Traditional Siamese Cat Health and Personality

Traditional Siamese Cat Health? Just how healthy are Traditional Siamese cats?

Pretty healthy, but there are some historical reasons for this.

The Siamese is known as a 'Natural Breed'. This means that it has flourished and multiplied for a very long time without major influence from people. As a natural breed the gene pool is large and varied and through natural selection the most viable characteristics have been cemented into the breed. However due to the popularity of the breed in the recent past cat breeders have not always built on this solid foundation.

The Siamese during the 20th century was incredibly popular and this had led to many kittens being brought into the world from unsuitable Siamese parents. Some people were more interested in breeding quantity rather than quality and quite frankly were in it just for the money. This had a detrimental affect on traditional Siamese cat health. The demand was high and temptations great. We must not automatically think that all Siamese from this golden age were healthy and robust. But the Traditional Siamese breeders worked with this sometimes less than perfect stock and through good breeding practices and with some of the financial and showing pressures removed were able to produce some of the wonderful Siamese you can discover today.

As the modern style Siamese took over the show world for more about this click here what happened to the Traditional Siamese show winners and those who bred them?

Many people dropped out of showing completely and a few turned to other breeds.

The rest? Well, these rebels carried on as before and over time got together and started their own groups for traditional Siamese cats. Since they couldn't show them, they developed other priorities, such as breeding for health, great temperaments, and love of the breed.

Siamese Cat Health

This is part of the controversy: many breeders of traditional Siamese cats accuse the Modern style breeders of breeding for looks only, often at the expense of health and character. Additionally the modern extreme look has adversely affected the robustness of the Modern Siamese breed as a whole. For an in-depth read on this topic there is a book written by Diana Fineran called The Traditional Siamese and the Classic Siamese Cat, A Complete History of the Breed. Over more than 900 pages of words and photos she details the whole, sometimes sorry history of the Siamese.

According to a couple of vets I have spoken to in the UK, Modern Siamese have a tendency to be less healthy, have problems with birthing healthy kittens and have a shorter lifespan on average.

Obviously when you breed for show success, appearance is naturally uppermost in your mind, and temperament may be less of a concern. To produce the slight, delicate new look some Traditional Siamese breeders accuse the Modern Siamese breeders of breeding runt to runt. (A runt is the smallest and least viable, desirable member of a litter.)

Siamese cats have a bit of a reputation for being cranky, difficult, noisy, obstreperous and aloof. It's commonly believed that these characteristics are more typical of the Modern than the Classic Siamese, Applehead, Traditional, Thai and Wichienmaat. Remember these are generalizations and exceptions will always be found, and many might disagree! As long as you are aware of this, you'll be able to look out for any unusual characteristics when checking out your kittens' parents.

Traditional Siamese breeders also say their cats will be healthier, live longer and enjoy better temperaments than their Modern Siamese counterparts.

Health issues? So what is Traditional Siamese cat health like? Some Siamese suffer from dental problems so extra care must be taken. Make sure any problems are dealt with quickly before they become serious and possibly deadly. Kidney and reflux problems have also been reported from both the Traditional and Modern Wedgie Siamese. All in all, Traditional Siamese cat health appears to be remarkably good.

The Traditional, Applehead and Classic breeders are an independent bunch and they maintain that the general public prefers the look of the Traditionals. They say the general public even go as far as calling the moderns 'unnatural' and 'freakish', but truly it's a matter of personal preference. Interestingly, the same accusation was levelled at the original Siamese cat imports from Thailand back in the 1880s, the first time Westerners had ever seen cats with blue eyes, kinked tails and dark points! So tastes change, as does fashion.

As you can see, emotions run high within these camps, but better to be aware of the politics and issues before embarking on your kitten hunt. Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to choosing your perfect Siamese kitten.

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