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The Types of Siamese |
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The Types of Siamese |
These Siamese cats were all born before 1935, original Siamese imports or their immediate descendants. |
If you want to skip the history and go straight to a description of the Old-Style Siamese and the Modern Siamese, see the line toward the end of this page that begins "The bottom line."As recently as twenty years ago, there was only one "type" of Siamese. (In cat fancy jargon, "type" means body build or conformation.) Prior to the 1980s people did realize that Siamese often varied a great deal from each other in type. In fact, as long ago as the late 1950s people noticed that Siamese bred by the top show breeders were more refined in appearance than other Siamese (see apples.html). The top show-style Siamese of that period were nowhere near as fine-boned and extreme as the show-style Siamese of today, however, and most of the mid-century show cats were not significantly different from top show Siamese of the 1910s and 1920s. Consequently, breeders considered all Siamese to be the same breed, whether they were large, hefty cats or more refined show cats. See, for example, this photo of a Siamese that appeared in the second edition of a book by top 1960s breeder Vera Nelson (Nelson, 1976, pg. 87). Note that Vera described that cat in the caption under the photo as quintessentially Siamese, though it was definitely built like an "applehead" and not like one of Vera's show cats. People breeding for show purposes were beginning to prefer a more extreme looking Siamese, but for many years it was still common to see very moderate type Siamese born in the same litters with show-style Siamese; they were considered kith and kin.
It wasn't until the 1980s that people began to talk of more than one (body) type of Siamese. By then, show-style Siamese had become so extreme that even their "pet quality" littermates were fairly extreme, and pedigreed Siamese of thoroughly moderate body type had become very hard to find. Initially people spoke of "applehead" Siamese and show-style Siamese. By "applehead" they now meant any Siamese of very moderate type. That is not what the term "applehead" originally meant, but it is what it had come to mean. By show-style Siamese they now meant Siamese of the extreme ultra-Oriental type.
In the mid-1980s, a small group of breeders and fanciers founded what eventually became known as the Traditional Cat Association, to my knowledge the first national and international club devoted to the preservation of the "applehead" Siamese. When the early club members met among themselves to decide upon a breed name and standard, they came from many different levels of general education, cat-owning experience, cat fancy experience, genetic expertise, and historical knowledge of the breed. They soon found that some of them conceived of the old, moderate type of Siamese as a very large, round-skulled cat and others envisioned a Siamese like the pedigreed Siamese some of them had known in the 1950s that tended to be moderate in size, bone structure, and had a modified wedge head. They could not agree on a single breed name or standard, so they agreed upon two. The concept of the very large, robust cat they called the Traditional Siamese and the concept of the medium-sized cat with the modified wedge head they called the Classic Siamese. The club originating those concepts has since split into two factions involved in a dispute. But for those interested you can see an objective third party description and photographs of cats that come close to idealizing the TCA concepts at the Siamese Internet Cat Club site (http://www.meezer.com/siambreed1.html).
By the early 1990s, it had become apparent to many breeders of the old moderate type of Siamese that dividing the Siamese breed up into so many different types was confusing, genetically inaccurate, historically inaccurate, and counterproductive to the welfare of the cats. People often think they can classify moderate Siamese into "traditional" and "classic" and "modern" (extreme) types very easily. It's true that one can easily distinguish the modern, show-style cats from the moderate type Siamese because the show-style cats have been selectively bred to a very extreme body build indeed. But if you put moderate Siamese side by side with other moderate Siamese, you actually find that what people are calling "traditional applehead" and "classic" cats overlap a great deal in their traits. You find that one person's "traditional applehead" is another person's "classic" and vice versa - and that they actually have a lot in common. In truth, trying to divide the old moderate type Siamese up into two types in addition to the third type represented by the extreme show-style Siamese, is a waste of time. It is also counter-productive because the various names generate a lot of confusion and misunderstanding.
Let me show you. If you look at the cats at the top of this page, or if you look at the ones on the history page, are you sure you can tell exactly which is a "classic" and which is a "traditional applehead?" Most likely you aren't sure how to classify some of the cats. All you can really say is that they don't look like extreme, modern Siamese. They are more substantial and more moderate looking than the modern Siamese. Whether a little lighter built, a little heavier, a little larger or smaller, a little rounder of head or a little longer of head, the Siamese cats in the historic photos are definitely not extreme or modern in body type. They vary a little in build, but all are moderate. Many breeders now prefer to call them simply Old-Style Siamese.*
The bottom line. There are two types of Siamese, the Old-Style Siamese and the modern Siamese. The modern Siamese is also known as the show-style or extreme wedge Siamese.
Shown below, the modern Siamese looks extremely Oriental with a narrow triangular head, extremely long narrow tubular body, extremely long whip-like tail, dainty fine bone structure, huge ears, and very slanted eyes. If you measure the width of the head of a modern Siamese, it is usually less than 2.8 inches at its widest point. Another feature of the head of the modern Siamese is its unusually long muzzle. Both modern and Old-Style Siamese have some length between the eyes and the top of the head (to make room for those super-smart Siamese brains, my friends). However, only the modern Siamese has a long muzzle. The Old-Style Siamese does not. You can see more photos of modern Siamese if you click on the link under the photo.
Show-style (modern) Siamese from Fairy Dust Cattery in the United States. A seal point is at far left. A bluepoint is left middle.At right middle and at far right are chocolate points.The little white guys are newborn babies.** For photographs of Old-Style Siamese, you have only to look at the many historical and contemporary photos on this web site as well as those on the PREOSSIA web site. In addition, see the photos directly below. Old-Style Siamese should not look like modern Siamese, but they should look like the ancestors of modern Siamese, meaning that they should have a moderately Oriental style. That includes a moderately wide head (usually 3.0 inches or more at the widest part of the head in front of the ears), a medium length muzzle, and moderate rounding of the jaws or "cheeks." Such a head shape is known in the cat fancy as a "modified wedge head." It's not an extreme wedge, but it is a modified wedge. Other moderate breeds, such as the Tonkinese, Abyssinian, and Japanese Bobtail, also are classified as breeds that have modified wedge heads.
Old-Style Siamese bred in three different catteries.*** In
the top row are two seal points and one chocolate point.
Both photos at bottom are of the same cat, a blue point stud.The next photo, directly below, is a comparison of the bodies of a show-style Siamese (left) and Old-Style Siamese (right). To make direct comparison easier, both of the cats below are seal points, and both are females.
The seal point at left is a modern Siamese**, hence the narrow frame, tubular body, and
fine bone structure. The seal point at right is an Old-Style Siamese***, hence is larger in
size, bone structure, and width of head and frame than the modern Siamese.All Siamese are wonderful, intelligent cats that love to talk to and interact with people. Within the Siamese breed, there are two types, the moderate-looking Old-Style Siamese and the ultra-Oriental modern Siamese. Which is "better" is a matter of individual preference.
Footnotes*The pet quality offspring of modern Siamese are usually less extreme than their show quality brethren. That's why they are classified as pet quality and not show quality. However, there are two reasons why offspring of modern Siamese nowadays are not equivalent to Old-Style Siamese. First, they tend to have one or more traits that are too extreme to qualify them as Old-Style Siamese. For instance, even when their heads are not ultra long, they usually have much narrower heads, finer bones, and much more slender/tubular bodies than a true Old-Style Siamese. They look about as much like an Old-Style Siamese as a racing Quarter Horse looks like a ranch Quarter Horse - or about as much as a greyhound looks like a Labrador retriever. Secondly, a genuine Old-Style Siamese does not have the same cats recently in his pedigree as a modern Siamese. By recently, I mean roughly within 20 years. Typically, a modern Siamese cat has many San-Toi and Singa Cattery cats in his pedigree, whereas the Old-Style Siamese has no recent San-Toi or Singa ancestors.
**We would like to thank Jennifer Wilson of Fairy Dust Cattery for giving us permission to display her photographs of her many fine show-style (modern) Siamese.
***Thanks to Mark Ross for allowing us to display his photo of his Old-Style Siamese boy, and thanks to Jenny Hart for the full-body shot of her Old-Style Siamese girl. Lastly, thanks to Valerie Taylor of the U.S.A., Ed and Malee Rose of Thailand, and Ari and Arirat Yoobumrung of Thailand for having bred some of the wonderful Old-Style Siamese shown here.
Except where otherwise noted, all photographs and text are copyright © 1996-2007 by Dr. Cris Bird of Sarsenstone Cattery. You may not redistribute any photos or text presented here without the express written consent of the copyright holder.
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