The Siamese is one of the first distinctly recognised breeds of Oriental cat. The exact origins of the breed are unknown, but it is believed to be from Southeast Asia, and is said to be descended from the sacred temple cats of Siam (now Thailand). ¹ In Thailand, where they are one of several native breeds, they are called Wichien-maat (วิเชียรมาศ, a name meaning “Moon diamond”). In the twentieth century the Siamese cat became one of the most popular breeds in Europe and North America.

History

The pointed cat known in the West as “Siamese” is one of several breeds of cats from Siam described and illustrated in manuscripts called “Tamra Maew” (Cat Poems), estimated to have been written in the 1700s.²

It is often said that the breed was first seen outside their Asian home in 1884, when the British Counsul-General in Bangkok, Edward Blencowe Gould (1847-1916),³ brought a breeding pair of the cats, Pho and Mia, back to Britain as a gift for his sister, Lilian Jane Veley (Veley went on to co-found the Siamese Cat Club in 1901). However, in 1878, U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes received “Siam”, a gift from the American Consul in Bangkok; this cat was also the first documented Siamese to reach the United States, and predates the Siamese’s arrival to the UK by 6 years.⁴

Modern development

While this show quality specimen from 1960 still exhibits relatively moderate characteristics, the breed standard was setting the stage for the modern Siamese, with its call for a “dainty, long and svelte” body, a long head that “taper[s] in straight lines from the ears to a narrow muzzle”, “ears large and pricked, wide at the base” and tail “long and tapering”.

In the 1950s – 1960s, as the Siamese was increasing in popularity, many breeders and cat show judges began to favor the more slender look and as a result of generations of selective breeding, created increasingly long, fine-boned, narrow-headed cats; eventually the modern show Siamese was bred to be extremely elongated, with thin, tubular bodies, long, slender legs, a very long, very thin tail that tapers gradually into a point and long, narrow, wedge-shaped heads topped by extremely large, wide-set ears. The major cat organisations altered language and/or interpretation of their official breed standards to favor this newer streamlined type of Siamese, and the minority of breeders who stayed with the original style found that their cats were no longer competitive in the show ring.

By the mid-1980s, cats of the original style had disappeared from cat shows, but a few breeders, particularly in the UK, continued to breed and register them, resulting in today’s two types of Siamese – the modern “show-style” Siamese, and the “traditional” Siamese, both descended from the same distant ancestors, but with few or no recent ancestors in common. In the late 1980s, breeders and fans of the older style of Siamese organised in order to preserve old, genetically healthy lines from extinction; educate the public about the breed’s history; and provide information on where people could buy kittens of the more moderate type. Several different breeders’ organisations have developed, with differing breed standards and requirements (such as whether or not cats must have documented proof of ancestry from an internationally recognised registry). Partially due to such disagreements, there are several different names used for the cats, including “Traditional Siamese”, “Old Style Siamese”, “Classic siamese”, and “Appleheads” (originally a derogatory nickname coined by modern-type Siamese breeders as an exaggerated description of less extremely wedge-shaped heads). The popularity of the older body style has also led to pointed mixed-breed cats that may have few or no Siamese ancestors being sold as “Traditional Siamese” to uninformed buyers, further increasing confusion over what a “real” Siamese looks like.

Wikipedia