The history of the Siamese cat, originating from Siam now known as Thailand, that we grew up with, was a stocky round-headed cat. The Siamese cat of old would have been described as a common cat with the "Himalayan" color- pointed gene. This colored-pointed pattern is part of the "albino" series of alleles, which distributes the amount of pigment expressed on the extremities, muzzle, ears, and tail. In 1884, a heavily built pair of Siamese cats, arrived in England that were given to the British Consul by the King of Siam. They have remained stocky in appearance to this day in their homeland. Pictures of Seal Point appeared in the manuscript "Cat- Book Poems", written in Siam (now Thailand) sometime between 1350 and 1700. Many of the Siamese cats seen today have been meticulously bred and altered to create a sleek, elegant cat with wedge-shaped faces. However, the concentrated efforts exerted today towards creating an ever–slimmer cat with an elongated wedge face has resulted in problems within the breed. This version of the Siamese cat is typical of the appearance of the Oriental groups of cats.
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