Types of Siamese cats - how to identify the different kindsThere are probably three recognizable types of Siamese cats, although some cat fanciers acknowledge only two types. It's important to know that 'type', as used by breeders, refers to a cat's body shape, not its color.So each of the three types outlined here can also be found in every one of the Siamese cat colors. Sorting out the distinctions between the different kinds of Siamese cats can be a little complicated, but our descriptions below will help you to identify the main Siamese cat types. The original lookPictures of the first cats of this breed to reach the West show that they were bigger and heavier than much of the breed today.They had wider necks and rounder bodies and faces than the slight-bodied types you're likely to see in shows now. Why did the look change?For some time, Breed Standard guidelines for show judges have called for cats of this breed to have long slim bodies, long slim legs and tails, long necks, wedge-shaped heads and large ears. Because of this, selective breeding over the years has altered the Siamese cat's body type, taking it away from the look of those original Thai cat types towards a longer, leaner, more angular shape, by favoring and breeding from cats that accentuated these characteristics.
The original body shape
Until the 1980s, when attempts were made to classify the different types of Siamese cats, there was really no distinction made in 'type' despite there being a number of different body shapes. No two cats are identical, and it can be difficult to look at any individual cat and say with certainty that it is of one type or another. There are many variations in body shape, which all fall somewhere along a wide spectrum of shapes and sizes. The descriptions that follow are a quick reference guide to the three most usually accepted types of Siamese cats, linking to individual pages and pictures of each of the different types. The Applehead or TraditionalThe first cats to be exported from Siam (shown above) had round faces and rounded, muscular, heavy bodies. The trend away from this body type towards a leaner, more angular cat led to some serious health problems, probably through in-breeding, and this in turn led to a move by some breeders to re-create the look and health of these original cats. This led to the development of Applehead Siamese cats, a type which was produced through cross-breeding with, in particular, the American and British Shorthair breeds, to produce a cat with a rounder, shorter face. These cats are also known as Traditional Siamese cats, a name proposed and copyrighted by The Traditional Cat Association, Inc. which was instrumental in promoting and preserving the look of this as well as the Classic Siamese cat breeds in the United States. The Old-Style or Classic SiameseFalling somewhere between the Applehead and the Modern Siamese, the Classic is also referred to as Old-Style ... 'old-style' meaning the look of cats that were popular in the '50s, '60s, and '70s. They are also sometimes referred to as old fashioned Siamese cats for this reason. Distinctions are sometimes blurred between the Applehead and the Classic. Some people refer to this type of Siamese as 'applehead', and conversely, there are folks who refer to appleheads as 'old-style'. However, a Classic, while still quite large-boned, generally has a longer, slimmer body than the Traditional or Applehead. It also has a more triangular face, although this is nowhere near as extremely wedge-shaped as found in the Modern Siamese. The Old-Style Siamese Club in the UK, and the Prestwick-Beresford Old-Style Siamese Breed Preservation Society (PREOSSIA) in the United States, work to promote and encourage the breeding of these beautiful and healthy cats. The Modern Siamese or 'Wedgehead'Modern Siamese, Wedgehead or Extreme Wedge are all names for the types of Siamese cats found in the show rings. They are also called 'show-style' because of this. It is the easiest of the types to identify, having the most extreme body shape of all. Show-style cats are slight, fine-boned, and long and thin all over, with long thin bodies, necks and tails and sharply triangular heads. They also have longer muzzles and a straighter nose than the two previous types of Siamese cats. Cats of this type are very elegant, but breeding towards this body shape led to some quite serious health problems. The trend towards smaller heads and larger ears resulted in some cases in visible birth defects, with kittens even being born with eyes on the sides of their heads. There have also been cases of organ damage including cardiomyopathy and kidney failure, shortening the lives of many examples of this type of cat. This does not happen in all cases, though, and Modern Siamese may live just as long as other types.
*************** *************** Which do you prefer?Traditional, old-style or extreme wedge, the different types of Siamese cats are all beautiful and there's no best or worst. It's all a matter of individual preference. My particular favorite is the Old-Style Siamese because this is the type of cat that I grew up with. How about you?
|
