History of the Korat breed

The Korats in France

We don’t know the exact date of the first Korats in France.

We met an old couple of people living in Lyon still alive today  (2004) which owned a Korat in the beginning of the eighties. They know two other people before them and today deceased who have had some Korat, were we told during our research. We have no information regarding the origins of this breed in France. In this subject, we are looking for all information related to the Korat in France ...

In brief, the French origin of the Korats certainly dated to the end of the seventies.

This breed is extremely rare in France.

For example, a statistic from the Agriculture Ministry about cats pedigree from 01/01/01 until 07/31/02 regarding the French territory inform us that 14 767 cat breed have been registered : thousands of Persian, Cartusian, etc., and hundreds of other breeds : Shorthair, Siamese,  Oriental, Russian, etc.  and 6 korats !..

It’s a paradox that one of the oldest species if not the older specie of cat be the one less present in France isn’t it  ?

The Korats in United States

« …When I saw for the first time the enormous and luminous and green eyes of a korat, I’ve standed open mouthed. The eyes which had captivated and stared at were those of a little female Korat called Kami of Cedar Glen's. She stood there watching at me fixedly, an oval paw resting on the edge of the cage, her body shacking with enthusiasm in the strength of concentration. Little while after this exhibit in California in 1964, I received my first Korat as a present and created a cattery registered under the name Si Sawat. I soon got into contact with stockbreeders in the United States and in Thailand and obtained my first pair of Korats. My life with Korats had started… »

The first American cattery to raise some Korats was in  Cedars Glen and was managed by Jean L. Johnson. In 1959, Jean had imported two Korats, Nara et Darra, from a friend in Bangkok. Originally, the cats were from the famous cattery from Khunying Abhibal Rajamaitri, a renowned stockbreeder in the world of cats. Nara et Darra are the first Korats known to have been imported from Thailand for breeding. The Korats has attracted cat lovers in the sixties. There were not many and had no status in the championships and exhibits.

In may 1965, in United States, the Korat Cat Fanciers Association has been set up by a group of owners and selectors aiming to develop and protect the Korat and also to create a scale of levels and points thanks to which a cat could be judged during the feline exhibits. A standard has been proposed, fruit of a compilation of the description of their Korats sent by the members. This standard has been submitted in United States and to the Canadian cat associations in October 1965 to be taken into account and accepted. In few months, the Korat has been recognized and the standard adopted by the major part of these entities. The first time a Korat made the front page was in June 1966 during a championship in Prussia (Pennsylvania). We grant this extraordinary and rapid acceptation of the Korat to its intrinsic beauty and the will of a unite group who share the immoderate love for this indigenous cat of which we all are engaged to maintain the characteristics and traditions.

The breed has then be recognized by C.F.A. in 1966 and by T.I.C.A. in 1969. At its arrival in Europe, in 1972, F.I.F.E. approved the Korat. Well known in the United States, this breed is not much widespread in Europe. The modern Korat is the same as its ancestor as shown by the old representations made along the centuries.

The first ones of a long list of Korats which have made the  history of the exhibits and championships of korats were imported cats or their offspring. The imported Korats  have more writings about them in their own country than the human travelers  ! The stockbreeders are very careful with this documentation because if a cat cannot trace its lineage in Thailand, it’s not a Korat.

« From the Good luck cat of Siam » and « A History of the Korat » written by Daphne Negus one of the first to have bred  Korat cats in United States (cattery Si Sawat USA).

The Korats in Thailand

The country of origin of the korat breed is Thailand where she is extremely known and liked since hundreds of years.

Cat breed with short hairs coming from Thailand, it’s one of the most ancient natural breed (the only one developed by natural selection more than by the selective processes of the stockbreeders). The Korat was named in reference to the Thai province where it was found : Ampur Pimai. It is also one of the first cats from which history has left traces.

It is originally from the plate of Korat (old name of the actual city of Nakhon Ratchasima) in Thailand where it is called today Si Sawat and where it is considered as a symbol of happiness and prosperity. There was a time when the habit wanted that a korat was offered to the princes and young notable grooms as a sign of homage. The Korats are always blue silver linked without variant. It’s the original color until today. The color blue silver is a symbol of prosperity and also the color of the rainy clouds. The color of their eyes look like young rice which mean a good harvest. When you offer such a cat to a bride, she will be probably happy in her married life.

The first image known for a Korat, or Si Sawat, can be found in an antique paintings and verses book : in what is so called the Tamra Meow (Treaty of the cats poems), book you can find at the national library of Bangkok. According to the arts department, a division from the Thai ministry of education, the book was created during the Ayudhya in the Siam history (1350-1767). The name of the author is unknown. The city was then a four hundred years old city. The manuscript is thus a proof which informs us that the korat exists since at least the XIV century.

A highly ranked monk Somdej Phra Buddhacharn Buddhasarmahathera, was appointed by King Rama V (1869-1910) to make a copy of the book « Poetry of a cat » on the Khoi special paper. Know n as the name of Smud Khoi of cats, he’s hanged up under a glass at the national museum of Bangkok. The book is now a bound volume as well as a more recent version known under the name Book of cat.  It’s also located at the national library, it’s apparently a twentieth version of the text and its accompanying verses. It shows seventeen cats whose ownership is bringing good luck and six with a bad luck omen. Among the cats bringing good luck is the Korats (4th on the basis of the top on the photograph of left picture clicking here).

A translation of verses made by Khun Prasit Sahkorn points out : « the cat Maled has a body color like Doklao. The hairs are thin with roots like clouds tinted in silver at their ends. The eyes shine as dewdrops on a lotus sheet ». The seed  (Maled) is a non eatable wild fruit developing in Thailand and has a mixed color with a  soft and glazed scallop.

The lower (Dok) and the Lao can be translated by  « schenanthe » : The pampas herbs, or the lower of reed (a form of wild lemon grass). The verses are insisting on the silvery tonality and the silky fur of the so called cat. In its natural province, Pimaï, one can think that the presence of many granites has allowed to the korat to fade away into the landscape and to survive to dying out which was  threatening him during the wars which have raged between Siam and its neighbors.

Nowadays in Thailand, the Korat is generally mentioned under the term Si Sawat  and, naturally, they can be found in other provinces. Si means color. Sawat  has various meanings, including the good luck or the prosperity. Si Sawat is also a  Thai work composed from a color mixed of grey and clear green.

Recently, the Thai government has officially recognized the Korat as a national treasure, rending the importation of the cat very difficult.

« The species surviving are not the strongest ones or the most intelligent ones but those which adapt themselves better to changes. »

[Charles Darwin]

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