The Balinese cat

Once upon a time, when a fuzzy-haired kitten showed up in a litter of carefully bred Siamese, it was considered a mistake.

The kitten was quickly spayed or neutered to prevent future generations from inheriting long hair, and it was whisked off to a pet-only home.[1]

Today, breeders are breeding cats of Siamese origin specifically for their silky locks, not to mention a slew of other highly desirable traits.

And longhaired Siamese are no longer just longhaired Siamese. They are a breed unto themselves called Balinese.

Balinese cats are just the loveliest creatures. Keep reading to learn more about this beautiful, sweet breed of cat.

The history of the Balinese cat

The story of the Balinese cat is the story of the Siamese cat.

The Siamese cat is one of the oldest cat breeds, and it has a fascinating history. We can officially track the Siamese cat back 700 years to Thailand, but the breed might very well be much older than that.

You can learn all about the Siamese cat in this post.

The Balinese cat, on the other hand, got its start in the 1950s.

Well, not exactly. Long hair actually started showing up in Siamese cats in the mid-1800s, but the Balinese breed itself didn’t officially get off the ground for another hundred years.

How do any cats get long hair?

If you’ve ever seen a Siamese cat, you will know how svelte they are. They slither and slink. Their short fur clings to their bodies.

Imagine how strange it must have been to find a fluffy kitten amongst his lithe little brothers and sisters in a litter of Siamese kittens. How could that possibly happen?

I go into all the details about how cats get long hair in this post, but the quick version is that long hair in cats is a genetic mutation.

A genetic mutation is a “mistake” that happens during cell division. Most mutations go unnoticed. Some cause disease or death. Other mutations are beneficial, even beautiful.

Long hair in cats is a beneficial (and yes, beautiful) mutation.

The gene for long hair in cats is recessive

The kind of mutations that happen when ordinary cells in the organs and other body systems divide only affect that individual. Cancer is an example of a mutation that only affects the individual.[2]

But the kind of mutations that happen when sperm and egg cells divide can affect future generations of cats. They are inheritable mutations. Long hair in cats is inheritable.

You’d think that an inheritable, beneficial mutation like long hair would show up in litters of Siamese kittens all the time. But it doesn’t, because the gene is recessive.

For a kitten to be born with a recessive trait like long hair, she would have to get two copies of the gene – one from her mother and one from her father. Since most Siamese cats don’t have the gene, the chance of kitten having two parents with the gene, AND getting both of those genes is a little like winning the genetic long-hair lottery.

Maybe, long hair is actually a nice quality in Siamese cats…

It took a hundred years or so, but, eventually, two Siamese breeders realized how beautiful a Siamese cat with long hair really is. Helen Smith, of Merry Mews Cattery, and Marion Dorsey, of Rai-Mar Cattery, began working to develop the Balinese as a separate breed of cat.

Where did the name “Balinese” come from?

Helen Smith chose the name because it evoked the grace and elegance of dancers from the island of Bali. The Balinese cat is indeed a graceful, elegant breed of cat.[3]

There are two types of Balinese cats

There are two types of Siamese cats, and there are also two types of Balinese cats.

The traditional Siamese cat, sometimes called the “Old-Style Siamese,” “Classic Siamese,” and even “Applehead Siamese,” has a round head, sturdy body, and less-extreme features than the slender, dramatic, modern Siamese most of us are familiar with.

The traditional Siamese cat is now considered a separate breed from the modern Siamese, and it goes by a different name. What was formerly a traditional Siamese is now called the Thai cat in most cat registries.

The old-style Balinese also has a round head and a more substantial body type. The contemporary Balinese, on the other hand, the kind you’re most likely to see at a cat show, has a slim build, a wedge-shaped head, and prominent ears.[4]

What does a Balinese cat look like?

Today’s Balinese looks just like today’s Siamese, but with a longer, silkier coat and a plume of a tail.

A Balinese is a small to medium cat, weighing five to eight pounds.[5]  The cat is slim and graceful, but also feels muscular and solid.

A Balinese’s head is a long triangle with ears that seem to be a continuation of the sides of the triangle. His eyes are blue and slanted.

A Balinese’s coat is medium-long, and there is no undercoat, so it feels soft and satiny. All Balinese cats are colorpointed, meaning that the “edges” of the cat are dark.

The colorpointing can be almost any color: seal, chocolate, blue, lilac, cinnamon, fawn, red, and cream, plus lynx points (which are tabby stripes) and tortoiseshell points.

Kittens are born pure cream or white and gradually develop darker fur along the edges – the face, ears, paws, tail. You’ll know what color a kitten will be in adulthood by the time he’s four weeks old.

What is the personality of a Balinese cat?

I read somewhere that “Balinese cats believe they are people.” Even if it wasn’t meant literally, it suggests what is most definitely true about the Balinese: they like to be where the humans are, doing what the humans are doing.

A Balinese cat wants to sleep under the covers with you. He wants to eat off your dinner plate. And then he wants to chat about it with you all day long (albeit with a softer voice than his Siamese cousins).

A Balinese cat is very high energy. She’s agile, athletic, and a powerful jumper. You’ll find her on top of the bookshelf, on top of the refrigerator, and balancing on the second-story banister, looking down at you having a full-blown panic attack about it on the first floor.

A Balinese is curious, intelligent, and busy. When she wants to play fetch, she’ll open the drawer herself to retrieve the toy and bring it to you.[6]

You’ll need an ever-circulating cache of toys to satisfy her intellect, and cat trees that let her leap and climb to her heart’s content. If you have a Balinese, you can consider the sport of feline agility – Balinese cats are very receptive to training.

There’s never a dull moment with a Balinese around.

But a Balinese cat is also deeply affectionate and bonded with his family. “Family” for a Balinese means everyone: they love children, cat-friendly dogs, and the other cats in the household.

A Balinese is very sensitive to the moods of his people.

I love this quote:

If you are sad, they will weep with you; sick, they will comfort you; and happy they will play with you. And do they love to play![7]

Is the Balinese a healthy cat breed?

Balinese cats can be very long-lived. Some have been known to live 20 years or more.

But like their Siamese cousins, Balinese cats are susceptible to a wide range of potential health issues during their lives, including:

Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA) – PRA is a degeneration of the retina in the eye, which can lead to blindness. There is no cure.[8]

Cancer – Balinese cats are prone to mediastinal lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects the lymph nodes and chest, mammary cancer, and cancers of the nasal cavity and small intestine.[9]

Feline asthma – Asthma is a lung disease that causes coughing and labored or fast breathing.[10] Asthma is a chronic condition requiring management with daily medications and lifestyle changes.

Systemic amyloidosis – Amyloidosis is a disease in which proteins are deposited on body organs, leading to liver or kidney failure. There are supportive care treatments to help cats sick with amyloidosis, but no therapies to treat the underlying condition.

Feline hyperesthesia syndrome – Hyperesthesia syndrome is a strange skin sensitivity sometimes called “twitchy cat disease.” Read about feline hyperesthesia syndrome in this post.

Pica – All of the Oriental breeds, including Burmese, Tonkinese, Siamese, and Balinese cats show a much higher incidence of compulsive eating of non-food items, such as plastic. Read about pica in cats in this post.

Are Balinese cats easy to care for?

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A Balinese cat’s luscious locks are surprisingly easy to groom. The lack of undercoat makes a Balinese less susceptible to tangles or mats, especially compared to other longer-haired breeds.

A Balinese might need a quick bath if the coat looks greasy. Otherwise, a quick comb-through or brush-through a few times a month should be enough. This Andis comb works great, as does this slicker brush by Burt’s Bees.

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Dawn LaFontaine

Dawn LaFontaine is a lifelong animal lover who always seems to have a little pet hair in her keyboard. Her blog, Kitty Contemplations, helps cat guardians better understand and care for the special beings they share their lives and homes with, and is a Top 10 cat blog on Feedspot. Her cat-products business, Cat in the Box, sells beautiful, well-made, and award-winning products that she designed to meet the biological needs of cats.