History
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.
It is often said that the breed was first seen outside their Asian home in 1884, when the British Consul-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 (Veley went on to co-found the Siamese Cat Club in 1901). However, in 1878, U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes received "Siam", a gift from the American Consul in Bangkok; this cat was also the first documented Siamese to reach the United States, and predates the Siamese's arrival to the UK by 6 years.
In 1885, Veley's UK cats Pho and Mia produced three Siamese kittens. These kittens – Duen Ngai, Kalohom, and Khromata – and their parents were shown that same year at London's Crystal Palace Show, where their unique appearance and distinct behavior made a huge impression. Unfortunately, all three of the kittens died soon after the show. The reason for their deaths is not documented.
By 1886, another pair (with kittens) were imported to the UK 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 types, 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". These striking cats also won some devoted fans and over the next several years fanciers imported a small number of cats, which together 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.
Modern development
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 very long, very thin tail that tapers gradually into a point 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.
The International Cat Association (TICA), in addition to the regular Siamese 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. The Thai is also recognized by the World Cat Federation. 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.
Description
The breed standard of the Modern Siamese indicates an elegant, slim, stylish, flexible and well muscled body. Its head is triangular shaped, with a thin snout. The eyes are almond-shaped and oblique, the ears large and thin. It has a long neck, body and tail. The hair is short, glossy, fine, soft, tight and adhered to the body. The Siamese is characterized by its typical pointed color scheme.
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 flame 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 Colorpoint Shorthairs in the American cat fancy.
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.
The Thai or Traditional Siamese shares some features with the Modern Siamese (e.g., the color pattern) but differs from it by their rounded shapes. It has a more compact body and an applehead, with full and rounded cheeks, shorter snout, ears high, but not huge. The eyes are medium to slightly large, a very full almond shape, but not oriental.
Temperament
Siamese are affectionate and intelligent cats, renowned for their social nature. Many enjoy being with people and are sometimes described as "extroverts". As there are extrovert Siamese, there also are some that have very sensitive and nervous temperaments. Those individuals may not easily adapt to the changes of environment or to strangers. They do have a great need for human companionship. Often they bond strongly to a single person. Most Siamese like to have other sociable cats for company and do not thrive as only cats owned by people who are gone much of the day. Siamese 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. These cats are typically active and playful, even as adults.
Shan Shein - White House cat owned by Gerald Ford's daughter, Susan
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. The mutation in the tyrosinase also results in abnormal neurological connections between the eye and the brain. Unlike blue-eyed white cats, Siamese cats do not have reduced hearing ability. The deafness that sometimes occurs in completely white cats is a result of the genetics that causes the loss of pigment cells in the skin, which has nothing to do with the tyrosinase gene defect that causes Siamese color. Regardless, being dependent on humans may have been a survival trait for ancestors of the Siamese.
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 Cheesman 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.
- Colorpoint 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 Colorpoint 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-Maat, which represents the early 20th century Siamese, and can still be found in Thailand catteries (in Thailand called Wichien-Maat) Thaikatze
Misty Malarky Ying Yang, pet of Amy Carter, daughter of US President Jimmy CarterFamous Siamese cats
- Jason - Seal-point on BBC TV's Blue Peter
- 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
- Marcus, briefly owned by James Dean, was a gift from Elizabeth Taylor. Marcus was named after James Dean's uncle, Marcus Winslow, who along with his wife took care of Dean after his mother died.
- Misty Malarky Ying Yang, pet of Amy Carter, daughter of US President Jimmy Carter
- Nemo, travelling companion of British Prime Minister Harold Wilson
- Shan Shein - White House cat owned by Gerald Ford's daughter, Susan.
