Collection: Personalised Balinese Modern Gifts

The Balinese Modern can be described as the Balinese and then some, think extreme Balinese with all the exotic and defined features of the Siamese and you have the Balinese Modern. This breed differs from the traditional Balinese which has a rounder head and oval paws. The Balinese is closely related to the Siamese and named after the graceful dancers on the Indonesian island of Bali.

In the 1950s in the States, an American cat breeder discovered a litter of Siamese kittens with longer hair than was usual. To this day, no-one knows whether this is because of a mutation within the breed or whether somewhere further back in time, other lines had been introduced using long-haired cats like the Persian or Turkish Angora.

These original kittens were not sold as pure-bred Siamese - they couldn’t be registered as they didn’t accord with the Siamese breed standard. However, these kittens were decidedly cute so a couple of American breeders decided to persist and started crossing the long-haired with the long-haired and this was the beginning of the Balinese Modern. The name was given because any reference to the Siamese did not find favour and anyway, the Balinese was a distinct breed in its own right and definitely not Siamese.

In 1961, the Cat Fanciers Federation officially recognised the Balinese closely followed by the Cat Fanciers Association in 1970. The name Balinese Modern refers to the variation on the Balinese theme with more defined almost exaggerated features and characteristics.

The Balinese Modern is a beautiful cat to look at and a happy and playful companion. They are very sociable and dislike being alone so a quiet household is not always the best environment for this breed. The Balinese Modern is happy to be a lap cat but equally is something of a gymnast regularly favouring high perches - they would be a high wire artiste if they were human! Due to their Siamese ancestry, they are also chatty and quite noisy.