Siamese Cats Seal Point

Seal Point Siamese cat - Photo by chexov

Seal point Siamese cats are the original Siamese cats it is said. In other words these were the non-purebred cats that were the domestic cat companions of people living in Siam (Thailand now) over a thousand years ago. The pointing is dark brown approaching black, a "dark seal brown". This is what makes the pointing so beautiful because it is in good contrast to the creamy white body colour.

Subsequent development of the breed through selective breeding to create a wide range of additional pointing colors is arguably less than successful. Some pointing is so subtle and broken as to be hardly pointing at all (e.g lynx pointing).

The Siamese is recognised in the pointed category, in all divisions and in all pointed colors, including seal, chocolate, lilac, blue (dilute seal?), cinnamon, fawn, red and cream. These base colors are sometimes broken with tortoiseshell pointing and tabby pointing (lynx). There are also shaded or chinchilla points, smoke points and particolor points.

The seal point Siamese cat is a "non-agouti black with the addition of the Siamese allele c^s. The genotype is aaB-c^sc^sD-.

You are probably aware that the dark extremities of the Siamese is due to the temperature dependance of the production of pigment that is deposited in the hair strands when the hair is produced. The temperature of the main body area is too high for the pigment to be produced. The Siamese is a seal colored cat but for the body temperature. You will see Siamese cats that are quite dark in overall body colour. I would expect the body color to be darker in cooler ambient temperatures. Newborns are all white as they are at body temperature in the womb.

The cat in the photo is a classic or traditional Siamese - see Siamese cat types.

Note: quotes are from Robinson's Genetics under fair use.