The history of the Siamese cat spans over thousands of years. There were the times when those bright extravagant cats were worshipped as cathedral keepers. The legends about them are still alive. One of the most exciting of them is connected with Noah's arc. According to the legend, the male monkey had fallen in love with the Lioness. From this love the first Siamese cat was born — «with habits of a monkey and courage of a lion». Oriental cats emerged as a result of deliberate interbreeding of Siamese cats — the type bearers — with other short-haired cats. The selection was made by colour. Thus Orientals are the Siamese that have coloured body and green eyes. Nowadays, there are Oriental cats of various colours.
Modern Siamese and Orientals are united in one breed group, have the same standard and common breeding.
Siamese
The origin of Siamese cats is certainly Asian, but now it is impossible to
discern their wild ancestors.
The research into this problem in Thailand and Indo-China turned out fruitless.
All we have are some strange engravings portraying the first known cat
with stripy hair typical for wild cats which proves its jungle origin.
Many researchers assert that the predecessor of the Siamese cat was
the ancient Egyptian cat,
and cat mummies found at Egypt excavations resemble Siameses
in constitution and skull texture.
Till the end of 19th century no Europeans saw Siamese cats,
they belonged to the royal family of Siam (now Thailand),
and were worshipped and idolized.
One could pay with his life for stealing a Siamese cat,
but some smart merchants managed to acquire cats and export them
from the country.
As early as in 1871 the Siamese cat appeared on British cat exhibition.
In 1884 the British Consul-General Gould was given a couple of Siamese cats by the Siamese king
and brought them to London.
He visited the Crystal Palace with his pets that were a great success
and were generally recognized.
In 1890 the Siamese cat reached America and gained wide popularity there, but
only a wealthy man could acquire such a cat. Russia also could not resist the
orient charming of the Siamese cat. In 1893 such a cat cost more than
100 roubles, which was a significant price for that time.
A distinctive feature of the Siamese is its contrast color points,
in combination with amazing blue eyes.
Each shade of the contrast colour has its own name: seal-point,
chocolate-point, blue-point, lilac-point, red-point, etc.
Orientals
Orientals are one-color Siamese cats. Color-points are just a particular breed.
In Thailand (Siam) there were also cats with solid color (Orientals) and green
eyes, all of them are physically Siamese.
But in the beginning the extraordinarity of color-points overshadowed one-color
Orientals, in England they were excluded from the Siamese breed in 1920 and only
in the middle of the 20th century they were noticed and took a proper place
among contrast fellows.
In recent years the Orientals have gained wide popularity in the world. Many new
colors have appeared, some of them are presented in our
photo album.
Character features
The originality and uniqeness of Siamese and Oriental cats is also revealed
in their character. What is more, some features belong only to them and not
to any other breed.
Sociability and attachment of orient cats resembles the dog, they are
very devoted and need attention and love since early childhood.
Their habits and behaviour combine traits of a wild cat and a faithful dog.
Don't forget that our pets' character in many respects depends on the relations
established between the cat and the owner. Their love for the master has no
limits.
The only common feature they have is enjoying every second and minute,
every hour and day spent with you. Siamese and orientals are ubiquitous.
Noting in the house can happen without them, neither watching TV, nor reading
news, nor welcoming guests, they even take part in bringing up the kids.
Barely have you thought about your plans, they are already at your feet looking
in your eyes asking "and what we gonna do?"
Siamese and Oriental cats are magical creatures that can be kept out of the room but not out from the heart.
