Siamese - the cat of kings, the king of cats
Once upon a time, a beautiful princess lived far away. Her name was Toi-Szu. Her palace smelled of rose perfume and glistened painted silks. The king loved his daughter and, caring for her future, chose her to marry a wealthy prince from a neighboring kingdom. But, as is usually the case in fairy tales, it was not the prince who won the heart of the princess, but the poor gardener. The princess fell in love with his blue eyes and wonderful voice. Every day she came to the garden in front of the palace to hear her beloved Geb-Set singing beautifully. One afternoon, Toi-Shu approached her chosen one and dared to steal a kiss from him. The gardener was delighted with the princess, and from then on he sang beautiful serenades under her window every evening. The lovers met secretly and secretly kissed each other. They got engaged by wearing rings carved in wood around their fingers. Probably their love would never have been described if it were not for Ten, the evil minister of science, who, suspecting a couple in love, informed the king about the indecency that his own daughter is doing against gods and gods. The king sentenced Toi-Shu to stay in a locked tower, and ordered the gardener to be thrown off the rock.
On the day of his execution, the princess pleaded with the Goddess of the Red River, Teoris, to save her bridegroom. Teoris fulfilled Toi-Szu's wish and turned Geb-Set into a cat. The gardener's body of the cat was left with beautiful blue eyes and sun-drenched face. It was in this form that Geb-Set would come to his princess on a high tower, and on a curved tail he bravely carried their engagement ring. A beautiful and elegant cat has always remained with his beloved. He sang her serenades every day and cuddled up to her breasts. He has become a symbol of love and faith.
Everyone knows Siamese cats. They are easily recognizable due to their distinctive color called point, sapphire eyes, the elegance of Degas dancers, the agility of a doe, lion's courage, dog affection, aristocratic manners, extraordinary intelligence and operatic voice.
Siamese cats are the oldest breed of cats in the world. They have been known since ancient times. The first information about point-colored cats comes from the area of today's Thailand from the first half of the 14th century, from a book in which there were found notes and sketches about strange cats with a dark face, paws and tail, and a light body.
Europe learned about Siamese cats in 1793 when the German traveler Peter Simon Pallas described his encounter with this strange colored cat at the Caspian Sea. At the beginning of the 19th century, the first Siamese cats found their way to the London Zoo, where they were presented along with other unusual animals brought from the countries of the East. They had their place there next to Chinese chow-chow dogs, and just like these dogs they delighted and amazed the London audience. Since Siamese reproduced without problems and had a great social character, they quickly gained a loyal following. During the first cat show, which took place at London's Cristal Palace in 1871, point-colored cats were presented as the Royal Siamese Cats.
Siamese cats very quickly began to gain recognition among animal lovers. The first description of the breed was published in the British magazine for cat lovers, Our Cats in 1889, and later served as the basis for the development of the first breed standard. As early as 1901, a club of the breed called the Siamese Cat Club was established in Great Britain.
Today, all the felinology clubs of the world recognize this breed, and their standards are almost the same. The world's largest International Felinnology Federation - FIFe has recognized Siamese since its inception, that is since 1949.
The first World Winners (1990, Munich) in the history of this breed were two males; adult male in seal color (SIA n) SAN TOI'S SAMSON, Mrs. Waltraut Satler from Germany and Peetoom castrat seal (SIA n) from the Netherlands, who repeated their success after a year at the World Show in Innsbruck.
The Polish history of this breed dates back to World War II. In the book published by the Central Committee for Poultry Breeding in Poland, "Breeding of wild fur animals, silver foxes, beavers, otters, martens, ferrets, etc., including cat breeding" (1926), among several existing breeds at that time, a Siamese cat was also described. It was also called the Malayan cat at that time. The then description of the Siamese cat and its extraordinary history can be treated with a grain of salt today. The breed standard states that: (...) the Siam's tail is sometimes straight and thin, and often bent, as if broken, twisted, like a pig's tail. At the base of the tail, there is almost always a lumpy cluster that is characteristic of this breed. (...). Over the years, this breed has been associated with broken tails, which, according to legend, allowed the princess of Siam to entrust her with precious rings to Siam - hung on a broken tail, they never died. Today, this serious genetic skeletal defect is consistently eliminated from breeding. Like the folds on the tail, strabismus has also been considered a characteristic feature of Syamic cats for many years. Their beautiful blue eyes tend to squint at times. However, this is a disqualifying defect in all cat breeds, and even a slight tendency to strabismus may deprive a cat of a certificate at shows. Fortunately, legends and stories about Siamese cats with squint and curved tails can only be found in old books. Many years of selective breeding allowed me to get rid of these serious genetic defects.
In the 1930s, the Purebred Cat Lovers and Breeders Club was registered, which had a Siamese Cat section. At that time, the most popular were seal-colored Siamese cats, known as bay cats with black marks.
Shortly after the war, for understandable reasons, breeding purebred animals was not very successful. However, Siamese cats were bred in Poland all the time. Established in 1983, the Association of Breeders of Cat Breeds registered private pedigree books and arranged the breeding of cats in Poland. The first Siamese cat registered in SHKRP was the female seal (SIA n) KASIA, born in 1981, whose guardian was Maciej Chyliński, and the first full-line female was the lilac (SIA c), imported from CZECHOSLOVAKIA GOLDEN BESSIE by Katarzyna Kostrzewska. The first post-war Siamese cat breeding in Poland is "Thaj-Sing" by Grażyna and Maciej Chyliński, in which the first litter was born on July 12, 1983. The first exhibition at the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw (December 5 and 6, 1983) was attended by five Siamese: REBUS (SIA n), SINDBAD (SIA n), SAMANTHA (SIA a), KASIA (SIA n) and ZARJA GOLDEN BESSIE ( SIA c).
At the International Cat Show in Łódź (May 13 and 14, 2006), 12 Siamese were shown.
This breed is not one of the most popular, it does not follow fashions, but it has a constant and faithful group of admirers who are in love with blue eyes and want to share their lives with these fascinating cats. Today, there are about 700 Siamese cats in Polish felinology clubs.
we live in the past and today
Like most breeds, Siamese cats have changed over the years. Due to the fact that they are an old breed, the changes they see are quite extreme. Today's Siamese cats do not resemble their ancestors from the exhibition in Cristal Palace in 1871. The cats shown there had rounded heads, smaller and higher set ears, their bodies were more stocky. Today's cats of this breed are slender, have elegant long necks, elongated, wedge-shaped heads, and huge, low-set and wide-open ears. Siamese breeders had reached such a stage in which it was necessary to stop and consider whether further changes in the selective breeding of these cats would adversely affect the anatomical functions of the animals. Unfortunately, this breed is not the healthiest, but a wise breeding policy allows these beautiful cats to be kept in elegant proportions and an extreme type. Contemporary Siamese cat breeding uses a much richer genetic pool than a dozen or so years ago and can more easily eliminate animals with genetic defects from breeding plans. Today's achievements in veterinary science and medicine also allow us to carry out many genetic tests, thanks to which it is easier to eliminate the threats that may be caused by breeding cats of this breed. Increasingly, breeders pay attention not only to the exterior of the animal, but also to the genetic health determinants of various breed lines of purebred cats.
Old-type Siamese cat lovers can find cats similar to the Siamese from years ago, an unrecognized breed called Tonkinese.
A
Siamese are not a race for everyone !!!
Siamese among cats and greyhounds among dogs are probably the most elegant representatives of their species. Their slender body, grace of movement, aristocratic gaze, monkey cunning and unique voice can only be liked by the chosen ones. These cats require very close contact with humans. They can tell long stories beautifully for hours and sing in Joe Cocker's hoarse voice. Siamese love to watch the world on behalf of their guardian. They are very agile and lively, they can easily jump from a place to a height of 2 meters, but it is very rare for them to knock something down or break something inadvertently. They feel much better in a group than alone. Siamese are debunking the myth of the loner cat! If you are going to be left home alone for many hours, it is best to think of two cats at once, and two cats of the same breed. Siamese cats get along best with other Siamese or their sister breeds, i.e. Oriental, Balinese and Seychelles cats. In the company of cats of other breeds, especially heavier ones, they feel insecure and do not always want to make friends with them. Siamese should not be owned by people who dream of a peaceful, quiet and not very mobile kitten. On the other hand, everyone who would like to have an intelligent animal, very contact, cheerful and extremely emotionally connected with the guardian, will never regret the decision to choose this breed.
to comb or bathe?
Of course, Siamese cats can be combed and bathed ... but what for? During the moulting period, they lose more hair and then brush with a soft bristle brush. Most Siamese love combing, but I don't know of any who enjoy bathing. The care procedures for cats of this breed should include systematic trimming of claws and occasional gentle cleaning of the ears and eyes. For show rings, Siamese should have short-cropped hair growing on the inside of the ear shells. All vaccinations should be carried out in accordance with the vaccination schedule proposed by the attending veterinarian.
colorful cats
The color of Siamese cats is the most distinctive feature of this breed. Kittens are born completely white and only after a few days the color of their markings becomes visible. Darker point meanings are associated with acromelanism, a biological adaptive function of organisms prepared to stay in cool places. Body parts that are exposed to cold are darker than the body. These are: the mask (face), ears, paws, tail and genitals. The color of the markings and body darkens at low temperatures and lighter at higher temperatures. Siamese cats staying for a long time in a very warm room can brighten up, and their point meanings can significantly decrease or lighten; on the other hand, when they stay in cool rooms for a long time, they darken very much, also on the body. The color of these cats also darkens with age and depends to a large extent on the color variety. The most common seal color (dark brown), genetically black, can be very dark on the body in adult cats, especially in males. The color of the markings should, however, significantly contrast with the color of the body. The eyes of Siamese cats must be blue, the darker and clearer the better.
Siamese cats have given their color to many breeds. Today, point colored varieties are known in many breeds, most of them more or less directly descended from Siamese cats. The point color gene is recessive to full color and is closely related to the albinism gene. You can read more about genetics and point colors in the previous issue of "Kota" (5/2006). Siamese cats have three sister breeds: Balinese cats that look like longhaired Siamese; Oriental long and short-haired cats that do not have point markings and have green eyes; and the recently recognized Seychelles cats that look like Siamese cats but have a color with an addition of white. All these breeds are classified to the IV category according to the FIFe division. Most of the felinological federations allow the possibility of crossing those breeds which, apart from the color, length and structure of the fur and the color of the eyes, do not differ in any way. So it is theoretically possible that in one litter kittens of all breeds gathered in the IV FIFe category are born.
Siamese cats come in many varieties of color. Initially, only seal, blue and lilac colors were grown. In the 1930s, the red and cream varieties were introduced to breeding, and the chocolate ones were introduced to breeding only in 1950. Despite the fact that brindle points were already described in 1902, the tabby-colored siamese were recognized only in 1966. Today, FIFe recognizes 21 color varieties of Siamese cats including white (SIA in 67), called foreigen white, where the point markings are white, making the cat appear completely white, even though genetically it remains a point cat.
talking companion
When someone who does not know the voice of a Siam hears a cat they cannot see, they will certainly not associate the sound with a cat's meal. The voice of the Siamese is not only loud but also hoarse screeching. Siamese communicating with their voice among themselves, but most of all with people. They greet you with a cheerful purr, they can deny a loud "no"! Cats of this breed are the most talkative and singing cats in the world. You can love this voice and get along well with it, maybe with the exception of times when our beloved cat is in heat, then it is best to stay with friends for a few days or in a hotel a few kilometers away. The voice of Siamese cats during the mating season, both female and male, can be heard perfectly over a distance of several kilometers.
cat of kings, king of cats
Siamese were hosted at royal courts and under thatched roofs. They were able to subjugate both humans and animals. They capture us with their magical gaze. They can take over our minds and make us become their slaves, thirsty for their gazes and their singing voice. Who are? Why are they so different from others? Maybe they are just the true love children of Toi-Shu and Geb-Set?
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Marzenie Włodarska for help in collecting materials concerning the history of the Siamese cat breed in Poland.
article "Siam - the cat of kings, the king of cats" - monthly "Kot" No. 6/2006 with the consent of the author: Wojciech - Albert Kurkowski
Thank you.