Blue Point Modern Siamese Cat – photo copyright Helmi Flick
In addition to the blue pointed Siamese above, this cat breed can be seen in all the pointed colours including: seal, chocolate, lilac, cinnamon, fawn, red, cream, tortie, lynx, silver lynx, shaded or chinchilla, smoke and particolor points.
Of course, the eyes should be a brilliant sapphire blue. But the Siamese is known for a squint (crossed eyes). Cross eyes result in a penalty in competition (2010 – see Siamese Cat Health).
RELATED: Why Siamese cats are cross-eyed.
As can be seen this is not a roly-poly soft, static cat. This cat must, “feel hard as a rock” (Gloria Stephens – legacy of the cat). She also says that the Siamese is a demanding cat. Yes and no. It depends on how much interaction you want yourself. That said a Siamese cat’s demands are usually satisfied with plenty of stroking and contact – plus excellent cat food: See a list of cat foods the most knowledgeable cat food expert gives her cats 2022.
Dr Bruce Fogle
Dr Bruce Fogle in The Enyclopedia of The Cat calls this breed, “energetically enterprising”. He also says that records of blue pointed Siamese cats go back to 1903. These would not be modern Siamese cats however, but traditionally shaped cats (history). The dilute gene (the gene that turns black to blue) probably came to the west with the Thai cats. It is recognised by all the major cat associations, of course.
Genetics
The genetic symbol for the dilution gene is bb. This gene directs that the pigment granules within each hair strand are deposited unevenly in clumps of varying size along the length of the hair shaft. Part of the hair shaft may be very sparsely pigmented. They may lack pigmentation altogether. To the human eye this gives the impression that the coat is diluted. It modifies the colour to a lighter shade because more light is allowed to pass through each hair shaft.
In cats which are homozygous for this allele, black becomes blue. This is why the pointing becomes a very faint shade of blue. Further, chocolate becomes lilac, cinnamon becomes fawn and red becomes cream.
You do not get this clumping of pigment granules in the eye. And therefore, eye colour is not paler or diluted as it is for the coat. The dilute gene is recessive.
Modern Siamese
I have called this cat a “modern Siamese”. People should realise that cat breeders and people in the cat fancy do not recognise that terminology. You might say that it is a ‘contemporary Siamese’ to differentiate it from the old-style Siamese or the Applehead Siamese. However, the cat fancy administrators such as those working at the CFA would not describe this cat as a ‘modern Siamese’. They would simply refer to this breed as ‘the’ Siamese because they do not recognise any other appearance. It is however a particularly slender variant of the original Siamese.
Link to Asian countries
Although the Siamese cat that we see on this page is very refined through many years of selective breeding, genetically speaking the Siamese, Balinese (long-haired Siamese), Burmese, Tonkinese, Singapura (the smallest cat breed), Korat and the Birman are closely related to the street cats in Singapore, Korea, Vietnam and China. It is believed that the Siamese pointed coat pattern originates in Asia from about, at least, 500 years ago. It is of course strongly associated with Thailand formally Siam. They were brought to the West in the 19th century. In the 1920s only pointed cats with blue eyes could use the name Siamese.
