This is a traditional Siamese cat picture but not one taken by Helmi Flick. As a professional photographer in the United States she would not, in the normal course of events, come across a traditional Siamese cat because the major cat associations only recognize the slender, highly bred, "oriental" body shaped Siamese that breeders consider to be the original appearance or at least a cat of more elegant appearance than the original. I disagree with all of their concepts in regards to the Siamese cat.
The original Siamese is the traditional Siamese. That is clear by looking at old photographs of Siamese cats that were recently imported from Siam (now Thailand). You can check out my version of Siamese cat history if you like. The above cat has seal pointing, which is the natural pointing of the Siamese. The traditional Siamese is bred with standard pointing colors: blue, seal, lilac and chocolate. I think they have introduced tabby pointing too (called lynx pointing). All Siamese cats before the 1950s were traditional Siamese cats.
There was no such cat as the modern Siamese. Cat associations don't call the contemporary Siamese the "modern" Siamese. They just call it the Siamese. The super slender modern Siamese is on a par with the ultra flat-faced Persian as the two cats that have been conclusively over-bred and refined beyond common sense limits. These are my views alone expressed here. Read more...
There is not now, or ever been a "breed" called Traditional Siamese, or Goddess forbid, Applehead Siamese. There is a breed which is the native pointed cat of Thailand, called the Thai -- which has many of the characteristics you have listed/shown for old-style Siamese. The International Cat Association (TICA) has a breed description which is clear in their description of what the Thai breed is and is not.
ReplyDeleteMichael, I could not agree with you more about your distaste over what has happened to two great breeds of cats: the Persians and the Siamese. I really wish you would not perpetuate the problem by having categories with "street" names of these cats.
BTW, I am finding your website very difficult to get around -- there are so many ads these days. Also, I have sent you photos in the past but they seem to have all been replaced (which saddens me but let me be clear, as long as they are being replaced with "newer" cats who hopefully are even better examples of the breed, that's fine -- but just replacing them with say "articles" by pet owners who want publicity for themselves, then that's when I have a problem (i.e., Laura and her RagaMuffin, for example.)
Hi Jean, sorry it has taken so long to publish your comment but I don't get on this site very often and I don't get notifications about comments on this site.
DeleteI don't delete any photographs on the website. Nothing is deleted except very very rarely comments are deleted. So, I'm not quite sure what you mean when you say that the photos you have sent me in the passed to have all been replaced. I certainly wouldn't have replaced your photographs. If you would like to provide me with a link to a page that concerns you, I will deal with it promptly.
As for the Siamese cat, there is sadly a range of body conformations so I refer to them. It is a sad fact of the cat fancy that they have messed up the Siamese cat. Personally I don't believe that the Thai helped in clarifying the situation. Although it looks more like the original Siamese.
Please discuss your grievances with me and I'll be pleased to resolve them.
P.S. as for the adverts. I have to have to them. They make the money that I give away to cat charities and the authors who help to keep the site going. You can't complain about adverts. Really. The site is expensive to run. Do I have to do it all for free!?
DeleteThe way to get around the website is to use the search facility at the top of the post. It works really well. You don't need anything else. It is a straight blog and they are all essentially the same,
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