Index

Sonny

What are the main characteristics of a Siamese Cat

High on the list has got to be affection - All Siamese cats thoroughly enjoy and feel a need to be around people and so if deprived of this they will undoubtedly look for companionship. Making a life long and a very loyal friend, in a Siamese there is so much affection and love that is freely given.

Extrovert - should be the middle name of every Siamese, no I rephrase that 'delightfully extrovert' is more to the point. A Siamese will bring so much joy to your life, there can never be another breed to match them. Depression is not allowed in the home of a Siamese cat owner, there is no time for that with your cat bringing a warmth to your heart on the coldest and worst days of the week. Siamese are vocal but no where near as vocal as people think, it is a lovely gentle conversation most of the time. Unless of course the cat is calling then it sounds very similar to the grating high pitch of a new born baby. Siamese do not talk all the time, they speak when they have got something to say, like "Where is my lunch ?" followed by, "What is there no chicken ?"

Siamese are very intelligent and therefore they like to sleep in a warm place, finding their own favorite spots, ie on top of the video, sky box, a warm patch in the sun, a radiator cradle, or like ours with the addition of two luxury heated bed

Indoor or Outdoor ?

Should a Siamese cat be allowed outside. most definitely yes - but he should be allowed out to roam freely then most definitely no !

We are lucky in the fact that our back garden is totally cat proof and our cats and the kittens can have the freedom to wander in and out as they please and it is great on warm sunny days to have the door open all the time.

However it is a sad fact that the majority of cats who are roaming outside will very tragically loose their life to traffic one way or another.

Because of their natures Siamese are not well suited to a very quiet lifestyle unless they have another feline companion.

History

The Siamese is considered by many to be a "natural" breed - one that developed without the intervention of man. Pictures of seal-point Siamese cats appear in the manuscript "Cat-Book Poems", written in Siam (now Thailand) sometime between 1350 and 1700.

There are a great many legends regarding the origin of the breed - especially the crossed eyes and kinked tails. According to some of the legends, the Siamese cat guarded Buddhist temples and was considered sacred and therefore were only kept by priests and royalty.

Kinks in their tails are put down to the fact that when bathing the princesses would look for some where safe to put their rings... on to the cats tail and the obliging Siamese cat would then curl its tail round the ring, creating a pip is the end of the tail.

The crossed eyes are said to come from a Siamese cat called Chula, who was left in charge and over looking a treasure when her mate Tien disappeared for weeks. One his return poor Chula had gone crossed eyed in her determination to guard the sacred cup. In addition she had wrapped her tail around the stem of the cup and being in this position for so long her tail had taken on a distinct kink. It was during this time that Chula gave birth to six kittens, all born with kinked tails and crossed eyes.

I came across a few more 'legends' recently ..

The creation of the Siamese cat was recently associated to Noah’s Ark saga

The legend says that the animals in the ark were bored during the long voyage, and they tried to find ways to reduce the boredom. The first Siamese cat was brought to the world after the ape fell in love with the lioness and mated with her. It was said that he had the character of the ape and the courage of the lioness. This made me laugh, totally not possible and a very tongue in cheek tale but ohh how very true of the temperament of a wonderful Siamese

The Siamese cat’s blue eyes are a gift from the Gods

The Siamese cats defended the temple altars in Siam from invaders. The success was so enormous, that the priests, who wanted to show their gratitude, prayed devoutly to the Gods. The Gods rewarded the Siamese cats with blue eyes to enhance their beauty.

Siamese cats received the soul of a high rank person when he died

Siamese cats were the guardians of the temples in ancient Siam. The legend says that when a person of high rank died, his soul passed on to a Siamese cat. That Siamese was no longer a guardian. Instead, he was being sent to one of the temples to enjoy luxury and top quality food for the rest of his life, having monks and priests as his servants.

The first Siamese cats appeared in the West in the mid-to-late 1800s. Though initially described as "an unnatural, nightmare kind of cat", because first seen in artificial light their blues eyes turned red giving a nightmare appearance. A fantastic breed it is no wonder they quickly became popular with fanciers, even though the early cats were delicate and subject to health problems.

Photographs from the late 1880s of some of the first cats to be imported from Siam show the thick, round heads and solid, muscular bodies that distinguish the Traditional Siamese from today's show Siamese.

As the Siamese breed has developed over the years, there have been many changes, some breeders have preferred the rounder look, whilst others have preferred a slender look with a wedge-shaped head. During the 1950s and 1960s, as the differences became even more pronounced: show breeders developed an extremely slender cat with a very long, triangular head, almond-shaped eyes, and flaring ears. This look caught on with show-oriented Siamese breeders and with judges. Other breeders, who did not like the new look, continued to breed the larger, round-headed cats. These "Traditional" breeders found that their cats were no longer competitive in the show ring and stopped showing. A great many also stopped registering their cats, though they continued their breeding programs with their existing purebred Siamese stock.

It is felt by some breed enthusiasts that in gaining the extravagant show style Siamese are loosing their stamina and care must be taken by conscientious breeders to aim for health and longevity as a prime concern.

It is with this in mind that we are breeding from good solid lines, as like other show breeders over the years we have had our heartaches, in the loss of a much loved flashy show /breeding girls. Girls who have been neutered as breeding was never an option for them and, recently a beautiful Champion girl who had a closed pyometra which is a womb infection that happens very suddenly and without any warning. This is one of the reasons why cats not intended for breeding should be neutered.

Traditional style Siamese kittens

Today, traditional Siamese cats are somewhat rare, though they seem to be making a comeback, as the breed is popular with pet buyers and becoming more popular again with breeders who realize the need for these strong pedigrees to be occasionally re-introduced to the show lines again.

Traditional Siamese are purebred cats, who are descended from the original cats imported from Siam.

Genetics

The "pointing" gene creates the distinct colour pattern that distinguishes the Siamese breed. This gene is recessive: two pointed parents will always produce pointed kittens.

Siamese kittens are born white - the gene that produces the "points" on the face, paws, and tail is heat sensitive, and the point colour gradually develops on the cooler extremities of the body. In some breeding lines, and in warmer climates, the point colour may not fully develop until the cat is over a year old.

Older cats have a darker body colour than young cats and kittens, though there is still a marked contrast between the body colour and the point colour.

It is interesting to know that the Seal Point Siamese is genetically a black cat, but the pointing gene causes the colour to manifest almost exclusively on the points. As the cat matures, the creamy body colour will usually give way to a light shade of the point colour, particularly with seal and blue points.

thank you to Siamese Cats World for the more recent legends.