For one year, way back in the 90s, my family and I were happy owners of a lovely Turkish Van, one of the more interesting and intelligent of the cat breeds.
Thought to have been around since the Middle Ages or before, the Van originated in the Lake Van region of eastern Turkey, once called Eastern Anatolia.
Now Lake Van is brackish and saline and was formed by the explosion of the Nemrut Volcano. The Lake has no outlet, and is a breeding spot for Darekh, a species of herring. There is a thriving industry of herring fishing, so cats of any breed can only hope to catch themselves a meal of delicious herring from Lake Van's deep blue waters.
In the 1950s, two British photographers "discovered" the cats swimming and playing in the water, and after taking two of them back to England, the cats were found to breed true, and have been a popular breed ever since.
They will swim in your tub, river or pool, and drink from your dripping sink faucet--not the only cats to do so, of course--but Vans have a special watery way about them that is both charming and winsome for they truly and obviously adore water.
But back to Turkey:
Eastern Anatolia is the region where Mount Ararat is located, and this is the mountain which many people think is the repository of the remnants of Noah's Ark, and there are Turkish Van cat lovers who believe that that is the reason behind their love of swimming--that they are the original descendants of Noah's cats!
(I assert that Mrs. Noah did the feeding...what do you think?!)
Following that line of reasoning may only make ALL cats descendants of Turkish Vans. Either way, I highly recommend this breed to you if you're looking for a beautiful, intelligent, and unusually entertaining feline to add to your furball collection.
Can your cat swim? More info at:
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