Norwegian Forest Cat vs Turkish Van

This breed is marketed as a hardy, naturally-evolved landrace with few health problems, which is true for most individuals, but it carries a rare fatal metabolic disease that kills affected kittens in infancy or early kittenhood, and Cornell's feline health center also lists it among breeds with elevated hypertrophic cardiomyopathy risk — a DNA test exists for the fatal condition and there is no excuse for a breeder not to use it.

The Turkish Van's popular reputation as a friendly, water-loving lap cat doesn't fully match the data — a 2021 behavioral study found the breed scores above average for fearfulness and aggression toward humans and below average for sociability and stress tolerance, and solid-white individuals, especially blue-eyed ones, carry a well-documented elevated risk of congenital deafness.