Editing Siamese cat (section)

==History==
[[File:Ayutthaya cat 9999.jpg|right|thumb|[[Suphalak]] cat, [[Thai cat|Siamese cat]], [[Korat]] cat and Ninlachak cat in Tamra Maew (The Cat-Book Poems) are thought to originate from the [[Ayutthaya Kingdom]] (1351 to 1767 AD). Over a dozen are now kept in the [[National Library of Thailand]].]]

===Origins===
====Thailand====
A description and depiction of the [[Wichienmaat|Wichianmat]] (Siamese cat) first appears in a collection of ancient manuscripts called the ''[[Tamra Maew]]'' (The Cat-Book Poems), thought to originate from the [[Ayutthaya Kingdom]] (1351 to 1767 AD). Over a dozen are now kept in the [[National Library of Thailand]]. The manuscripts have resurfaced outside of Thailand and are now in the British Library and National Library of [[Australia]]. 

At the end of the [[Burmese–Siamese War (1765–1767)|Burmese–Siamese war]], the capitol was sacked on 7 April 1767. The Burmese army burned everything in sight and returned to Burma, taking Siamese noblemen and royal family members with them as captives. A Thai legend states that the King of Burma [[Hsinbyushin]] found and read the poem for the [[Thai cat]]s in the Tamra Maew. The poem describes Thai cats as being as rare as gold, and anyone who owns this cat will become wealthy. He told his army to round up all the [[Suphalak]] cats and bring them back to [[Myanmar|Burma]] along with the other treasures. Today in [[Thailand]], people tell this legend as a humorous explanation of the rarity of Thai cats.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Satthapiyakun |first1=Nawacha |title=Felicitous Felines: Beliefs About Thai Cats and Breed Characteristics |url=https://www.thailandnow.in.th/life-society/felicitous-felines-beliefs-about-thai-cats-and-breed-characteristics/ |website=Thailand NOW |date=25 July 2023}}</ref>

====Siamese====
The pointed cat known in the West as "Siamese", recognised for its distinctive markings, is one of several breeds of cats from Siam described and illustrated in manuscripts called "Tamra Maew" (Cat Poems). The "Tamra Maew" is estimated to have been written from the 14th to the 18th century.<ref name="clutterbuck">{{cite book | title = Siamese Cats: Legends and Reality | last=Clutterbuck | first=Martin R. | year=2004 | publisher=White Lotus | location=Bangkok | isbn=978-974-480-053-4}}</ref> In 1878, U.S. President [[Rutherford B. Hayes]] received the first documented Siamese to reach the [[United States]]. The cat, named "Siam," was sent from Bangkok to the American Consul. 
<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.rbhayes.org/hayes/manunews/paper_trail_display.asp?nid=65&subj=manunews | title = Siam: America's First Siamese Cat | access-date = 13 February 2009 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090505141638/http://www.rbhayes.org/hayes/manunews/paper_trail_display.asp?nid=65&subj=manunews | archive-date = 5 May 2009 }}</ref> In 1884, the British Consul-General in [[Bangkok]], [[Edward Blencowe Gould]] (1847–1916),<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.siamese.mundikat.nl/subweb/siamese/siamees/roots-e.htm | title = Edward Blencowe Gould or Owen Gould | access-date = 14 August 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050311113730/http://www.siamese.mundikat.nl/subweb/siamese/siamees/roots-e.htm |archive-date = 11 March 2005}}</ref> brought a breeding pair of the cats, Pho and Mia, back to Britain as a gift for his sister, [[Lilian Jane Gould]] (who, married in 1895 as Lilian Jane Veley,<ref>General Register Office Register of Marriages SEP 1895 5b 217 NEWTON A. Victor Herbert Veley = Lilian Jane Gould</ref> went on to co-found the Siamese Cat Club in 1901). <!-- Several sources give Gould's brother Owen Nutcombe Gould (1857–1929) as the British Consul-General in Bangkok, but Owen was only 27 in 1884 and not known to be in Bangkok. (This is misplaced and uncited.)--> In 1885, Gould's UK cats Pho and Mia produced three Siamese kittens—Duen Ngai, Kalohom, and Khromata—who were shown with their parents that same year at London's [[The Crystal Palace|Crystal Palace]] Show. Their appearance and behaviour attracted attention, but all three of the kittens died soon after the show, their cause of death not documented.<ref name="connor_2005">{{cite book | author = Connor, Janine | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-0-9804291-0-7 | title = I am Siamese - How to raise Siamese cats and kittens | publisher = Focal }}</ref>

By 1886, four Siamese cats were imported to the UK by Eva Forestier Walker (surnamed Vyvyan after 1887 marriage)<ref>General Register Office Register of Marriages MAR 1887 1a 19 PADDINGTON Courtney Bouchier Vyvyan = Eva Catherine F. Walker</ref> and her sister, Ada. These Siamese imports were long, had rounded heads with wedge-shaped muzzles, and large ears.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}} The cats ranged from substantial to slender but were not either extreme.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}} The difference in the pointed coat pattern had not been seen before in cats by Westerners.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}} Over the next several years, fanciers imported a small number of cats, forming the base breeding pool for the entire breed in Britain. It is believed that most Siamese in Britain today are descended from about eleven of these original imports. In Britain, they were called the "Royal Cat of Siam." Some reports say that they had previously been kept only by Siamese royalty.<ref>{{cite book | last= Weir | first=Harrison | title=Our Cats |location=London | year=1889 | isbn= 978-1-84664-097-1}}</ref> Research does not show evidence of any organised royal breeding programme in Siam.<ref name="clutterbuck" /> 

<gallery widths="200" heights="200" mode="packed-hover">
File:1410624986-cats1-o.png|[[Prajadhipok|King Prajadhipok]] following his [[Coronation of the Thai monarch|coronation day]], surrounded by the court ladies carrying his regalia and what is today regarded as a [[Thai cat]], the cat symbolises "domesticity".
File:Wankee side view.jpg|Wankee, born in 1895 in Hong Kong, became the first UK Siamese champion in 1898.
File:Siamese cat 1960.jpg|While this show quality specimen from 1960 still exhibits relatively moderate characteristics, the breed standard was setting the stage for the modern Siamese, with its call for a "dainty, long and svelte" body, a long head that "taper[s] in straight lines from the ears to a narrow muzzle", "ears large and pricked, wide at the base" and tail "long and tapering".
File:PSM V37 D108 Royal cat of siam prize winner.jpg|A classic seal point Siamese prize winner. Note the darker colours at the extremes, e.g. face/ears, tail and legs.
</gallery>

{{Anchor|Traditional Siamese|Modern development}}<!--There are numerous incoming links to this heading name.-->

===Traditional Siamese versus modern development===
{{main|Thai cat}}

In the 1950s–1960s, as the Siamese was increasing in popularity, many breeders and cat show judges began to favour the more slender look. Breeders created increasingly long, fine-boned, narrow-headed cats through generations of selective breeding. Eventually, the modern show Siamese was bred to be extremely elongated, with a lean, tubular body, long, slender legs, a very long, very thin tail that tapers gradually into a point, and a long, wedge-shaped head topped by extremely large, wide-set ears.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

By the mid-1980s, cats of the original style had largely disappeared from cat shows. Still, a few breeders, particularly in the UK, continued to breed and register them, resulting in today's two types of Siamese: the modern, "show-style", standardised Siamese, and the "Traditional Siamese", both descended from the same distant ancestors, but with few or no recent ancestors in common, and effectively forming distinct sub-breeds, with some pressure to separate them.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

In addition to the modern Siamese breed category, [[The International Cat Association]] (TICA) and the [[World Cat Federation]] (WCF) now accept Siamese cats of the less extreme type, and any ''wichianmat'' cat imported directly from Thailand, under the new breed name [[Thai cat|Thai]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://tica.org/public/breeds/th/th.pdf | title = Thai Breed Standard | author = The International Cat Association | access-date = 9 September 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090407080734/http://tica.org/public/breeds/th/th.pdf | archive-date = 7 April 2009 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }}</ref><ref name="WCF Breeds">{{cite web |url=http://www.wcf-online.de/WCF-EN/standard/rassen.html |title=Recognized and Admitted Breeds in the WCF |work=WCF-Online.de |date=2016 |access-date=4 April 2016 |archive-date=15 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130215022120/http://www.wcf-online.de/WCF-EN/standard/rassen.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Other, mostly unofficial, names for the traditional variety are "Old-style Siamese" and "Classic Siamese", with an American variation nicknamed "Applehead".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://home.earthlink.net/~sarsenstone/threetypes.html |title=The Types of Siamese |first=Cris |last=Bird |access-date=27 September 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060930012742/http://home.earthlink.net/~sarsenstone/threetypes.html |archive-date=30 September 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.oldstylesiamese.co.uk/old-style-siamese/|title=What is an old style? |first=Julia |last=Craig-McFeely |date=2003}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200" heights="200" mode="packed-hover">
File:Тайская кошка Синка Тайна Таун, WCF, окрас сил поинт.jpg|Traditional "applehead" Thai cat
File:A classic seal point Siamese cat.jpg|Traditional seal point Thai cat
File:Kot Tajski.jpg|Traditional seal point Thai cat with a round head and a bulky-build body
File:Siamese cat Vaillante.JPG|Modern seal point Siamese cat (side view) with a slim "wedge head" and a slender-build body
File:WedgeheadSealpointSiamese (cropped).JPG|Modern "wedge head" seal point Siamese cat
File:Siamese cat.jpg|Modern seal point Siamese cat (front view) with extremely large, wide-set ears
</gallery>