The First Siamese Cats of the Cat Fancy

Cat history is often annoyingly vague unless the cat breed was created through selective breeding on the back of hybridization. The Siamese cat, though is a naturally occurring type of cat with dark fur at the extremities of its body and which was found in Siam (Thailand) for centuries. Of course it may have occurred elsewhere in the Orient. But we know that someone from the West saw the cat and wanted to import it to Europe, specifically England. We are talking about the 1880s.

1889 Siamese cat - Illustration by Harrison Weir.

The first person or one of the first people to import the Siamese cat to the West was Mrs Vyvyan. She lived in Dover, Kent, on the south coast of England. We can say this with some certainty because she is quoted directly by the founder of the world cat fancy, Harrison Weir, in his book Our Cats and all about them (that is how the title looks by the way. I have shortened it a bit). You won't get a better authority than that because the book's author was the number one authority about cat breeds at the time and the date the book was published was 1889. He wrote about something that had just happened. It was fresh news and the section on the Siamese cat in his book features the Siamese and its history to a greater extent than the other breeds he refers to. The Siamese was a novelty at the time and was considered rather exotic.

Mrs Vyvyan says that she believes that the Siamese cats that she acquired came from the King's Palace (the King of Siam - hence the "Royal Siamese cat"). The fact that the King kept Siamese cats indicates that these cats were looked upon as special in Siam. They may have been quite a rare mutation to the ordinary domestic cat in that country.

There are a number of Siamese cat history stories one of which I mention on my Siamese cat history page about the British Consular General who was departing to England and who was given Siamese cats by the King. I don't know how this squares up with Mrs Vyvyan's account of the matter as referred to in Harrison Weir's book. Perhaps someone can leave a comment and clarify the matter.

Let's say that Mrs Vyvyan was one of the first importers if not the first. Her words therefore about the breed carry weight and provide an insight into the health, character and appearance of the original Siamese cats in Siam.

In summary - you can read more on this page - she says that they were loyal and dog-like of character. This reflects the modern assessment of this breeds character. As to health she confirms what Lady Neville says (is Mrs Vyvyan, lady Neville?) that the early Siamese cats had a bad attack of intestinal parasites  - worms. This was a particular and concerning problem. A number of cats died of worms and at the time there was no cure but John Jennings in his book, Domestic Cats and Fancy Cats mentions that there were several treatments one of which was something called "santonine". "One to three grains should be given in milk after fasting for six hours". Mrs Vyvyan feed her cas chicken heads with feathers as a panacea.

So health was a concern for the Siamese cat owner (caretaker) of that era. In fact Mrs Vyvyan says they were delicate in respect of health. As to the all important appearance, Mr Weir, who was a very accomplished artist, illustrates his book with a drawing of the head of a Siamese cat, probably one of Mrs Vyvyan's Siamese cats. It heads this page -  a classic applehead Siamese cat. The pointing is rather odd however as it appears to have a clear demarcation over the eyes in an arch. This may just be a quirky way of drawing the face.

Whatever; as I have mentioned before, the original Siamese was the what is today called the traditional or applehead Siamese. The pointing was almost black in colour (seal point in modern parlance). Ironically, the modern, over-bred Siamese cat with the oriental body shape is one of the least healthy cats, if not the most unhealthy cat of the cat fancy. I wonder if this is an inheritance from the founding cats or due to inbreeding to create to the modern idea of what the Siamese cat should look like, which is incorrect!

Siamese cat phenotype frequency is 1 percent of stray cats

Defining the laboratory animal: IV Symposium, International Committee on ...(1971) says this about the Siamese cat. I quote verbatim and claim fair use as it is educational and I am referring to a small part of the text while promoting the work. (link to original page)

"Siamese on the other hand have been bred extensively. For instance, the gene frequency of the cat population at large in Paris (France) is 10 percent. That means phenotype frequency is 1 percent of that seen in stray cats. In Bangkok, the gene frequency is only 29 percent, and that is where they come from originally."

Some definitions:

gene frequency -- the frequency or proportion of genotypes in a population. "Genotype" means "the genetic makeup of a cell, an organism, or an individual".

phenotype frequency -- "an organism's observable characteristics or traits".

Did the Siamese derive from a different species of wildcat?

Apparently scientists (Kratochvil and Kratochvil - 1976) produced a research document that suggests that the Siamese cat originated from a different species of wildcat than the other domestic cats except for the Persian.

They argue that the domestic cat is derived from the wildcat Felis silvestris lybica (true, the African wildcat and in fact the European wildcat) and that the Siamese derived from another subspecies of "Felis lybica". This is wrong it seems because they make reference to a subspecies of Felis lybica. There is no subspecies of Felis lybica. The full scientific name is as mentioned Felis silvestris lybica.

However the African wildcat is also bundled together as one species with the Asian wildcat (Felis silvestris ornata) and it is possible therefore that the Siamese cat derives from the Asian wildcat as the eastern boundary of the range of the Asian wild cat is nearer Siam now Thailand than that of the African or European wildcat. The Siamese cat comes originally from Siam as you no doubt know.

Siamese Cats and France

It appears that the first Siamese cats were introduced to France by the French ambassador to Siam, Auguste Pavie. In 1885 he presented one to the Jardin des plantes (the main botanical garden in France). This has a similar flavor to the way the Siamese cat was imported into England (see Siamese cat history).

Source: The beast in the boudoir: petkeeping in nineteenth-century Paris By Kathleen Kete

Siamese Cat Story

Here is just one Siamese cat story. There are tens of thousands I am sure. It is 1955 or thereabouts. A boy of 2 (Christopher Loss) is slow to learn to speak due to complications at child birth. The family is given a purebred Siamese cat. Things started to change for the boy from that moment onwards.

He learned to speak to the cat. The boy would grunt at the cat and the cat would purr in response. There is no doubt that the cat was content to receive the attention and company. Siamese cats are very sociable creatures.

Eventually, the boy learned his first word, "kitty". The rest is history. The boy caught up in speech.  The Siamese cat was provided by Dayle Russell who works with disabled children.

Dayle said that cats are great with senior people and kids who have special needs and/or are ill. She said that cats can work better than medicine.  Dayle bred pedigree purebred cats and used to give them away where appropriate. The story I have recounted is one example and a very successful one that supports what she said.

Balinese Cat: A Longhaired Siamese Cat

The title pretty much says it all. The country Bali has nothing to do with the cat. It is just a nice name. The CFA treats this cat breed as a Siamese cat. This tells you that from cat association to cat association there are differences in regards to definitions which causes confusion amongst the public. Cat fanciers don't mind as they do it for themselves!

Seal Pointed Balinese cat - Photo copyright Helmi Flick

The photo on this page is protected by copyright ©. Violations of copyright are reported to Google.com (DMCA).

The Balinese cat can be a traditional cat or a modern contemporary cat. The former is more cobby and normal while the latter is slender and abnormal - provocative stuff. See cat body types for more on that.

Read about Balinese cat history and the Balinese Cat in more detail. The Balinese cat is shown in the pointed category, in all divisions.

Champion Siamese Cat WANKEE

This is a picture of Champion Siamese Cat WANKEE. He won 30 prizes at early cat shows. The picture was taken in 1902 in England where the cat fancy started.

What is notable is the cobby (cat fancy term meaning stocky) body. This is a traditional applehead Siamese cat par excellence. All the early champion Siamese cats were.

Wankee is the antithesis of the modern Siamese cat. How things have changed. Only oriental body type modern Siamese cats can win CFA (Cat Fanciers' Association) show competitions.  The CFA, probably still the most important cat association does not even accept or recognize the traditional Siamese - extraordinary and misguided in my view.

Origin of Siamese Cats

Drawing of Siamese Cat
from and old Siamese book

Well as it happens I have a video on this (see below) but I will add some brief words here. The origin of Siamese cats starts in Siam now Thailand. Thailand is in the Far East. This cat was and still is an oriental cat - it is now oriental in shape using cat fancy language. At one stage this cat was not a breed at all. In fact before the late 1800s it was not a cat breed but probably a purebred cat without a pedigree living in Siam with perhaps better off people in that country. The King kept Siamese cats. This gives a clue to us as to how special they were. I am talking about thousands if not many hundreds of years ago in Siam. Let's not forget that wildcats were first domesticated about 9,000 years ago.

So for thousands of years in Siam there were pointed cats. There were also cats that were not pointed. These were random breed cats such as you see now the world over. A genetic mutation probably resulted in the coats of some cats becoming pointed. Pointed cats are born all white and the pointing develops after birth as the production of pigment in the hair strands is heat sensitive. The skin is cooler at the extremities.

The pointed cats stood out and were seen as special in Siam. That is why the richer people kept them.

This cat breed's history in the West started when Siamese cats were first imported from Siam to England, UK. This was in the late 1800s. They were considered exotic then - less so now. Now wildcat hybrids are considered exotic cats. The first imported Siamese was a present to a British diplomat by the King of Siam, a cat lover I suspect. The cat(s) would have endured a long journey by ship to England.

Note: their evidence in a letter that the first Siamese in the West was a cat called "Siam" shipped in a crate to the First Lady in 1878! An ambassador based in Bangkok organized it. The cat died a year later. In fact the first Siamese cats imported were pretty unhealthy it seems to me. Hardly surprising if we are honest.

Siamese cats were shown at cat shows in England during the early years of the cat fancy and then exported to the USA where further selective breeding produced the slender (rather unnaturally slender) modern Siamese cat. This is the Siamese cat to many people but the traditionalists prefer the original more natural shaped cat called the Applehead Siamese a term probably made up by the modern Siamese cat breeders as it is so horrible.

Here is a video and you can read and see much more on this page about Siamese cat history.