Long Hair Siamese Cat

A Long Hair Siamese Cat is a Siamese cat but is classified as another breed by some cat associations. This cat is a Balinese cat if the cat is purebred and registered with the CFA.

If the UK's GCCF registers the cat she will be a Siamese cat or more accurately fall within the classification of Siamese cats and be given the name "Balinese cat (longhaired Siamese)".

TICA register her as a Balinese pure and simple. While continental Europe's major cat association FIFe calls this cat a Balinese and classifies her within the Siamese & Oriental category.

To all intents and purposes the cats are the same. A long hair Siamese cat with points outside the classic point colors of seal, blue, lilac and chocolate is a Javanese with the CFA. Yes, it is confusing.

It could be argued that a Siamese cat with any number of point types including lynx or flame (a soft red color) should all be Siamese cats. However the cat associations like to differentiate the breeds and/or create more breeds. There is probably a fair amount of influence exerted by some breeders who have a position within the CFA and TICA who vote for a cat breed that they are developing. It is very much self interest orientated.

Photo: copyright by audioeric. The cat is called Sally. Thanks.

Balinese cat history and Siamese cat history are naturally intertwined.

From Long Hair Siamese Cat to Balinese cat history

Types of Siamese Cats

Photo: Helmi Flick

To the question, "What types of Siamese cats are there," the answer is, an infinite number. Sounds strange but it is true. You would need to classify Siamese cats by conformation (body shape) and by coat color and pattern. The bigger class is body shape.

 

Body Shape 

As I have said in other posts (and I apologize if you have seen something similar in another post), the Siamese cat look/appearance used to be exclusively the traditional looking Siamese. Things were simpler in those long lost days more than one hundred years ago, in the years following the first importation of the first Siamese cats from Siam in the late 1800s. The history of this breed is interesting. There is a large body of Siamese cat lovers and breeders who have stayed loyal to the original and genuine appearance. However from the mid 1900s onwards cat breeders developed a far more delicate (some say more elegant) looking cat with the same pointed coat colors and patterns. This became a more "contemporary" looking Siamese cat. I have called this cat the Modern Siamese.

Bearing in mind, as I have said, that many breeders stayed loyal to the old appearance, that left the cat world with 2 types of Siamese cats. However as breeding is an imprecise business and as not all breeders breed strictly to the breed standard or don't wish to show their cats, a large number of cats fell in the middle ground between the two ends of the spectrum. These cats that are less "extreme" than the Modern Siamese but less "cobby" (stocky) than the traditional Siamese, are called "Classic" Siamese. As there is no clear demarcation between the three (it is more a continuous stream) it is fair to say that there is an infinite types of Siamese cats. If you wanted more certainty you'd say there are three types of Siamese cats in terms of body shape. Traditional -- Classic -- Modern. 

Picture in the public domain. This is a traditional Siamese.

Coat colors and patterns 

That leaves the coat colors and patterns to classify. This depends on whether your talking purebred Siamese or not. For the sake of simplicity I'll confine myself to purebred registered cats (pedigree cats). The coat types depend on the cat association. The biggest and perhaps most influential, the CFA limit the pointing to 4 classic types, seal (the original, see heading photo), blue, chocolate and lilac. They also do not accept the Traditional Siamese. The CFA then accept 4 types of Siamese cats. Incidentally, they reclassify a Balinese with non-conventional pointing such as flame or lynx pointing as a Javanese cat, just to complicate matters. TICA have not such restrictions. The accept both the Modern Siamese and the Traditional (called the Thai). 

As to coats they divide this up into 2 categories one is for the traditional colors mentioned above and the other for other more contemporary colors which would include lynx pointing for example or the flame pointed Siamese cat (you'll love these pictures - and see this post too). That makes a far larger number of types of Siamese cats. I'm not quite sure of the exact number, the combinations are almost endless. Click here to see a post on pointed coats (this post has some interesting Helmi Flick photos of glamorous pointed cats) and on this link for more on Siamese cat coloring.

 You can further extend the types of Siamese cats by bringing into the equation the Balinese which is a semi-long haired version of the Siamese (the GCCF do this - see below). The Balinese is also breed as traditional and modern. So, it kind of gets a little confusing. The plethora of types is due to cat breeders desire to breed new types of cat. This is human nature. There comes a time however when you have to stop and the CFA are it seems to me (I have no connection with them) good at this as they tend to limit the breed types to much lower level than the more adventurous TICA. Both CFA and TICA are USA based. Incidentally, the major registry/cat association in the UK, the GCCF has a different classification process for Siamese cats. They classify as, "self pointed" (meaning solid point colors such as seal), tabby pointed (this would include lynx pointing and it also includes tortie tabby), tortie pointed (pointed cat with tortoiseshell effect) and they include the Balinese as a Siamese type cat. Types of Siamese Cats to Traditional Siamese cats

Blue Point Siamese Cat

Blue Point Siamese cat - photo copyright Red~Star and reproduced under a creative commons license granted by the photographer

The blue point Siamese cat is one of the four classic Siamese cat colors and allowed by the Cat Fanciers Association. Funnily enough the cat heading this post, Pearl, who is 17+ years old (I hope she is OK still as 17+ is a good age for a cat) is a Traditional Siamese cat and astonishing as the CFA do not recognize the traditional Siamese cat. They only recognize the Modern Siamese. Fortunately the TICA (The International Cat Association) do now, after some considerable lobbying, accept and register the Traditional Siamese but sadly call this cat a "Thai". The cat breeders who breed the Thai might not agree that the Thai is a Traditional Siamese cat, however.

I think that there are too many cat associations pulling in different directions. There needs to be a firm co-ordinating leadership at the top (just my thoughts).

Still, it really won't matter to Pearl. You don't have to be a purebred cat accepted by the cat registries to be a great cat. Pearl is a classic looking traditional Siamese, nicely proportioned. Some cat breeders called them "Appleheads" (rounded head).

The history of the Siamese cat tells us how cat breeders developed the Siamese from a cat similar the type (appearance) above (although the first imported Siamese cats were the original seal point Siamese - a dark brown/black point).

The color "blue" in the cat fancy describes a dilute black (see cat coat color dilution for some genetic stuff). It is more a blue/gray color. There are four purebred grey cat breeds that have to be this color to be accepted as a purebred cat. A color point outside the CFA palette is the Lynx point Siamese.

There is a post on pointed cats here. And another post on the dilution of cat coat color here.


Here's another Blue Point Siamese cat, which I show on another posting somewhere. This photo is copyright Barb Henry and the cat's conformation or body shape is probably more inline with the classic Siamese, which is in between the gangly Modern Siamese and the Traditional. However, there is no clear demarcation in the spectrum of Siamese cats from Modern to Traditional. Perhaps this cat is more Classic/Modern?

Finally, here is a close up of the face of a blue pointed Siamese:

Photo by Flickr photographer: iampeas

From Blue Point Siamese cat to Siamese cat history

Siamese Cat Drawing

Siamese cat drawing (it's actually more than a pure drawing) - the cat is a Flame Pointed Modern Siamese cat - drawing copyright Arna published here under a creative commons license generously granted by Arna.

There are some talented artists out there in the wide world and some of them very generously let other people publish their work under a creative commons license. The Siamese cat is particularly suited as a subject for a drawing. The drawing above is of Jasper who is a "colour point shorthair". His color points are red or "flame". Jasper is actually a Modern Siamese cat but the CFA register cats outside the conventional range of colors of seal, blue, lilac and chocolate as color (colour) point shorthair cats. Of course the CFA is based in the USA. Jasper may be living in the UK (but see below). The GCCF run the show in the UK.

The GCCF categorize Siamese cats into different groups to the CFA. There is a group for "self-pointed". These are the classic pointed Siamese cats. The points being including, blue, red, caramel, lilac and cream. Another group is "tabby pointed" and "tortie (tortoiseshell) pointed". Finally there are the Balinese cats which are long haired Siamese cats.

It looks like the artist who made the Siamese cat drawing is using a US term so may be living in the US - she is actually living, it seems, in Canada as their business is located there. The artist is Arna one a team of two involved in making cartoons (the other is John). Their business is called dancingmonkeys (a fine website). Jasper is doing the classic grooming routine.


Siamese cat drawing copyright Arna - I am guessing and if Arna sees this she may correct me. It would seem that she has two cats, the one in the foreground in this drawing is of Jasper, he has the long body and svelte shape and head shape of a Modern Siamese. The cat in the background seems to be a grey cat, could be a purebred and if so might be a Russian Blue or Grey/blue British Shorthair.

As I have gradually built this page I have come to realize how talented John and Arna are. I planned to find a Siamese cat drawing by another artist or artists but why bother? John and Arna are too talented to move on from.


Here's another Siamese cat drawing (if I am correct on this). Actually it's more than a pure drawing as are the others on this page. Copyright Arna. These two are clearly very comfortable together. I am guessing again but the cat on the left is the Siamese cat, mentioned above.

Siamese cat drawing to Siamese cat breeders

King Cheetah Pictures

Photo reproduced under creative commons license copyright moo sa - Female king cheetah at Tshukudu Game Lodge S. Africa.

King Cheetah Pictures are popular because this is a very rare wild cat. It was thought that the king cheetah was a different species of big wild cat (back in the 1920s when they were first noticed) but it is now know for sure that the distinctly different pattern (more marbled than the pure spotted pattern of the cheetah we are familiar with) is due a simple naturally occurring genetic mutation.

Genetic mutation are quite routine and have been seized upon by domestic cat breeders to create new cat breeds. Typical examples are the American Curl, the rex cats such as the LaPerm and the rarer dwarf cats; there are others. See them all on the main website Picture of Cats.



Photo copyright jurvetson - note: I am not sure that this Flickr photographer has the copyright to this photo - sorry but I think that I have seen it elsewhere. If I am wrong I apologize and please tell me.

There been few live sightings of the King Cheetah and most evidence of this cat's existence comes from skins and stuffed cats etc., pretty disgusting for me, a cat and wild life lover. As far as I remember there is evidence of about 38 king cheetahs since the 1930s or there abouts. Extremely low numbers but of course more could have existed but not seen. They seem, now, to be confined to game reserves and the De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Trust breed this cat.

I prepared a page on this cat on the main website where there is more detail and a large format quality picture as well.


Photo copyright coschda

The pictures in this posting are from amateur Flickr photographers. Thanks for sharing them under the creative commons license that you grant.

King Cheetah Pictures to Cheetah habitat