Print

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

1042 love it

Sox

765 love it

Lemieux

332 love it

Tess

319 love it

Enteng

308 love it

Kimi

186 love it

Squiggle

150 love it

Walle

141 love it

Cotton

138 love it

Minxie

136 love it

Skippy

135 love it

Darcy

133 love it

Nina

131 love it

Scarlet

128 love it

Milo

128 love it

Oscar

114 love it

Chi-lai

107 love it

Trini Boy

105 love it

Cotton

105 love it

Ziggy

48 love it

Lucha

39 love it

Lily

31 love it

Shiva

31 love it

Cullen

30 love it

Mina

30 love it

Keke

29 love it

Cutzie

24 love it

Cutzie

22 love it

Kinkx

20 love it

Puma

20 love it

Sox

19 love it

Chic

19 love it

Frankie

18 love it

Casper

18 love it

Tittle Mutt Mutt

18 love it

Yoda And Babydoll

17 love it

Paulie

12 love it

Minxie

8 love it

Coco

8 love it

Minxie

8 love it

Mr. Kittie Bojangles

7 love it

Mesha & Priscilla

6 love it

Calla Lily

6 love it

Yin

3 love it

Derby

3 love it

Meeko

2 love it

Brandy

2 love it

Maximus

2 love it

Frankie

1 love it

Yogi Bear

1 love it

Pharty

1 love it

Tiki

1 love it

Frankie

Physical Characteristics

The Siamese cat has strikingly large ears and attractive baby blue eyes. Its sleek, slim figure is accentuated by its short, fine coat with long tapering lines. The coat comes in four traditional colors: seal, chocolate, blue, and lilac point -- a pale body color with relatively darker extremities; i.e., the face, ears, feet and tail.

Personality and Temperament

This is an outgoing, social cat which relies heavily on human companionship. It is a born chatterbox, loving to communicate with those around it. However, this is not a cat to have if you're not home often, as it gets lonely and sad fairly easily. The cat needs to be handled carefully, but when it is shown love, patience and care, it makes an ideal companion.

History and Background

This world famous cat has a long and colorful history. As its name suggests, the cat originally came from Thailand (formerly known as Siam). Its interesting appearance and demeanor caused the cat to be adored by royalty. When a member of the royal family died, it was also thought a Siamese cat would receive this person's soul. The cat would then be moved to a temple, spending the rest of its life in luxury, with monks and priests as servants.

Other myths try to explain some of its fascinating characteristics. One such myth tells of how a Siamese cat, having the duty of guarding the royal vase, curled its tail around it and gazed at it so intensely that its eyes became crossed. Yet another tells of Siamese cats guarding rings belonging to a royal princess. The cats slid the rings on their tail, and developed tail kinks to keep the rings from falling off.

The Siamese has also made it to the Cat Book of Poems, a manuscript written between 1350 and 1767. It describes a slim cat with dark coloring on its ears, tail and feet, and a pale body.

It is not known exactly when this fabled cat made its first appearance in Britain. The earliest documented account, however, tells of a pair of Siamese cats given to the sister of a British consul general in Bangkok in 1884. These cats were exhibited the following year in London. Although, there is earlier evidence indicating the Siamese cat was exhibited in the first cat show in 1871 at Crystal Palace in London, where it ultimately received a dismal reception. The attendees were said to have been disgusted with "an unnatural, nightmare kind of cat."

Despite the abrupt and unwelcoming start, the Siamese quickly began to gain regional popularity. The first British Standard -- an abstract aesthetic ideal for the animal type -- describes the Siamese as a "striking-looking cat of medium size, if weighty, not showing bulk, as this would detract from the admired svelte appearance ... also distinguished by a kink in the tail."

The first Siamese cat in America was reportedly given to Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes (the First Lady to the nineteenth president of the United States) in 1878 by the U.S. Consul, David Stickles, living the rest of its days in the White House. In the 1900s, Siamese cats participated in various cat shows and today, occupies the top place among short haired cat breeds. Due to its popularity, the Siamese breed has been used to form many modern cat breeds including the Ocicat, Himalayan, Burmese, Tonkinese, Korat, Snowshoe, and myriad Oriental breeds (Oriental Shorthair, Oriental Longhair, Colorpoint Shorthair, Colorpoint Longhair, Balinese, and Javanese).