Turkish Van behavior behavior

The coat on a Van is considered semi-longhaired. While many cats have three distinct hair types in their coat, guard hairs, awn hairs and down hairs, the Turkish Van only has one. This makes their coat feel like cashmere or rabbit fur, and the coat dries quickly when wet. Lake Van is a region of temperature extremes and the cats have evolved a coat that grows thick in the winter with a large ruff and bottlebrush tail for the harsh winters and then sheds out short in the body for the warm summers. The full tail is kept year round.

The Van is one of the larger cat breeds. The males can reach 20 lb (9 kg) and the females weigh about half of that. They have massive paws and rippling hard muscle structure which allows them to be very strong jumpers. Vans can easily hit the top of a refrigerator from a cold start on the floor. They are slow to mature and this process can take 3-5 years. Also, their fetching skills are quite good and they are quick to learn.

What might be the most interesting trait of the breed is its unusual fascination with water (cats, generally, dislike being immersed in water). The unusual trait may be due to the breed's proximity to Lake Van in their native country; it may have acquired this trait due to the very hot summers and have extremely waterproof coats that make bathing them a challenge. As such, Vans have been nicknamed the "Swimming Cats" for this most unusual trait. Most Vans in the US are indoor cats and do not have access to large bodies of water, but their love and curiosity of water stays with them. Instead of swimming they stir their water bowls and invent fishing games in the toilet.

Complete List
Felis catus	American Bobtail	American Keuda	Angora (British Angora) renamed Oriental Longhair in 2002	Asian Semi-longhair (or Tiffanie)
Balinese	Birman	British Longhair	Chantilly/Tiffany cat	Cherubim (or Honeybear)
Colourpoint Longhair	Exotic cat	Himalayan	Javanese	Maine Coon
Nebelung	Neva Masquerade	Norwegian Forest Cat	Oriental Longhair	Persian
Ragdoll (and Ragamuffin)	Siberian	Snow Cat	Somali	Sterling
Turkish Van	Turkish Angora	York Chocolate cat	Abyssinian	American Shorthair
Antipodean (New Zealand Shorthair)	Australian Mist (or Spotted Mist)	Bombay	British Shorthair	Brazilian Shorthair
Burmese	Burmilla	Chartreux	Colorpoint Shorthair	Cornish Rex
Egyptian Mau	European Shorthair	Havana Brown	Jungala	Khao Manee
Korat	Kucing Malaysia	Malayan Burmese	Oriental Shorthair	Russian Blue
Savannah	Siamese (and Traditional Siamese or Applehead Siamese)	Tonkinese	American Curl	American Ringtail
American Wirehair	Bengal cat	California Spangled Cat	Chausie	Cymric
Desert Lynx	Devon Rex	Don Sphynx	Foldex Cat	German Rex
Japanese Bobtail	Kurilian Bobtail Shorthair	LaPerm	Manx	Mojave Spotted
Munchkin	Ocicat	Ojos Azules	Peterbald	Pixie-bob
Selkirk Rex	Serengeti	Singapura	Sphynx	Scottish Fold
Snowshoe	Sokoke	Suqutranese	Thai	Toyger
Ussuri	Wild Abyssinian