Facts about Khao Manee
- 09
Revered as a royal cat in Thailand, Khao Manee were historically gifted to foreign dignitaries as a symbol of good luck and high honor.
- 08
Athletic Khao Manee cats possess flexible spines and powerful hind legs that enable them to jump up to six times their own body height, a trait preserved from their ancestry as skilled hunters in Thai temples and villages.
- 07
In 2009, The International Cat Association officially recognized Khao Manee as a championship breed, making it one of the few Thai cat breeds to achieve this status.
- 06
Deafness affects approximately 20-40 percent of white Khao Manee cats, particularly those with blue eyes, due to the connection between the white coat gene and inner ear development.
- 05
Blue eyes in Khao Manee cats result from reduced melanin pigmentation in the iris, a genetic trait linked to the same genes responsible for their distinctive white coat color.
- 04
Breeders developed the Khao Manee cat breed standard through selective breeding in Thailand during the 1970s and 1980s, leading to formal recognition by international cat registries in the 2000s.
- 03
Khao Manee cats typically weigh between 2.5 and 4.5 kilograms and possess a naturally muscular, compact body structure adapted to tropical Thai climates.
- 02
Odd-eyed Khao Manee cats, with one blue eye and one yellow or amber eye, command prices exceeding $10,000 in international breeding markets.
- 01
The white Khao Manee cat breed originated in Thailand centuries ago and appears in 14th-century Thai manuscripts describing diamond-eye cats.