Thai cat

The first image of a Thai-type cat is found in 14th-century manuscripts held at the National Laboratory in Bangkok .

Almost like today's Thai cats look, Siamese cats of the late XIX - early XX centuries looked, whose appearance came to us thanks to a few photographs.

The first representatives of Siamese cats came from Asia, first to Europe ( 1884 ), then to America (after 1920 ). Almost immediately, intensive breeding of this exotic breed for felinologists of that time began. As a result of breeding work, the appearance of the Siam began to change and acquired an extremely sophisticated type with a wedge-shaped head, large ears and tall, slender elegant legs. The old type was relegated to the background and survived only thanks to enthusiasts and amateurs of old-type Siamese - modern Thais (in other terminology of apple-headed, from the English apple-headed).

The first mention of Thai cats in Russia dates back to the 18th century ^[1] : in the Penza province , near the settlement of Insar , the German natural scientist P. S. Pallas saw cats, and was struck by their unusualness. In the book "Journey through the southern provinces of the Russian state in the period 1773-1788," he described this meeting.

It is known that the Siamese king Chulalongkorn gave Nicholas II 200 Siamese cats. Nicholas, in gratitude for this gift, provided Rama V with a guard unit for guarding the Grand Royal Palace. ^[2] In the 1950s, S. V. Obraztsov brought several cats from touring Europe. In many homes, this type of cat has survived, as people tried to cross cats similar to each other. But breeding work in Russia began to be professionally engaged only in the 1980s , so they did not have time to modify the old type in our country. In 1990, the standard was approved in Germany, the breed was officially recognized by the WCF system and became known as Thai, in honor of the new name of the state of Siam, renamed Thailand.

Currently, the Thai cat breed is closed, however, according to the decision of a particular club, an animal phenotypically complying with the standard can go through the procedure of determining the breed (certification) and participate in experimental breeding. At the beginning, the animal is examined by the felinologist of the club, and if the cat (cat) complies with the standard, the club “gives the go-ahead” for expert evaluation. It is necessary to obtain two signatures from experts to obtain a certificate of conformity to the breed. If the cat (cat) could not get the certificate, then it can not be called Thai, but remains only similar to Thai. Animals that have received a certificate of conformity with the breed can participate in breeding ^[3] .

Currently, the appearance of a Thai cat almost completely coincides with the descriptions of Siamese XVIII-XIX centuries. These are compact, rather muscular animals, on medium elegant legs. The head is round, elongated muzzle, small ears spaced apart, with slightly slanting bewitching blue eyes of the shape of a lemon or almond. The color that characterizes the breed is color point, that is, colored limbs, tail and “mask” on the muzzle with a light body (pure white in young animals, ivory and darker, up to chestnut in older cats). This type of color is a type of albinism with incomplete loss of pigment (acromelanism). It can be noted that the dark are parts of the body that are remote from the main body mass, that is, more strongly cooled. In particular, this feature is used in preparing Thai cats for exhibitions - by placing them in a warmer room, or by putting on special clothing .

The limbs can be not only black, but also brown, blue (gray), lilac, caramel, etc., as well as these colors can lie on the limbs not an even spot, but diverge into bright stripes (tabby color). Thai cats acquired this color during spontaneous mating, when felinological work was not carried out and there were no prohibitions on interbreeding.

• Seal point (seal point): body color - from pale deer (pale fawn, light beige) to creamy beige (creamy beige), warm tone. Shade to match the points. The points are deep seal brown, almost black. Nose and paw pads of the same color as points.

• Chocolate point (chocolate point): body color - ivory (ivory). No shading. Points of color of milk chocolate (milk chocolate), warm tone. The nose and paw pads of cinnamon pink.

• Blue point (blue point): body color - bluish white (bluish white), cold tone. Shade to match the points. Points of a deep bluish-gray color. Dark shale nose pads and pads.

• Lilac point (lilac point): body color - icy white (glacial white). No shading. The points are frosty gray with a pinkish tone. The nose and paw pads of lavender pink (lavender pink).

• Caramel point: body color - white magnolia (white magnolia, meaning magnolia flower). Shade to match the points. The points are brownish gray. The nose and paw pads of the pinkish-slate (pinkish slate) color.

• Gray-brown point (taupe point): body color - almost white (nearly white). No shading. Points of frosty brownish-gray color with a pinkish tinge. The nose and paw pads are pink.

• Cinnamon point: body color - ivory. Shade to match the points. Points of color of warm brown cinnamon (warm cinnamon brown). The nose and paw pads are pink to cinnamon brown.

• The fawn point (color called “Fawn” - (“Fawn” or “Deer”) has a light lilac-pink tone or light beige): body color - white magnolia (white magnolia). Shade to match the points. Points of warm pale pink (pale rosy) color. The nose and paw pads range from pink (pink) to pinkish-deer (pinkish fawn) color.

• Red point: body color is white. Apricot shading. Points bright reddish-gold (reddish gold) color. Light stripes on the mask, legs and tail are not regarded as a serious flaw, but are undesirable. The nose and paw pads are pink. Small dark brown spots (freckles) on the nose, paw pads, lips, eyelids and ears are acceptable.

• Cream point: body color is white. Cream shade. Points of warm cream color. Light stripes on the mask, legs and tail are not regarded as a serious flaw, but are undesirable. The nose and paw pads are pink. Small dark brown spots (freckles) on the nose, paw pads, lips, eyelids and ears are acceptable.

• Tortie point: tortoise, or tortoise. It can be represented by a combination of two colors - black (and its derivatives) and red. The third cream tone is clarified red. Tortoise color is typical for cats. It is more common in combination with others (seal tortie point, chocolate tortie point, chocolate tortie point, caramel tortie point, cinnamon tortie point, etc.).
• Brown point: body color is brown.

The specific features of keeping Thai cats are few. Thais are curious and fearless, a mesh must be pulled on all windows that open to avoid tragedy. Thais are sociable and resemble dogs in this, and with general goodwill towards the human environment, they are selective in choosing the object of communication. It is easy enough to get along with other animals living in the house, for example, dogs, and in communicating with them they can acquire a distinct reaction to a “stranger”. Like Siamese cats, when making sounds (meowing) they modulate the sound of the voice, expressing their attitude to the situation (the so-called "talking cats"). They have pronounced facial expressions. Thais easily learn to walk on a leash or harness. If a Thai cat eats natural food, it should be noted that liver and seafood are not recommended for cats with color-point color. According to some reports, they cause darkening of the body, which is undesirable for exhibition animals, darkening can also be caused by keeping in a cold room. The coat does not require special care, with a wet hand, once every two weeks, stroke an adult cat several times. Nevertheless, it is recommended to comb out the animal once a month with a special device with hard bristles, to which the pet, as a rule, reacts very willingly. Thais are long-livers, some live to a very advanced age for cats - 20–28 years, average life expectancy of 10-14 years .

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  Thai cat is sleeping

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  Thai cat at the age of 1.5 years.

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• Krylova N. Thai cats: Old-type Siamese cats. - M. LLC "Publishing house AST"; Donetsk: Stalker Publishing House, 2001 - 48s.