Khao Manee
The Khao Manee cat (Thai: ขาวมณี, RTGS: Khao Mani, lit. "white jewel"), or Khao Plort (Thai: ขาวปลอด, lit. "complete white"), also known as the Diamond Eye cat, is a rare breed of cat originating in Thailand, which has an ancient ancestry tracing back hundreds of years. They are mentioned in the Tamra Maew, or Cat Book Poems. Khao Manee cats are pure white with a short, smooth, close-lying coat. They can have blue eyes, gold eyes or odd-eyes with one of each colour. The odd-eyed Khao Manee is the rarest variety. They are muscular, athletic cats of moderate foreign type and are reputed to be active, communicative and intelligent.
Although the breed is well known in its native land it has only recently been adopted by Western cat breeders, gaining "registration only" status from TICA in May 2009. On 3 September 2011, the breed was promoted to "Preliminary New Breed", effective from 1 May 2012, and on 30 August 2013 the breed was promoted to "Advanced New Breed", effective immediately.
On January 24, 2015, the Khao Manee breed was advanced to Championship level in TICA, effective May 1, 2015.On 8 September 2010, at the meeting of the GCCF Executive Committee, the Khao Manee was granted breed name in GCCF, and was approved for exhibition only. The Khao Manee Cat Club was granted GCCF pre-affiliation at the Council meeting on 26 October 2011.The breed has now gained acceptance also in CFA on February 7, 2018, and has been welcome in their shows from May 1, 2018. The CFA is the World Largest Registry of Pedigreed Cats and this new achievement is placing now the breed as globally recognized.
