should be aware of. I have searched the net but all I find are sites with basic descriptions. Any help appreciated. Here she is she is 15 months old meet
Pandia

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she is a beauty

I am not as familiar with oriental shorthairs but I beleive they have the same issues as a siamese can