Lavender Point Siamese

Siamese cats appeared in Europe and the United States in the latter part of the 19th century, when Thailand was still called Siam. The first type of Siamese seen at cat shows was the seal point, which has dark brown, almost black, paws, tails and ear tips that contrast dramatically with a pale fawn body. This is still the best known Siamese. In 1934, the first Siamese to gain official breed recognition was the blue point, which has slate gray to blue extremities and a whitish fur that is much cooler in tone than the coats of this cat's seal and chocolate-pointed cousins. It wasn't until the 1950s that the breed associations registered the lilac point as a Siamese breed. Before that, this cat had been considered a genetically defective blue point who didn't belong to the Siamese club.

As the last to appear, the lilac point or lavender point Siamese completes the portfolio of the Siamese breed. This cat has the palest coloring of the breed, with pinkish ears and very light gray-colored fur that almost has the look of frost. This leads to the lavender point's additional nickname -- she is sometimes called the "frost point" in America. Even this cat's eyes are paler than any other Siamese, and they ideally should be a pale, china blue. Her coat is light cream or off white, but not usually a true white, and her paw pads and nose should have a pale pink tinge.

Your Siamese, for all her aloofness, essentially adores her family and likes nothing better than to sit on your lap and keep you company. You'll likely find her expressive voice draws you into communicating with her and she exudes intelligence and emotion. The lavender point Siamese is known by her fans for her sense of drama and theatrical behavior. She does like to get her own way, and may use melodrama to get it. Although her coloring suggests she is genetically linked to the blue point, she is in fact a genetically diluted chocolate point.

Your lavender point Siamese is also the inspiration for an entirely new type of Siamese. Correctly called the white Siamese, she is also called the Foreign White. In the 1960s, Patricia Turner, a well-known cat geneticist, saw an overexposed photograph of a lilac point Siamese and it inspired her to start a breeding program that would produce an entirely white oriental-type cat. She also wanted to get rid of the genetic defect that causes deafness in many blue-eyed, white cats. She began breeding genetically dominant white British shorthaired cats with Siamese seal points to arrive at the white Siamese.