Flame Point Siamese Cat

Flame point Siamese
Flame Point Siamese Cat – photo ©bonsaibutterfly
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The photographs illustrating this post are by a Flickr photographer who lives with a fantastic looking cat who just happens to be a Flame Point Siamese. I won’t get as lucky again. The photographs are reproduced under a creative commons license.

The license permits no derivatives, no commercial work and it requires an attribution. I have complied with this. Many thanks to the photographer for granting the license.

She is talented, generous, and taken….I don’t know her name but this great cat is called Whitaker. OK down to business. There are a range of Siamese cat types as we know. Siamese cat history, charting the journey from Traditional through Classic (to me, this is the Thai cat) to Modern is interesting. Whitaker has a totally natural and gorgeous traditional appearance. You won’t get a more handsome cat. What makes him the way he is?

There is a lot of genetic work going on in a Flame point Siamese Cat. First there is the pointing. All Siamese cats have pointing. The classic is seal point, a dark brown to black pointing. The first Siamese cats to be imported into the West (the UK) were seal points. Two copies of the pointing gene (see below) makes a black cat a seal pointed cat.

The cat breeders of the cat fancy created the flame point (starting about 1948). Himalayan cats are pointed Persians, for example. You can see a flame pointed (red point) Doll Face Himalayan called Ayla by clicking on the link. Albinism is a caused by a lack of melanin pigmentation.

Pointing is partial albinism caused by the pointing gene, which affects the production of a chemical in the body called tyrosinase that in turn controls the production of melanin pigmentation. When both alleles (a pair of genes) of the pointing gene (cs) are present, pointing shows. It affects eye pigmentation too, hence Siamese cats are blue eyed.

We know how we get pointing but how does it turn orange/red in color? As I understand it (and this is a complex area) a Flame Point Siamese Cat is a red cat (or orange) carrying 2 copies (a pair) of the recessive pointing gene mentioned above. This turns the cat pure white at birth and the gene creating the red color comes through at the cooler extremities after birth as the pointing gene is heat sensitive (the extremities of a cat are cooler than the rest of the exterior of the body).

Whitaker has a ringed tail. This I believe is due to the presence of the agouti gene (tabby gene – see cat coats tabby). You can see the same pattern on the legs in the Lynx Point Siamese. His legs have faint tabby markings too. Finally, an archaic name for this cat is Flame Concha.

Here is another by Sunny Day Photography:

Flame point Siamese
Flame point Siamese. Photo: Sunny Day Photography.

Sources:

  • Wikipedia
  • Showcatsonline
  • ABOUT CAT

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140 thoughts on “Flame Point Siamese Cat”

  1. I had to comment on our wonderful kitty, Maude. We looked and looked until she came to us and we knew she was the one for us. Her mother was a marmalade polydactile cat, so she has an extra toe or two. Maude was pure white when she was born. She has blue eyes that look more white than blue. We thought she was deaf when she was a tiny kitten, as she did not respond to any sounds at all. I believe as her flame points became evident and her cool extremities warmed up, just like you said, her blood circulation to her ears increased. She is six months old now and she hears just fine. She comes when we call and is so affectionate. I didn’t know this could happen (we would have loved her in any event). She sleeps at the foot of our bed (and sometimes crawls up onto us at night…haha). Everyone thinks they have the best kitty ever, but we really do! 😉 Thanks for all of the thoughts and information, it has helped us learn more about our sweet kitten who is rapidly growing.

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  2. My tortoishell had this beautiful kitten. I think he’s a flame point. She also had a blue point and a seal point He is very loving

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    • Wow what a mother cat! Yes, there is faint Siamese type flame pointing. It is stronger on his tail. He’ll will probably develop into a nice flame point as he grows up. Thanks for showing us, Alisa.

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