What Does "Seal Point Cat" Mean?

Seal point refers to the coloration of certain types of cats. A seal point cat has a beige or fawn colored body and dark brown legs, ears and a tail. The paw pads and nose pad will be brown on a seal point, and the eyes will be deep blue.

Seal point may look similar to two other recognized color points: chocolate point and tortie point. A chocolate point cat has milk chocolate limbs, compared with the blackish-brown of a seal point. Check Kitty's nose and paw pads for clues. A chocolate point will have pinkish paw pads, compared to the seal's brown pads. The tortie point has orange and brown coloration on limbs and mottled paw pads, compared to the plain brown pads for a seal cat.

Generally, seal point coloration occurs in purebred cats, including the Siamese, Himalayan and ragdoll. In the 1940s to 1950s, breeders created shorthaired cats with color points by breeding a Siamese to an American shorthair. The resulting colorpoint shorthair cat comes in seal point color too. While domestic shorthairs can display seal point coloration, it's far less common.

When born, kittens have pale pink paw pads and creamy white skin. The seal point coloring develops in the first few weeks of a kitten's life. A splotch of brown color on the nose should appear within the first two weeks. It can take a full year for the remainder of the seal point markings to really become apparent.