Cicero, I don’t think that would work well. Pewter is the Winnie the Pooh of cats - a cat of very little brain. If you’re impressed by his feet you’d be amazed at how big his toenails are. Trimming his nails is like clipping a small dog’s nails.
He loves big/tall men, incidentally. They are the only ones who will carry him around on their shoulders for any length of time.
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Phlosphr**, I do have more than one cat, I am just glad I only have one cat who is as needy as Max. I have three cats in total, and probably six scratching posts. It drives me crazy when people complain that their cat tears up the furniture but don’t have any allowed scratching places in the house. Show me your cat condo!
No, Max doesn’t wrap himself around legs, how cute that must be.
Max will insist on being tucked into your sweater in the winter time. He just pushes his insistent little face right in there and climbs in. There is no saying no. He loves to be warm, which I think is another common Siamese thing. Heat seeking meezer is what we call him. Pewter does not fit in anyones sweater. In the winter, Pewter plops himself right down on the heat vent. You can’t tell there’s a vent there at all once he gets situated.
Gonzomax, Max does that singing just to hear himself thing. If he were singing an actual song it might be “I’m so lonesome I could cry.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnkypYGxTp8
Compared to cats in general, Siamese are known to have these differences:[ul]
[li]More vocalization. Both more frequent meowing, and a wider range, with specific meows for specific situations (“feed me”, “look what I found”, “where’ve you been?”, etc.)[/li][li]Extreme curiosity. All cats are curious, but Siamese seem to be more so than many other breeds. Anything new in their household, or anything newly used (‘you haven’t opened that cupboard in 2 days – I better check it out’).[/li][li]Love of heights. Siamese seem especially prone to seek high places, often when sleeping or just observing.[/li][li]Exclusive attachments. Siamese often fixate on attachment to one person (or a small number of people). They will want to be held by that person, sit on their lap, sleep next to (or on top of) that person, and frequently come by to check on that person. This can sometimes make them seem very clingy or protective.[/li][li]The physical differences are obvious. One less obvious one is that they often have a kink near the end of the tail.[/li][/ul] Note that these are generalized differences – any specific cat may have more or less of these traits. Also, some of them are influenced by socialization. If the mother cat liked to hang out in high perches, the kittens will learn to do that, too.
That crook is considered a fault, and not all purebreds have them. Also, not all crook tailed Siamese looking cats are purebreds.
As a general rule, if a Siamese cat does anything, she will do it in the loudest and most dramatic way possible. I’ve had several Siamese, and they have all been very talkative, frequently wanting just to tell you about what’s happened since they saw you last. All the Siamese I’ve known have loved high places. My current meezer loves to lounge on top of the fridge and supervise, especially when I’m cooking something. Meezers tend to be very clingy, and also tend to have a particular human that they regard as their own. This doesn’t mean that they won’t accept affection and food from other humans, it just means that they love one person more.
Siamese are known for having a lot of energy and being very smart. They will often learn tricks, either from humans or on their own. If you don’t WANT them to learn something, more than likely they WILL learn it.
Siamese are generally very loving, playful, entertaining companions, but they can be a royal pain sometimes.
[li]Exclusive attachments. Siamese often fixate on attachment to one person (or a small number of people). They will want to be held by that person, sit on their lap, sleep next to (or on top of) that person, and frequently come by to check on that person.[/li][/QUOTE]
I grew up with a half-Siamese that slept on my bed with me from the time I was 4 until she died when I was 22.
True. We had three seal points, and only one had a crook in his tail. I read once upon a time that it mean he couldn’t be shown even if we had his papers.
Siamese do tend to be more vocal than most other cats, but some Maine Coons put them to shame in the catogory of vocal range (“vocabulary”) though siamese will make noise more often. Both breeds are bright, too. Our cellar door had a latch sort of like this, and Coco, one of the siamese, could open it once she learned how to push the latch with one paw and pull the door with the other.
He is getting more confident and the eyedrops are clearing up his gaze. Hedwig is getting clingier, and de-uglifying at a rapid pace. Photos will follow as soon as he wanders into a sunbeam. Thus far, he has manifested many meezer traits (clingosity, curiosity,verbosity) but prefers lurking under things to heights. Grace has not yet manifested, he is like unto a bagpipe full of applesauce. His eyes still point away from each other
Can a Siamese or Siamese mix be all black?
My cat, Crow, seems to match every Siamese characteristic in this thread except for the tail kink. He has green eyes. At 9 years he still bounces off the wall like a kitten and will suddenly do a lap or two through the whole house for no reason. Loves to play fetch too.
as noted by mister rick above, siamese do tend to live longer and peppier than others. although with good vet/owner care many non-siamese are catching up.
i’ve got a siamese/tabby mix now. the only cat i picked out and only boy. he has motor skills problems due to (the vet and i think) panleuk exposure when he was born or very, very young. so the grace and leaping abilities of the siamese are not evident in him. he is sooo very pretty, funny, and clumsy, that he charms all he comes in contact with.
he does have the “you are my bestest buddy” thing, and a bit of the vocabulary. he mostly speaks if he doesn’t see me for a while, or gets tossed out of the bedroom.
My Luna is a Siamese mix, and is absolutely a wonderful cat. She can meow very loud, though- when I take her to the vet, she can meow loudly enough that I think people in other cars hear her even though my windows are closed. She can also make a sound that sounds like a baby crying, when she wants to.
Wikipedia says that Siamese cats tend to be more dependent on humans than other cats, and that that might be because they don’t see as well in the dark as other cats. Luna is definitely more of a pesky people cat than my other non-Siamese cat, and seems to be less active at night. I wonder if she didn’t edit Wikipedia to say that, though, to make me feel sorry for her… (except she’d edit it to say Siamese need more treats than other kinds of cats)
Cross-eyes are associated with Siamese blue eyes, the same way deafness is associated with other blue-eye genes in cats.
You can tell Siamese blue eyes from other blue eyes by their “eyeshine”- the color that reflects from the eyes when a light shines into them. Normal cat eyes have have a blue-green eyeshine. Siamese blue eyes don’t have the pigmentation on the tapetum, or reflective surface in back of the eye, that gives that color, so they shine red. Lots of info on cat eye color genetics There’s a picture of a cat that has one Siamese blue eye and one regular blue eye in that article- the eyes look the same except when you see the eyeshine, and then one looks green and one looks red.
Not all diseases are negatives if there is not full expression. Take for instance sickle cell anemia. Those individuals homozygous for the mutation are sick, while heterozygousity (is that a word?) gives the individual resistance to malaria.
So what makes a cat have orange eye-shine? Edison always looks at the camera when you try to take his picture, and his eyes shine orange (not yellow - hard to tell from the picture, but it’s orange to match his coat.) His eyes are yellow-orangey - here’s a picture where one of them has no shine.
I’ve always said siamese cats are more like dogs than cats. Very bonded to their people (my niece stayed with me for 6 months and Papi wouldn’t come near her). Vocal (I had a siamese who would stand in the bathroom and say “wah wah” when she wanted a drink of fresh water. Because of course you can’t drink something that’s been standing for 15 minutes!). Just different. Currently I have a siamese, a siamese cross and two DSH. The DSH are just cats, but the siamese are personalities. Sort of the drag queen of cats.
In general the eyeshine is caused by the reflective layer in a cat’s eyes, the tapetum lucidum. The color just comes from an interaction with eye color ( which is itself genetically tied to coat color ).
