Posts tagged "Siamese"

Name: Ella Cheek

Location: Fleetwood, N.C.

Age: 1 year

Cat Breed: Siamese mix

Favorite Toy: The lid off a gallon of milk and any piece of trash she can find laying around or dig out of the trash can.

Likes: Giving massages, playing with our other animals, drinking from the sink, sunbathing, climbing her cat tower and naps.

Dislikes: Men, the bell on her collar, cat clothes and getting wet.

Fun Fact: We adopted Ella from the Watauga Humane Society in Boone, N.C., when she was 6 weeks old. She was very shy and scared for several weeks after we brought her home. We have two other cats and they didn't really accept her, but our 2-year-old husky, Jasmine, took right up with her. They have been best friends ever since.

Weird Quirk: Anytime Ella finds something soft, like a blanket or stuffed animal, she gives it a massage.

Congratulations to our submitter, RebeccaCheek. If you'd like to submit your pet, upload your favorite pet photos to our Flickr pool!

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Name: Cocoa

Location: Dublin, Calif.

Age: 3

Breed: Maybe a Seal Point Siamese or a mix.

Favorite Treat: Feather wand.

Favorite Toy: Anything and everything; she's an eating machine!

Likes: Running up and down the stairs at top speed.

Dislikes: Our green spray bottle. She knows it means "no!"

Congratulations to our submitter, betsyw566. If you'd like to submit your pet, upload your favorite pet photos to our Flickr pool!

More Cute Pets

Name: Maine coon

Appearance: According to Maine Coon Cat Nation, Maine coons generally are very large, long-haired cats with shaggy coats and pronounced manes. They are most notable for their size -- males can weigh between 13 and 18 pounds, and females between 9 and 12 -- and the massive amounts of long hair that sprouts from all over their bodies, except their faces. Their shaggy, water-repellent coat sprouts from every inch of their bodies, between toes, around the neck and, most impressively, all over their peacock-like tail. Their faces are long and expressive, and they have large, lynx-like ears.

History: Although many people believe that Maine coons came about in Maine naturally, most breeders today believe that they were created when oriental long-haired cats came to Maine in its early history and bred with the shorthairs that already were there, according to Fanciers.com. They were first written about for an 1861 cat show, so they presumably had existed for a few decades before that. Although popular in the late 1800s, they fell out of fashion by around the turn of the century with the arrival of the exotic cats of Europe and Asia. However, since the 1950s, they have been undergoing a resurgence, and today are one of the most popular breeds of cat in America.

Name: Oriental Shorthair/Longhair

Appearance: To put it simply, an Oriental cat is a Siamese cat without points, says TheCatSite.com. Like the modern Siamese, Orientals have elongated bodies, long skinny limbs, and a wedge-shaped head with large ears. They can be solid-colored, tabby-patterned, or bi-colored. They can be either short-haired or long-haired, and even in their long-haired form, they are easy to groom and maintain.

History: According to Petfinder.com, Orientals share the exact same origin as Siamese cats. The first were written about in Siam (now Thailand) in a work called "The Cat-Book Poems" from somewhere between 1300 A.D. and 1700 A.D. The manuscript described cats with Siamese bodies but with a variety of colors. In fact, it was only in the 1920s when Siamese breeders determined that only pointed Oriental cats could be referred to as Siamese.

In the middle 20th century, British breeders combined Oriental cats and Siamese cats with British shorthairs and British blues to create litters of cats with more interesting colors. American breeders quickly followed suit and the modern Oriental cat was born. The Cat Fanciers' Association accepted the breed in 1972.

Meet Mary Burch, American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen Director and Paw Nation's new expert columnist addressing your questions on animal behavior. Dr. Burch has over 25 years of experience working with dogs and she is one of less than 50 Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists based in the United States. She is the author of ten books including the new official book on the AKC Canine Good Citizen Program, "Citizen Canine: 10 Essential Skills Every Well-Mannered Dog Should Know."

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I have a 6-year-old Siamese cat. He has a bad habit of waking us up every morning between 1:30 and 3:30 by meowing at the top of his lungs. Once I get up to give him a bit of moist food (there is always dry food in his bowl) he eats and stops the crying. I have tried to ignore this but he continues until I get up. I can't remember having a good night's sleep since Sammy started this about eight months ago. I am trying to figure out what could have started this behavior and how to stop it.

Siamese are known to be playful, active cats who can be very vocal. Some cats, especially unneutered males who are allowed outside, will cry to go out at night. They want to go hunting for critters and female cats. Once this becomes a habit, even if the cat is neutered, he still may cry to go outside for a night on the town.

In Sammy's case, based on the information you've provided, I'd say there's a good chance this very intelligent cat has trained you. He meows, you get up and feed him. He's learned that by meowing, he can get you out of bed to feed the poor pitiful kitty who would really like some moist food.

Name: Tonkinese

Appearance: According to The Cat Pages, the Tonkinese is a difficult cat for show judges to analyze because of its lack of distinguishing characteristics about its body or its coat. A Tonkinese does every thing in medium. It is of medium height, medium build, and medium musculature, but one should be able to tell the difference between it and its two close relatives, the Burmese and the Siamese. The Tonkinese comes in four coats -- natural, champagne, blue and platinum -- and three different color patterns: pointed, solid and mink. Thus, there are twelve different combinations of Tonkinese types, with several of them looking quite similar to other breeds of cat. This are the only breed, however, that can exhibit an aqua eye color (although this coloring doesn't occur in every Tonkinese).

History: The Tonkinese came about in the 1960s when two breeders both had the same idea to breed a Burmese and a Siamese, notes the Tonkinese Breed Association. One of the breeders -- from New Jersey -- bred for appearance, wanting a darker cat with points. The other, a Canadian breeder, wanted to breed her Burmese, but couldn't find a suitable mate, and had to settle for a Siamese. The breed's popularity caught on in the 1970s and has been going strong ever since.

The Havana brown is a cat that, like its name says, is a deep, chocolate brown, similar in appearance to a sable Burmese, but with a deeper, more mahogany coat. Like many breeds, Havana browns are of average size, height, and musculature. They should have green eyes, apple shaped heads, and large ears. Of course, their coat is their biggest distinguishing characteristic, and although there are other brown cats, none have the rich, homogenous luster of the Havana brown.

According to Wikipedia, the origins of the Havana brown are hard to pin down, but it seems to have first shown up as a man-made breed in late nineteenth century England. Most likely, it was born from a cross between a Siamese and another cat, perhaps one with a solid coat. They didn't have a name or a real breed until the 1950s, when a group of English women bred a chocolate-point Siamese with a black shorthair, and since then, they have existed as a breed and are recognized by all major cat fancier organizations.

Havana browns are curious and intelligent cats. We spoke to Carolyn Huddy, a Havana brown breeder who was present when the first Havana browns came to America, about what it's like to live with one of these mahogany beauties:

"The Havana brown is a gentle, loving breed. They are quiet cats, but will let you know when they are hungry. They love attention and give love back ten-fold. They like to adorn your lap, are intelligent, loyal, purr incessantly and have an affinity for nuzzling in your hair. This seems to be an inborn trait as every Havana brown I have known of mine and others has this same quality."

If you are interested in adopting a sphynx, it is best to do plenty of research (as always). Talk to owners, and go to a reputable adoption organization, such as Purebred Cat Rescue.

The snowshoe cat is known for its strange pattern of coloring. In general, its body and musculature are average, its skull is a simple, equilateral triangle, and its limbs are all proportionate to its body. Its coat, however, is something unique, with white paws that travel up their wrists and shins, almost like long, elegant gloves. They have white faces except for dark, colored areas around their eyes, giving them a slightly raccoon-ish look. They have fluffy, white underbellies, while the rest of them is much darker, especially at the points.

According to the American Cat Fanciers' Association, snowshoes are a relatively new breed of cat, first discovered in 1960 when a Philadelphia cat breeder found her Siamese cat had given birth to three snowshoes. Although this strange mutation may not have been new in nature (there have been paintings of Snowshoe-like cats from ancient Japan and at least one photograph from 1890), this was the first time where a breeder decided to actually select for the cats with positive results. There had been a previous attempt in the 1950s, when cats exhibiting this pattern were called "silver laces."

Snowshoes have a very affectionate temperament and are best suited to households where they can get much attention much of the time. In fact, like their bodies, Snowshoes are very middle-of-the-road in their personalities; they're not too excitable, not too energetic, but just a healthy medium between the best qualities of cats.

When Alaska's owner tries to get her to come inside, she insists that she has better things to do, such as continue to sleep in a cat carrier in the middle of the lawn. Cheeky!

Birmans are beautiful cats, so round and evenly colored that they often resemble stuffed animals. They have long silky, thin hair which rarely mats; a golden, pale body with dark points; and blue eyes. Despite its coat's similarities to the Siamese, the Birman's body is much stockier and larger. One of the most distinctive traits of Birmans is that they have completely white paws, no matter what the color of their forelimbs.

Birmans most likely originated in Burma (they appear in Burmese myths), but no one can be sure as to their true origin. The first modern appearance of a Birman was during World War I, when a pair of the cats were shipped from Burma to France, thus gaining a breed foothold in Europe. By 1925, France had recognized them as a breed. However, the breeding was ineffective and twenty years later, France again had only two Birmans. A frantic program of outcrossing eventually saved the breed, and they were recognized by the Cat Fanciers' Association in 1967.

To put it simply, a Balinese cat is similar to a Siamese cat, but the Balinese are less talkative and have long, silky coats. Balinese are traditionally round and full, with long hair all over. Since the breed's origination, some Balinese have bred strains that are more Siamese looking, with triangular skulls, lanky limbs, and blue eyes. What makes these cats strictly Balinese and not Javanese is that they come in seal point, blue point, chocolate point and lilac point. Any other color is a Javanese cat.

The Balinese breed first originated, like most other cats, as a spontaneous mutation in a Siamese litter, creating a cat that was generally Siamese in appearance, but had longer hair on its body and much longer hair on its tail. Still, the breed retains many Siamese qualities, such as intelligence and loquacity. When they first appeared in the 1920s, people called them long-haired Siamese cats. However, in the 1950s, two breeders took it upon themselves to make them an official breed, and coined the name Balinese to reflect the graceful movements of Balinese dancers.

Cats come in many different flavors. Taking some of the best videos on the Internet, Paw Nation is happy to showcase the many interesting cat breeds with a new feature that we call Feline Fete.

They're exotic, pointy, and technically should be called Thai cats. Yes, they're Siamese! Siamese cats are known for their apple-shaped skulls, colored points, thin and elongated frames, blue eyes, and intelligence. Check out these feisty felines in the videos after the jump.