Siamese cat: Nutrition, character, training and much more about the Siamese cat

By Roswitha Berger

A Siamese cat alone is an unhappy cat, because she needs intensive contact with other cats, which have a similar character. Despite cat companionship, Siamese also close up to humans. They want to cuddle and play.

The temperament bundles are real chatterboxes and have a considerable vocal ability. Siamese cats occupy the owner similar to dogs. Lovers appreciate this so much about the cat breed.

The book gives you valuable tips on caring for cats and deep insights into the psyche, so you can get involved with the special character of the "moon diamonds", as Thai people call the cats:

What to consider when keeping them indoors?
What care do the coat, claws and teeth of the Siamese need?
With what do I feed the cat?
Which vaccinations are important?
How do I educate Siamese cats?

In the book you will also learn how to train Siamese cats in a species-appropriate way and why clicker training is useful.

The contents of the book include:
- Breed characteristics
- Origin of the cats
- Character
- Demands of the breed
- Health and veterinary visits
- Selection of the animal
- A Safe apartment for the cat
- Education and training

There is an appendix with detailed instructions and valuable tips and also over 10 illustrations.

This book is interesting for all who are interested in Siamese cats and, of course, for prospective owners of the lovable breed cats. Inform yourself now about this cat breed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: XinXii
• Release date: Apr 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9783986469344

Book preview

Basic knowledge about Siamese cats

The beautiful cat breed has probably evolved in nature, nevertheless there are some problems with hereditary diseases, because today's breed goes back to a very small gene pool.

Origin of the breed

The ancestors of today's Siamese cats come from Southeast Asian Siam, now Thailand. The cats were mentioned in writing in the literature there about 150-200 years ago. Some experts believe that Arab and Indian seafarers brought various cats from the Mediterranean and Asia Minor, respectively, to the region, where they ran wild and mated with native cats. This can explain the narrow physique of the Siamese, which is otherwise typical for Mediterranean cats.

From about 1870, the first Siamese cats arrived in England, but most of them died quickly because they could not cope with the harsh climate of the island. Nevertheless, in 1871 one of the cats was presented in the Crystal Palace in London.

Purposeful breeding began when in 1884 the Siamese King Chulalongkorn gave a pair of cats to the British Consul General Sir Edward Blencowe Gould. Pho and Mia became the first official breeding pair in England.

Their offspring were already exhibited at the great cat show at the Crystal Palace in London in 1885.

Although more animals were imported from Siam, breeding only took place with very few animals. This led to the still existing problems with hereditary diseases.

Hereditary diseases

Siamese cats are quite robust cats, which have a life expectancy of 15 years on average, unless they die very young from a hereditary disease. Some of the diseases hardly hinder the cats, others require treatment.

Known are:

Deformities

Eye diseases

Cardiovascular diseases

Blood cell defects

Metabolic disorders

Cancer

Behavioral disorders

The harmless malformations include the kink tail, which was one of the original characteristics of the predecessors of the Siamese cats. Hydrocephalus, on the other hand, usually leads to immediate death after birth.

Siamese cats often suffer from progressive retinal atrophy (retinal atrophy, PRA), or rod-cone degeneration. The retina of the eye is continuously destroyed by local metabolic disorders. This leads to night blindness and visual disturbances, with which Siamese cats living indoors usually have hardly any problems.

Strabismus (squinting) and nystagmus (eye tremor) are the direct result of partial albinism, which is responsible for the desired point coloration. Siamese cats therefore often have problems with fixation and probably impaired binocular vision. These hereditary diseases are also largely unproblematic for the animals.

Diseases of the cardiovascular system, i.e., the heart and vascular system, include endocardial fibroelastosis (thickening of the heart wall) and persistent ductus arteriosus, a short-circuit connection between the aorta and the pulmonary vascular trunk. The thickening often spreads to the heart valves and leads to heart murmurs, faint growth, and heart failure. The duct causes nonspecific symptoms such as weakness or heart failure.

Porphyrias, a blood cell defect, is a metabolic disease that disrupts the buildup of red blood pigment. This triggers very severe anemia, photosensitivity and other clinical pictures. Also possible is reactive systemic or renal amyloidosis, in which insoluble protein is continuously deposited in the internal organs, limiting their function in the long run. In middle-aged Siamese cats, this can lead to chronic renal or hepatic insufficiency.

Other metabolic disorders trigger hyperacidity of the blood or are storage diseases such as gangliosidosis. From an age of about six months, brain damage occurs. For Siamese cats there is a genetic test with which gangliosidosis can already be detected in puppies.

Furthermore, Siamese cats often get mammary tumors and small intestine cancer. These can be detected in time through targeted examinations.

Pica syndrome is a behavioral disorder that affects Siamese cats more often than other pedigreed cats. The animals eat indigestible substances or gnaw on them.

Important: Talk to the breeder what precautions he has taken to largely exclude hereditary diseases.

Breed characteristics

Today, two types of Siamese cats are bred: The traditional form, which today is usually referred to as the Thai cat, and the modern form. The following description refers to the modern Siamese cat.

Head, physique and coat

The cats have a very slender, muscular body and a short shiny soft coat without significant undercoat. The female cats weigh between 3.0 and 4.0 kg. Males are slightly heavier at 4.0 to 5.0 kg.

The long, thin but muscular legs end in small oval paws. The hind legs are longer than the front legs. This leads to a rather untypical for cats strutting instead of sneaking.

The tail must be thin and long. A kink counts as a fault, which is excluded from breeding.

Typical of Siamese cats of the modern type is a wedge-shaped head with a long straight nose without breaks in the line. The large ears are broad at the base and taper to a point. They lengthen the wedge.

Figure 1: Siamese cat body structure

Coat pattern and eyes

The almond-shaped eyes, which are slightly slanted, are striking. Their intense blue is typical for the breed.

As a point cat, all Siamese cats are born white, because the heat in the womb prevents the formation of the pigment melanin. Later, only cool parts of the body such as the nose, ears, tail and paws are colored.

The basic colors Seal (black-brown), Chocolate (chocolate-brown) and Red (orange-red)