Brush tail: Long bushy hair.
Bulls eye: A mark found on the sides of the body of classic (blotched) tabby pattern cats that is characterized by a solid, circular spot of darker coloring surrounded by a ring of darker coloring.
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 breed appeared spontaneously in the 1950s from breeding programs when a number of Abyssinian kittens were born with bottle-brush tails and long fluffy coats.
Ideally it should have a ruff and breeches to match the full brush tail. Ticking is not so apparent in the longer hair and is slow to develop.
Semi-long with cashmere-like texture; soft to the roots with no trace of undercoat; allowances made for seasonal coat length changes; feathering on ears, legs, feet, and belly; frontal neck ruff and full brush tail.
Facial fur is short. A frontal neck ruff and full brush tail become more pronounced with age. The above description is that of an adult, allowances must be made for short coats and tail hair on kittens and young adults.
at birth and grows in gradually over a period of three to five years, so that the kittens will be shorthair in appearance, with thin tails, but as they mature, the fur on the chest will fill out, and the tail will thicken into a full brush tail.
When warmer weather comes around, they shed their coat and actually appear to be a much shorter-haired animal. However, the full bottle-brush tail is kept year round. As the Van matures, its coat gets increasingly lush.
 See also: Ruff, Turkish Van, Champion, CFA, Championship status
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