Siamese breed guide

Siamese want to be with you, on you or involved in whatever you are doing and loud protests follow if you need time to yourself. They gravitate to the warmest spot in the house, most likely your lap. Their need for closeness goes beyond heat-seeking.

CFA says the best companion for a Siamese is a human or another Siamese, though many form close friendships with other pets.

CFA calls the Siamese unsurpassed at communicating with humans and often considers it the most intelligent of cats. It makes its desires known through body language or a large repertoire of vocalizations.

Siamese shed and need regular grooming, but no special equipment: wet your hands and stroke the coat until they dry, which gently removes dead hair. A rubber brush also works and bathing is only for show cats.

Most Siamese are healthy and breeders address two key issues. Progressive retinal atrophy, a recessive gene that can cause blindness, is detectable by genetic testing, so breeders remove carriers from the gene pool or breed them only to non-carriers.

Amyloidosis, which causes liver problems, is harder because research is still ongoing to find the responsible genes.

A historic Thai collection of cat poems from the Ayutthaya period is the first document of the breed. The first Siamese in the United States was Siam, given to President Rutherford B. Hayes by the American consul in Bangkok in 1878 and Siamese were turning up in Crystal Palace show catalogues in Britain at the same time.

The breed was among the first CFA recognized at its 1906 founding. Seal points were the only color at first and blue point followed in 1934, chocolate point in 1952 and lilac point in 1955.