Videos Siamese Breed Information
Country of origin -
Thailand
Breed standards -
AACE, CFA, ACFA, TICA, CCA,
ACF, PREOSSIA,TCCI,FIFe, GCCF
The Siamese is one of the first distinctly
recognised breeds of Oriental cat. The
exact origins of the breed are unknown, but it is believed to be
from Southeast Asia, and is said
to be descended from the sacred temple cats of Siam (now Thailand). In Thailand, where they are one of
several native breeds, they are called Wichien-maat
("Moon diamond"). In the
twentieth century the Siamese cats became one of the most popular
breeds in Europe and North America.
1. The Breed
1. 1. Description
All Siamese have a creamy base coat with coloured points on their snouts, ears, paws and lower
legs, tails and (in males) scrota. The pointed pattern is a form of partial
albinism, resulting from a mutation in
tyrosinase, an enzyme involved in melanin production. The mutated enzyme is
heat-sensitive; it fails to work at normal body temperatures, but becomes active in
cooler areas of the skin. This results in dark colouration in
the coolest parts of the cat's body, including the extremities
and the face, which is cooled by the passage of air through the
sinuses. All Siamese kittens, although pure cream or white at birth,
develop visible points in the first few months of life in colder
parts of their body. By the time a kitten is four weeks old the
points should be clearly distinguishable enough to recognise which
colour they are. Siamese cats tend to darken with age, and
generally adult Siamese living in warm climates have lighter coats
than those in cool climates.
Originally the vast majority of Siamese had seal (extremely dark brown, almost
black) points, but occasionally Siamese were born with blue (a cool grey) points, genetically
a dilution of seal point; chocolate (lighter brown) points, a
genetic variation of seal point; or lilac (pale warm gray) points,
genetically a diluted chocolate. These colours were at first
considered "inferior" seal points, and were not qualified
for showing or breeding. All of these shades were eventually
accepted by the breed associations, and became more common through
breeding programmes specifically aimed at producing these colours.
Later, outcrosses with other breeds developed Siamese-mix cats with
points in other cat colours and patterns including red point, lynx (tabby) point, and
tortoise-shell
("tortie") point. In the United Kingdom, all pointed Siamese-style
cats are considered to be part of the Siamese breed. In the
United States, the major cat
registry, the Cat
Fanciers' Association, considers only the four original
colourations as Siamese: seal point, blue point, chocolate point,
and lilac point. Oriental cats with
colourpoints in colours or patterns aside from these four are
considered Colourpoint
Shorthairs in the American cat fancy.
Siamese have almond-shaped, bright blue eyes and short, flat-lying
coats. Many Siamese cats from Thailand had a kink in their tails
but over the years this trait has been considered to be a flaw and
breeders have largely eradicated it, although it persists among
street cats in Thailand. Many early Siamese were cross-eyed to
compensate for the abnormal uncrossed wiring of the optic chiasm, which is produced by the same
albino allele
that produces coloured points. Like the kinked tails, the crossed
eyes have been seen as a fault and through selective breeding, the
trait is far less common today.
1. 2. Temperament
Siamese are affectionate and intelligent cats, renowned for
their social nature. They enjoy being with people and are sometimes
described as "extroverts". They are extremely vocal, with
a loud, low-pitched voice - known as "Meezer", from which
they get one of their nicknames - that has been compared to the
cries of a human baby, and persistent in demanding attention. They
also have a great need for human companionship. Often they bond
strongly to a single person. These cats are typically active and
playful, even as adults.
The social orientation of Siamese cats may be related to their
lessened ability to live independent of humans. Siamese coat
colouration is appealing to humans, but is ineffective for camouflage purposes. They are less
active at night than most cats,
possibly because their blue eyes lack a tapetum lucidum, a structure which
amplifies dim light in the eyes of other cats. Like blue-eyed white
cats, they may also have reduced hearing ability. Therefore, being
dependent on humans may have been a survival trait for ancestors of
the Siamese.
1. 3. History
Siamese cats (in Thai,
or wichien-maat) have existed for centuries in
Thailand (formerly Siam). The pointed
cat known in the West as "Siamese" is one of several
breeds of cats from Siam described and illustrated in manuscripts
called "Tamra Maew" (Cat Poems), estimated to have been
written in the 1700s.
The breed was first seen outside their Asian home in 1884, when the British Counsul-General in Bangkok, Edward Blencowe Gould (1847-1916)
, brought a breeding pair of the cats, Pho and Mia, back to
Britain as a gift for his sister, Lilian Jane Veley (who went on to
be co-founder of the Siamese Cat
Club in 1901). Just one year later,
three kittens were produced by Pho and Mia. These kittens - Duen
Ngai, Kalohom, and Khromata - and their parents were shown at the
Crystal Palace Show in
1885, where they made a huge impression
because of their unique appearance and distinct behavior.
Unfortunately, all three of the kittens died soon after the show.
The reason for their deaths is not documented .
The following year another pair (with kittens) were imported by
a Mrs. Vyvyan and her sister. Compared to the British Shorthair and Persian cats that were familiar to most
Britons, these Siamese imports were longer and less
"cobby" in body, had heads that were less round with
wedge-shaped muzzles and had larger ears. These differences and the
pointed coat pattern which had not been seen before by Westerners,
produced a strong impression--one early viewer described them as
"an unnatural nightmare of a cat". But these striking
cats also won some devoted fans and over the next several years
fanciers imported a small number of cats, which together these
formed the base breeding pool for the entire breed in Britain. It
is believed that most Siamese in Britain today are descended from
about eleven of these original imports. Several sources give
Gould's brother Owen Nutcombe Gould (1857-1929) as the British
Consul-General in Bangkok, but Owen was only 27 in 1884 and not
known to be in Bangkok. In their early days in Britain they were
called the "Royal Cat of Siam", reflecting reports that
they had previously been kept only by Siamese royalty.
Later research has not shown evidence of any organised royal breeding programme in Siam.
The original Siamese imports were, like their descendants in
Thailand today, medium-sized, rather long-bodied, muscular,
graceful cats with moderately wedge-shaped heads and ears that were
comparatively large but in proportion to the size of the head. The
cats ranged from rather substantial to rather slender but were not
extreme in either way.
In the 1950s - 1960s, as the Siamese was increasing in
popularity, many breeders and cat show judges began to favor the
more slender look and as a result of generations of selective
breeding, created increasingly long, fine-boned, narrow-headed
cats; eventually the modern show Siamese was bred to be extremely
elongated, with thin, tubular bodies, long, slender legs, a
whip-thin tail and long, narrow, wedge-shaped heads topped by
extremely large, wide-set ears. The major cat organisations altered
language and/or interpretation of their official breed standards to
favor this newer streamlined type of Siamese, and the minority of
breeders who stayed with the original style found that their cats
were no longer competitive in the show ring.
By the mid-1980s, cats of the original style had disappeared
from cat shows, but a few breeders, particularly in the UK,
continued to breed and register them, resulting in today's two
types of Siamese - the modern "show-style" Siamese, and
the "traditional" Siamese, both descended from the same
distant ancestors, but with few or no recent ancestors in common.
In the late 1980s, breeders and fans of the older style of Siamese
organised in order to preserve old, genetically healthy lines from
extinction, educate the public about the breed's history and
provide information on where people could buy kittens of the more
moderate type. Several different breeders' organisations have
developed, with differing breed standards and requirements (such as
whether or not cats must have documented proof of ancestry from an
internationally recognised registry). Partially due to such
disagreements, there are several different names used for the cats,
including "Traditional Siamese", "Old Style
Siamese", "Classic siamese" and
"Appleheads" (originally a derogatory nickname coined by
modern-type Siamese breeders as an exaggerated description of less
extremely wedge-shaped heads). The popularity of the older body
style has also led to pointed mixed-breed cats that may have few or
no Siamese ancestors being sold as "Traditional Siamese"
to uninformed buyers, further increasing confusion over what a
"real" Siamese looks like.
The International Cat Association (TICA), in addition to the
regular Siamese (Siamkatze) breed category in which modern show-style
Siamese are shown, now accept a breed in the Preliminary New Breed
Category called Thai, similar to the Thaikatze
which are seen in Europe. The TICA Thai is recognised, which
includes Siamese cats of the less extreme type or a Wichien-Maat
imported from Thailand. A copy of the Thai Breed Standard can be
found at The Prestwick-Beresford Old-Style Siamese Breed
Preservation Society . Thai, are the original type of cats from
Thailand, brought to America on January 3, 1879 as a gift from the
American consul in Bangkok to the President's wife, Mrs. Lucy
Webb Hayes, and are still bred and seen in Thailand today.
2. Other breeds derived from the Siamese
* Balinese - a longhaired
Siamese. In the largest US registry, the Cat Fanciers Association
(CFA), limited to the four traditional Siamese coat colours of seal
point, blue point (a dilute of seal point), chocolate point and
lilac point (a dilute of chocolate point). Other registries in the
US and worldwide recognise a greater diversity of colours.
* Burmese is a breed of
domesticated cats descended from a specific cat, 'Wong
Mau', who was found in Burma in 1930 by Dr. Joseph G. Thompson.
She was brought to San Francisco, California, where she was bred
with Siamese. While technically not derived from Siamese, the breed
was considered to be a form of Siamese for many years, leading to
cross-breeding.
* Colourpoint Shorthair -
a Siamese-type cat registered in CFA with pointed coat colours
aside from the traditional CFA Siamese coat colours; originally
developed by crosses with other shorthair cats. Considered to be
part of the Siamese breed in all other cat associations, but
considered a separate breed in CFA. Variations can include Lynx
Points and Tortie Points.
* Himalayan - Long-haired
breed originally derived from crosses of Persians to Siamese and
pointed domestic longhair cats in order to introduce the point
markings and the colours chocolate and lilac. After these initial
crosses were used to introduce the colours, further breed
development was performed by crossing these cats only to the
Persian breed. In Europe they are referred to as colourpoint
Persians. In CFA they are a colour division of the Persian
breed.
* Javanese - a longhaired
version of the Colourpoint
Shorthair in CFA. In Europe, an obsolete term for the
longhaired version of the Oriental
Shorthair.
* Ocicat - a spotted cat originally
produced by a cross between Siamese and Abyssinian.
* Old Style Siamese - The
Old-Style Siamese (OSS) also known as Thai, are the original type
of cats from Thailand, brought to America on January 3, 1879 as a
gift from the American consul in Bangkok to the President's
wife, Mrs. Lucy Webb Hayes, and are still bred and seen in Thailand
today.
* Oriental Shorthair - a
Siamese-style cat in non-pointed coat patterns and colours,
including solid, tabby, silver/smoke, and tortoise-shell.
* Oriental Longhair - a
longhaired version of the Oriental
Shorthair.
* Snowshoe - a cream and
white breed with blue eyes and some points that was produced
through the cross-breeding of the Siamese and bi-coloured American Shorthair in the 1960s.
* Tonkinese - a cross
between a Siamese cat and a Burmese. The Tonkinese are
"pointed" cats but their bodies are of a darker colour
than the Siamese.
* Thai Cat - A pointed cat also called
the Thaikatzen or Wichien-Matt, which represents the early 20th
century Siamese, and can still be found in Thailand catteries (in
Thailand calld Wichien-Maat) Thaikatze
3. Famous Siamese cats
* Bucky Katt from Get Fuzzy
* Genghis - Growltiger's enemy in Old Possum's Book
of Practical Cats by T. S.
Eliot
* Jason - Seal-point on BBC TV's Blue Peter
* Kit, the "familiar spirit" of the main characters in
Charmed
* Koko & Yum-Yum - from Lillian Jackson Braun's
"The Cat Who..."
novels
* Lalage, owned by the writer Anthony Burgess, taken by him to Malaya. After a long life she died in Kota Bharu, just across the border from
Siam
* Misty Malarky Ying Yang, pet of Amy
Carter, daughter of US President Jimmy Carter
* Nemo, travelling companion of British Prime Minister Harold Wilson
* Pyewacket, the
witch's familiar in the film Bell, Book and Candle
* Tao, from Sheila Burnford's novel The Incredible Journey
* Sagwa in the children's book Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese
Cat by Amy Tan and animated TV
series of the same name
* Shan Shein - White House cat owned by Gerald Ford's daughter, Susan
* Si and Am - the havoc-wreaking
Siamese duo from Lady and the
Tramp
* Syn, who played the title role of "D.C." in the 1965
Walt Disney film That Darn
Cat!
* Solange from 9 Chickweed
Lane
* Henry - from the children's book Cross Country Cat by Mary
Calhoun
* Skippyjon Jones from the
series of the same name
* Isis, Catwoman's thieving pet appears as a Siamese cat in
Krypto the Superdog.
Copyright (c) 2008 Kitt Killion Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
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