Siamese
You narrate your entire life at volume, and you expect replies.
- talkative
- demanding
- people-obsessed
- clever
- nosy
- dramatic
Why you are a Siamese
You are not capable of having a thought privately. Whatever is happening — the fridge opening, a bag rustling, someone arriving, someone leaving, a door closed that you believe should be open — you have a comment, and you deliver it. You are not needy exactly; you are participatory. Being excluded from something is worse to you than the thing itself being unpleasant. You pick one or two people and attach to them with an intensity that outsiders find slightly alarming, and you would rather be in the room for a boring conversation than alone in a comfortable one.
The real Siamese
A natural landrace from Thailand, not a constructed breed, documented in a Thai collection of cat poems from the Ayutthaya period (1350–1767). Siamese were among the founding breeds when CFA began in 1906, and CFA accepts four point colours only: seal, blue (1934), chocolate (1952) and lilac (1955) — other point colours are registered as Colorpoint Shorthair, a separate CFA breed. The point pattern is temperature-sensitive, so cooler extremities are darker and points can darken with age or in a cool home. "Applehead" is a colloquial term, not an official breed name.
- Registry status
- CFA: yes, a founding breed from 1906. TICA: yes.
- Origin
- Thailand (formerly Siam) — a natural landrace, documented by the Ayutthaya period (1350–1767).
- Coat
- Short, fine, close-lying and glossy. CFA puts it well: "everything about these cats is long except the fine, short coat."
- Size (registry wording)
- CFA says only "medium sized, svelte, refined… Males may be proportionately larger" — the standard gives no weight figures.
- Weight — commonly cited, not registry-verified
- 8–12 lb (3.6–5.4 kg)
- Life expectancy at birth (UK VetCompass, Teng et al. 2024)
- 11.7 years
- Lifespan — commonly cited by breed guides
- 12–20 years
A note on those two figures. No cat registry publishes numeric weight ranges — CFA and TICA standards are descriptive — so any weight you see anywhere, including here, comes from commercial sources. And the two lifespan rows measure different things: life expectancy at birth includes kittens that do not survive, so it runs lower than the ranges breed guides quote. They are shown separately because averaging them would produce a number that is true of nothing.
Honestly, what is hard about a Siamese?
A Siamese will narrate your entire day at volume and treat being left alone as a personal betrayal, so it is a poor fit for a quiet home or long working days.
Documented in the breed
Progressive retinal atrophy associated with the rdAc variant in CEP290 is documented in Siamese, at an allele frequency of roughly 33% in both North American and European populations. Familial AA amyloidosis is also documented; one post-mortem series found it in 12 of 194 (6.2%) Siamese and Oriental cats. CFA names both on its breed page.
This is general, descriptive information about a breed, drawn from registry statements and veterinary literature. It is not veterinary advice and says nothing about any individual cat.
One more thing
The first Siamese known in the United States was called "Siam" and belonged to a president — it was sent to Rutherford B. Hayes by the American Consul in Bangkok in 1878.
The other 17 results
While you are here
- Cat Name Generator — thousands of names by colour, theme and gender.
- Cat Age Calculator — convert cat years to human years, with a full chart.
- Cat Personality Test — profile your own cat instead of yourself.
Quiz results are for entertainment. Breed information is general and descriptive, is not veterinary advice, and does not describe any individual cat. For questions about your own cat's health, please consult your veterinarian.