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 Siamese Cats

Bailey			Bailey & Misha in the dirty laundry

Sam

Misha

Max (now in foster care with Benjy's parents)

Our Cats & body types

These are our three Siamese cats, Bailey, Sam, Misha and Max. You may notice that their coloring is similar, but Max looks doesn't have the same body features as as Sam and Bailey. The difference is due to the fact that there are different types of Siamese cats, and the names and definitions for these types are debated by Siamese owners all the time. The terms I am going to use in this page for the types are traditional, classic, and modern. See my Siamese Definitions for details on the types. According to these types, Bailey and Sam are modern, and Max is traditional.

Coloring

Regardless of body type, they all have the distinctive Siamese coloring on their points(nose, ears, paws, tail). This is most noticeable on Bailey, as he is young in this picture, and his body is still mostly white, with the coloring only on his points. As a Siamese grows older, they start to have their point coloring across their back and sides. Siamese are used as show cats while they are young and have a white body, as soon as they start to get coloring on their body, they will start losing points in the show.

Bailey is a chocolate point, his points are a chocolate brown color. The Picture makes them look black, but they are lighter in person. Sam and Max are both blue point, their points are a blue/grey color. There are many variations on the point color including lilac, color, flame, etc. One of the colorings that is different from the others is the seal point. The seal point has black points and a brown/black body, instead of the white body. This is one of the more traditional colorings, and when we post some pictures of Mesha you can see what it looks like.

Personality

Most Siamese have similar personality traits. They are people cats, they love being petted, they like to play, and are very vocal. Max is a little more subdued than the other two, he is more calm and quiet, unless he is hungry. Bailey and Sam fit the Siamese personality perfectly. They love people, and will go right up to strangers to try to get petted. They play all the time, they love toys, and actually play fetch!! You show me another breed that will do that. They are always talking, it seems like they do it sometimes just to hear their own voice. They are fun cats!

Here are the definitions for the three types of Siamese cats, from Sheelagh Le Cocq of the TSCA. Again, these are debatable and not everyone agrees on them or even these terms.

Traditional

The Traditional is also called the applehead, referring to it's round head shape. It's features usually consist of:

• large body
• round/apple shaped head
• large eyes
• thick legs
• medium length, thick tail
• short, thick, plush coat

Modern

The Modern, also called the wedgehead, is the current body type most commonly seen at a show. The Modern is easiest to identify as a Siamese, because of it's extreme features:

• long, tubular body
• wedge shaped head
• sunken eyes
• thin, long legs
• thin, long tail
• short, thin, silky coat

Classic

The Classic is a cross between the two other types. It has the body size of the Traditional, but also has the traits of the Modern, but not in as extreme of fashion:

• medium body, skinny but not extreme
• medium wedge shaped head, not as long as the Modern
• medium ears
• medium diamater, long length legs
• thin long tail
• medium coat, short, but not as thin as the modern

Basically, all of its features are medium and not extreme, but they do look much more like the Modern than the Traditional. Here is a picture from the TSCA page of a Classic for your reference: