“I was born in Australia and worked my formative years as a top dollar gigolo (and if you are thinking “Benito, how many? PLEASE don’t ask, for you are not ready for the answer!). I grew tired of the industry and moved to Christchurch, working initially as a gigolo to make ends meet, (hey, it was all I knew!) then moving to a stud farm and retiring.The Bennetts became my new family in April 12′ and the rest, as they say, is history! I am Benito and here is my story.”

A Unique Form of Heterochromia: Crack Eye

Benito our White Balinese has incredible eyes called “Crack Eye”. Each eye is half blue and half brown, the inner color is blue and the outer is brown and as far as we know his vision is excellent.

Pedigree of “Sayitis Once In A Blue Moon” (Imp Aust) originally known as “Bluie” was born in Australia on November 17 2009. Bluie moved to Christchurch New Zealand for breeding by BhaliHi and once retired he was ready to go to his forever home. After a short plane trip up to the North Island of New Zealand, we became Bluie’s new loving family in April 2012. We decided to change his name to Benito which means “Blessed” and with his beautiful and unique eyes we thought the new name was a perfect fit.

How Benito and His Grandchildren Joined the Bennett Family

We had a sad time with the sudden loss of our beloved 14 year old Seal Point Siamese Carlos. His sister Mia was grief stricken and so were we. We had talked about what we would do when one of our Meezers was to pass away leaving the other behind, would we get two more kittens again or another adult for company? It was a hard decision after 14 years with Carlos but we knew it was all for the right reasons. We put a wanted ad in New Zealand Cat Fancy’s website and that is how we found Benito. One look at his photo and finding out about his personality we knew he was the one for us and also for Mia. At this stage we could not see his incredible eyes in the photo, only this beautiful pure white long haired Siamese Cat known as a “Balinese”. It wasn’t until we picked him up that we realised what we were seeing, eyes so beautiful and incredibly unique!

Benito flew up to us to the North Island of New Zealand and from that day we were blessed to have him join our lives. The introduction to Mia was slow, he was very patient, gave her space and backed off when she didn’t want to play but they soon became friends. He was a comfort to her through the first winter without Carlos and a snuggle buddy during the days and nights. Sadly when Mia passed away 11 months later, Benito went through his own grief and missed Mia very much. We always agreed that if we were to have Meezers we would always have two as they are like yin and yang. We contacted the Breeder in Christchurch to enquire about another female adult and she said why don’t you take two kittens? These two kittens just happened to be Benito’s grandchildren, so our one turned into three a perfect trio… a very happy trio.

Benito is a gentle, affectionate, Balinese cat who will back off when his two feisty grandchildren Eva and Chico try to eat his food after they have had every last drop of their own. Eva and Chico adore him also, especially Chico who is always trying to impress him with his latest trick, like climbing to the top of every curtain in the house! Benito loves to snuggle up close and follows us around wanting to know what is going on every moment he can. Our two boys adore him, they think he is funny and we are pretty sure he thinks they are funny too. Everyone that comes to the house and meets Benito for the first time does a double take and next thing you hear is wow…look at his eyes, they are each half and half! His grandchildren who were born in the same month as Benito each have one of his eye colours, Eva has the blue and Chico the brown.

Benito is our angel, he has a strong presence, is very special to us and we are blessed to share our lives with such a divine, loving cat.

Balinese cats are essentially long-haired Siamese cats, and in fact were originally known as “long-haired Siamese.” These cats have been known since the 1920s, as occasional long-haired kittens were produced in a Siamese litter. They were not shown but only sold as household pets.

MerryMews Cattery

However, 30 years later two breeders, Marion Dorsey of Rai-Mar Cattery in California and Helen Smith of MerryMews Cattery in New York, decided to start a breeding program for long-haired Siamese.

Balinese Dancers?

The name was changed to “Balinese” to reflect the gracefulness of Balinese dancers, and the breed quickly became popular. As more breeders worked on the Balinese cats, two types emerged, mirroring the two main types of Siamese cats: traditional applehead and modern wedgehead. Appleheads are popular pets, but judges prefer the modern type–hence this is the breed standard.

4 Color Points

Like the Siamese, the Balinese has a long, athletic body, wedge-shaped head, and bright blue eyes. The coat is short in comparison to other long-haired cats–more medium length–and does not form a ruff. Also like the Siamese, most associations accept the full range of colors: the four traditional point colors of seal, blue, chocolate, and lilac, plus the less traditional colors such as red and cream, and patterns such as lynx (tabby) point and tortie point. However, the Cat Fanciers’ Association accepts only the four main Siamese colors; all other colors and patterns are considered Javanese.

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