While the Siamese is one of the oldest feline breeds, and that a recent opinion poll showed that the breed was the favourite of the French, in front of the Persians and Chartreux, the breeding of this cat is going through a crisis without precedent, which could quickly doom it if things remained unchanged.
The history of the Siamese is very peculiar. Although it made a kingly first appearance into the world of cat fancy in 1871 at Crystal Palace exhibition, its career has been so eventful ever since that a queen would hardly find her kittens. For the first lovers of the breed, all it took a cat to be a Siamese was to have blue eyes and the tips of the body of a darker colour than the rest. But what once was true in the beginning turned out to prove less and less relevant as time went by, as the science of genetics progressed in the same time and the number of breeds boomed. If the gene responsible for the colour of the Siamese can be infused into any type of cats in two generations, one can’t and shouldn’t resume a breed to its colour!
This desire of distinction, plus the creative and demiurge spirit of some breeders, certainly was at the origin of the creation of a new look Siamese cat in the 1970’s. This much longer cat entirely differed from the Siamese imported from the Far East by British diplomats in the 19th century. The changes were progressive at first, until an almost mythical cat turned up – Y-Not Hershey Bar of B-Jay – a chocolate tabby point Siamese with an immoderately long head, and whose influence can still be felt today in many pedigrees. This evolution was a real split-up between the breeders and the public, who didn’t want to follow them, or simply couldn’t because of a lack of information. And to top this lack of knowledge, sometimes even misunderstanding, between the “producers” and the “consumers”, was added the fact that the breeders couldn’t agree between themselves about what was the ideal Siamese. According to the different regions and zones of influence of the various great feline federations, a war of types has emerged, whereas the standard is the same for all! But people apparently don’t have the same reading of the standard. What has been happening in France in the last 20 years is typical of this phenomenon.
As the British breeders were at the basis of the breeding of the Siamese, France was under their influence for a long time, preferring cats with a moderate type. Things remained unchanged until the arrival of the American lines, which caused a real revolution in the way people thought of their cats. It must be said that the American Siamese from this period were very impressive. Not only their heads were very long, but they also brought an incredible refinement to the general structure of the cats, with tubular bodies and endless tails. The French breeders rushed on those cats, but their haste lead them to a dead end. Simply because You can’t do in two generations what must be done in six. And careless inbreeding on lines which were not yet known for their weakness had tragic consequences. One can remember the cats from the Petmark breeding, whose kittens died almost immediately after their birth, and whose death touched many of us. The type was there, indeed, but there was no “user’s guide”! however, the idea of refined and elegant Siamese cats went its way, and some breeders began to think that good would come out of the crossing of the English cats with the American ones. Crosses between English breeder Angela Sayers’ “Solitaires” cats, and some among Vickie Markstein’s healthiest Petmark cats, resulted in very good cats.
It certainly would have been possible to continue in this direction, by combining the qualities of the ones and of the others, but suddenly, in the mid 90’s, French breeders “discovered” the Siamese cats from the FIFé, this feline federation so powerful in Western and Northern Europe. The FIFé breeders had favoured the cats with long ears large very at the basis, extremely almond-shaped eyes, but whose bodies were often very heavy and tails quite thick. These cats were not for the neophytes either, but they lead breeders to commit excesses by no means more reasonable than the previous ones. Judges undoubtedly played a part in this backward and forward movement: it is indeed much easier to judge a cat on its ears without touching it, than handling it to judge of its muscular tonicity and body refinement. However, just like in the previous period, there were some moments of grace, especially with the importation of Australian cats issued from English lines (Rama, Korindah), which illustrated the perfect balance between the head and the body.
This schizophrenic situation has now reached its maximum, and fashion makes many victims. Instead of looking for a beautiful cat – naturally extreme when you talk about the Siamese – which would combine large and beautiful ears with almond-shaped eyes, and greyhound-like bodies, the French breeders continue on the same pace, and they lose their way, all the more so that they prefer to work completely on their own. There’s a happy medium between the “breathless” CFA Siamese cats and the FIFé Siamese cats, among which some can’t no longer open their eyes: you can find it in the USA or in the Netherlands. These balanced cats – in the standard - are the result of the work of breeders, who won’t listen to the dictates of fashion. They have decided to take their time to achieve their goal. They don’t hesitate to exchange their lines and hopes, over the common rivalry and the miles, as they have understood that the larger the genetic pool is, the more beautiful the cats will be. Choice is one of the main keys to their success.
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