Old Style Siamese Cat

The "old style Siamese cat" is a purebred Siamese cat of moderate proportions or body conformation. The terminology "old-style" is one more of a long list of terms to describe the spectrum of appearances of the Siamese cat. At one time, pre-1950s, there was one type of Siamese cat and that was the same appearance as the original imported Siamese cats from Thailand.

There is a lot of debate and dispute as to what the original appearance was and should be today. All this has caused confusion to people outside the cat fancy. You will read about:

1. Traditional Siamese cats
2. Applehead Siamese cats
3. Classic Siamese cats
4. Thai cats
5. Old style Siamese cats
6. Modern Siamese cats
7. Contemporary Siamese cats

and so on... Breeders of  the old style Siamese cat say that they breed the original appearance. The old style Siamese cat is also referred to as the Thai cat (see photos above). And the Thai cat is a registered purebred cat with TICA, a large cat association based in the USA but international in its work.

So, the old style Siamese cat is in between the traditional Siamese and the slender show cat, the modern Siamese, in terms of body conformation. The term "Thai cat" was, in my opinion, a mistake as it introduces yet another label for the Siamese cat. But breeders of the Thai cat will strongly disagree with that. For them the Thai is not a Siamese cat although it definitely looks like one!

In my view the traditional Siamese sometimes referred to as the "Applehead Siamese" (a derogatory term made up by some breeders who don't like the cat, I suspect) is near the true appearance. You only have to look at old photos to see that. But here is the complication. The original Siamese cats must have varied in appearance and some would be similar to Thai cats (old style Siamese cats) and some similar to traditional Siamese cats.

But none would be similar to the overbred, overly slender, modern show Siamese with unnatural oversized ears. This cat breed is a mistake and the CFA only recognize this odd looking cat. Odd that.

Old Style Siamese cat to Home page.

White Persian Cat

Cristalline is a very beautiful white Persian cat. She is a traditional Persian and she has pale orange eyes.

Cristalline - White Persian Cat - Photo copyright Dani Rozeboom - http://www.worldofdani.com/

This is a great photograph. There are many more photographs of equal quality on Dani's gallery of photographs on her website.

Cristalline is an all white cat. See cat coats white for more on white cats.

Beautiful Persian Cat

This is a beautiful Persian cat. This photograph was not created by a professional photographer. It is nicely muted and delicate in its lighting which suits this cat so well. The photographer is Magnus Bråth. Magnus calls her a grey Persian cat. Here name is Chilero. She seems to be a tabby and white cat but in a very subtle way. You will see Persian cats in wide range of coat colors and types as the breed standard allows for that.

Beautiful Persian cat.

Chilero lives in Costa Rica and once lived in Malta. She is well traveled. She is a traditional doll face Persian. When she traveled from Malta to Costa Rica she sat in the cabin with the passengers. Of course.

Persian Tear Stains

A clear picture of Persian tear stains. This is a traditional Persian cat. The cat lives in India. In India (at 2011) there is a very small number of purebred cats and they are normally Persian cats as this is a very long standing cat breed and one of the best known cat breeds. The staining on this cat is not that bad. Worse can happen.

Traditional Persian cat with tear staining.

This nice picture is by Anas Ahmad. The interesting thing is that this is not a flat faced Persian which is known to suffer from tear staining but a doll face Persian cat. The cause is a deformed tear duct which prevents the tears and fluid on the outer part of the eye draining away.  It overflows onto the fur below the eye. In this picture it seems that it has flowed down the inside of the nose and then to the outside at the base of the nose. The deformity is due to breeding a overly flat face to conform with the breed standard. This distorts internal anatomy.

As tear duct overflow happens in the traditional Persian as well as the flat faced "ultra" Persian we can conclude that the tear duct is also somewhat defective in the more moderate and normal traditional Persian. This cat still has a rather flat face.

Traditional versus Modern Cats

There isn't a Traditional versus Modern Cats debate, but there is, I believe, a large body of people who would, if asked, agree that cat breeding in some areas has gone too far.

I guess everything in business and in life generally has to progress. It is the nature of mankind. When progress relates to technology (machines) mankind does quite well. The things he/she creates generally improves life. Although we do so at the expense thus far of the environment (nature). Nature will always suffer at the hands of man but it will always fight back and win ultimately.

Mankind tends to go too far in every endeavor. He stops just past the point when he should have stopped.

Can breeding is not of course the making of machines. It is the creation of a fellow creature. A creature that I say is of equal value to any other animal (including the human animal). I know Americans tend to be more religious than Europeans and religious people tend to believe that humans are superior because they were made by the hand of God in one act.

This arrogant belief can lead (despite the teachings of the Bible) to maltreatment of animals, including cats.

It can also lead to a distorted approach to our treatment of other animals including the breeding of cats. It can lead to the suspension of respect for the cat as an animal of equality and to do things in breeding that is exclusively for the benefit of the breeder and not the cat.

One such example is the breeding of cats that look interesting to us (meaning in our interest) and to the detriment of the cat (less than good health). I am talking of the Ultra Persian.

The Persian is not meant to look like the animal that has been breed and modified by mankind over many decades. If left alone the Persian would not look like he does today and he would not have tear duct overflow and poor sinuses. He wouldn't have a coat so long he has to live on carpet and not grass and earth for fear of spoiling his coat.

People agree with me, not with my argument perhaps but with the preference I have for traditional cats or to put it in a better way, more natural cats.

Table - Traditional versus Modern Cats - showing voting preferences of visitors to the Pictures-of-cats.org website:-

Prefer Traditional Siamese: 82%
Prefer Modern Siamese: 18% (153 votes)

Prefer Traditional Persian: 74%
Prefer Ultra Persian: 26% (124 votes)

The preference for natural looking cats extends to the Traditional Siamese. The poll that has been conducted on the Pictures-of-cats.org website clearly indicates this sensible preference (see above).

Although cat breeders like to think that they have the welfare of cats at heart, this is not always the case (but it is the case often nonetheless). The health of the cat must take precedence over everything a breeder does. Modern Siamese are less healthy than Traditional Siamese. They die younger, on average as I understand it.

Another example is the explosion in the incidence of heart disease in Bengal cats because breeders as expected (and perhaps understandably) kept quiet about it to protect their business.

It begs the question whether one can mix cat breeding and business at all. There should be a Traditional versus Modern Cats debate at the highest level of the cat fancy and the breed standards reviewed to allow breeders to gradually retrace their steps without losing competition titles.

Photo of Ultra Persian at a cat show copyright ~Sage~

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