Siamese Unique Cats

The unique feature of the Siamese Cat has always been its coat pattern, with a pale body contrasting dramatically with the pigmented ‘points’ (the face ‘mask’, the ears, paws and tail). They are, in fact partial albino animals, not quite at the extreme end of the albino spectrum, which would render them completely white and free of pigment everywhere including the eyes. To express their unique colour distribution they must be homozygous for, that is must possess both of a pair of the unique Siamese genes. If they have only one of these genes (as a kitten born of one Siamese and one non-Siamese parent does) the Siamese coat pattern does not appear. Siamese patterned cats were first imported into this count ry in the nineteenth century from the Far East, at which time the body and head type of the animals was rather more like that of cats found here, but selective breeding has produced the type now regarded as ideal, but of course has not altered the basic gene controlling the pattern.

The original Siamese cat were all seal points, that is, their points were the rich warm ‘seal brown’
colour, while the contrasting body was a warm creamy shade. What has changed in the coats
over the years is the addition of several new colours to the points. It became evident that there was a recessive colour gene around and occasionally, when a cat inherited one from each parent so as to have a matched pair of these, its points altered to grey, or ‘blue’ as we now call them, while the body was a cooler shade that is now described as ‘glacial’. A different colour gene, also recessive so only evident when a cat inherited a matching pair, made the points a soft ‘milk chocolate’ shade, while the body was what is described as ivory. Where a cat possessed matched pairs of genes for both chocolate and blue, the points evidenced a pale pinkish grey shade now known as lilac, while the body assumed a pale magnolia tone.

Siamese Cat

The red gene was later introduced and resulted in animals that had rich red points and off white bodies, while in combination with a pair of blue genes it resulted in the cream points. Presence of the red gene, which is unique in that it happens by chance to be attached to the X chromosome has, of course, also resulted in the appearance of tortoiseshell points in females that possess only one X chromosome that codes for red while the other does not (if both code for red then she is of course a red point). The gene coding for tabby pattern was introduced a few decades ago and the Tabby pointed Siamese are now well established and popular, and the tabby pattern may occur in any of the colours mentioned in these three paragraphs.

Yet more recessive genes have been identified and been selected for in recent years, resulting in subtle variations in the points colours, with cinnamon (modified to fawn in the presence of a pair of the blue genes) and caramel (that appears different in presence of blue or lilac gene pairs, and modifies red to apricot) points ,all identified recently. Finally the addition of longer hair, requiring a yet different matched pair of recessive genes, has produced the Balinese cats and these, too, may have any of the colours or patterns found in their Siamese cousins. The Siamese breed has not hoarded its unique pattern gene to itself but by cross breeding it has donated it to the Persians to produce the lovely Colourpointed Longhairs, to the British to produce British Colourpoints and to the Rex breeds to produce pointed varieties of these.

Siamese Cat Body Shape

Now let us turn to the shape, or ‘type’ of the Siamese. This is controlled by multiple genes quite different from those involved in pattern, colour or coat length and is influenced significantly by selective breeding. The original Siamese were in type somewhat similar to the cats already found in the West. Selective breeding has developed the type that is described as ideal in the Standard, and this now lies at one extreme end of the range of types found in pedigreed cats. At the opposite end of the type range are the Persians, who have rounded heads, extremely short noses, prominent profile breaks, small upstanding ears, big, round eyes, short, strong legs and bodies and neat short thick tails.

 In contrast, our Siamese should have heads that are not round, but are relatively long, retaining breadth at the top, ideally an equilateral triangles, pointing downwards to the nose leather, with large, open ears placed on the upper two angles of the triangle and flaring outwards, pointing approximately north-east and north-west as it were.

Siamese cats

The relatively longer muzzle sometimes may lack depth, or, if the sides are not straight, may throw the cheek bones into undue prominence, creating what is called a ‘pinch’. Both these features are undesirable; the muzzle should ideally be ‘deep’ and strong, while the lines of the wedge from the base of the ear to the nose leather should be perfectly straight or ‘even’. Their profiles should be a long straight line with no bump or break, while the eyes should have an almond shape and should be inclined to the horizontal, pointing from the ear bases toward the nose, giving a mysterious, enigmatic, ‘oriental’ look to contrast with the direct, bold look of the round eyed breeds.

The neck and body should be long and elegant, though firmly muscled, and should stand on long slim limbs, the rear legs being slightly longer than the fore ones, with neat paws , while the tail should be long and gracefully tapered, described as a ‘whip’. This, for balance, should be of a length that allows the tip to reach the cat’s shoulder if brought forward. From the description of the Persian and Oriental/Siamese types, one might almost be describing a different species, rather than different examples of one species, don’t you think.

You ad here Siamese Unique Cats Search article Siamese Unique Cats with url https://carecatdogs.blogspot.com/2012/05/siamese-unique-cats.html,Dont Copy Paste this article Siamese Unique Cats This article protected google DMCA Siamese Unique Cats Thanks You.