Blue Point Male Siamese Cat

 
Photo by Lisa Brewster on Flickr.

I am guessing from this cat's facial appearance and body conformation that he is a male cat. What do you think?

One thing I needn't guess about is the fact that he has very nice blue pointing. It shows the difference between seal and blue very nicely.

You can see that blue is a sort of faded black which it is (dilute black in fact).

He looks like a classic to traditional Siamese cat (i.e. in between classic and traditional - see Siamese cat types). He is not as cobby as an Applehead Siamese in my opinion (or at least his face is too elongated to be a true Applehead) but neither is the face so rat-like as to be a modern Siamese. Sorry if that sounds like I am insulting modern Siamese - I am!

Thanks to the photographer for letting us use the picture.

Blue Point Traditional Siamese with Mild Squint

Che Che's photo set, a photo by AJ Franklin on Flickr.

The title says it all. It is hard to tell but this nice looking Applehead Siamese does have a slight squint (cross-eyed gaze).

This is not uncommon in Siamese cats. The cross-eyed look and kinked tail are part of the breed as are the pointed extremities.

Breeders of this cat breed out these so called defects.

My research indicates that the squint does not affect binocular vision (depth assessment).

Siamese Gray Seal Cat

People search for a Siamese gray seal cat. If you are one of those people you must mean a Blue Pointed Siamese cat. Blue is cat fancy language for gray and gray is dilute black or in this case diluted seal (very dark brown).

I have four short articles on the Blue Pointed Siamese cat (excluding this one). This might be more than four by the time you bump into this page.

One Seal and One Blue Point Siamese

Seal and Blue point Siamese - photo by Insomniac86 on Flickr.

This is a nice photograph of what I believe is a seal point Siamese on the left and a blue point Siamese on the right. The photo provides a nice reference point for the blue point against the seal.

These are two very good looking Siamese cats. They are modern Siamese in body conformation (oriental body type) although I have seen more slender.

Blue Tortie Tabby Point Siamese Cat

Blue tortie tabby point Siamese cat

Blue tortie tabby point Siamese cat (phew that's a mouth full) is shown above courtesy Wikimedia commons.

She is female and the photo is the work of Kamée.

The photo is fed direct from Wikimedia. If it dissappears please don't point the finger at me as they provide the code to embed images.

"Tortie" is short for tortoiseshell. Tortoiseshell is a type of coat cat pattern and color amongst other things.

You can't see a tortie coat in the pointing but the genes that created this form of Siamese cat pointing are the same or similar to those that create full blown tortie cat coats.

Tortoiseshell cats are nearly always female due to the gene being sex-linked. Tortie and tabby pointing is a modern concept. It leaves very subtle pointing far removed from the original seal point which is a solid (self) color.

See tortoiseshell cats and calico cats (tortie and white)

Blue Seal Point Siamese

A blue seal point Siamese cat is better described as a "blue point Siamese cat". You can see and read about the blue point Siamese on this page.

Blue Siamese Cats

Blue Point Siamese - Photo by SweetGirl©
This cat has some lynx pointing too.

Blue Siamese cats are not bright blue cats all over! I guess you knew that.....Blue means grey or grey/blue and it is an accepted color for the pointing of Siamese cats. It is one of the original color points going back to the mid 1900s. The other "original" colors are seal, chocolate and lilac. Seal, a dark brown or black, is the classic pointing for Siamese cats. The color blue in the cat fancy is a dilute black.

Blue is produced by the allele d "in the formula aaB-dd" (Robinson's Genetics). The color is black pigment (eumelanin) at a chemical level diluted by the effect of this gene. The pigment in the hair strands is clumped rather than evenly dispersed leaving colorless areas giving the dilute effect. Selective breeding can alter the degree of dilution.

The grey cat breeds are blue all over. Some cat associations allow a much wider range of color points that include lynx points (tabby pointing) and tortoiseshell pointing. The pointing is broken resulting in a cat that does not look like a Siamese.