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SARSENSTONE CATTERY Show-Style Siamese

QGC Swiftriver Anuket of Sarsenstone TICA Southwest Region's Best Siamese Second Best Lilac Point Siamese in TICA 2004-2005 Show Season Photo by Cris Bird

A Siamese and Tonkinese breeder named Cathy Rokaw once said that for most people the show-style Siamese is an acquired taste. Cathy was right about that. But oh, how much you can love them once you do acquire a taste! Sure, they look strange at first. Some people say they look so fragile they are afraid they will break when picked up. Some people are convinced show-style Siamese must be unhealthy because they look so much like a Vogue model or like the famous "Twiggy."

But the truth is not so simple. They aren't fragile. Yes, they are typically small, but they have been bred to have lots of muscle tone. They aren't bulky, but they are wiry. Think of a marathon runner less than a foot tall and you get the idea. They are tough little athletes, and you feel it when you pick them up.

A famous show-style Siamese breeder named Jeanne Singer (Singa Cattery) once compared the show-style Siamese to the cheetah. She said that if nature can produce an extreme but very beautiful cat like the cheetah, why can't breeders produce Siamese that are selectively bred to an extreme but artistic vision of felinity?

Well, they can if they are patient and slow about it, don't  carry things too far too fast, and take pains to restore lost genetic diversity to the gene pool.

It is certainly possible to breed unhealthy show-style Siamese. But it is also possible to breed unhealthy Old-Style Siamese. Breeders of either kind of Siamese who want to save time and money by "linebreeding" over and over in what is already a very inbred breed are likely to harm the health of their cats—whether or not they breed long enough to discover the full extent of what they have done.

And it is possible to breed healthy cats of either the show-style or the Old-Style type.

Little Anuket has something to say! (Siamese are vocal.) Photo by Jim Brown

Show-style Siamese tend to grow on a person. The best of them are talkative, loving, playful, furry little fairies. Imagine a pixie that leaps to your shoulders and winds a lithe body and tail around your face and neck, all the while chatting conversationally with you in gobbles and gutturals, yowls and sighs, purrs and prROWWWs!

It doesn't take long to get addicted to a 5 pound pixie who pingpongs happily around your home like a poltergeist. Soon, very soon, that pixie rules your life and your heart.

We know because it happened to us. We love all forms of the Siamese now. We're doomed.

Our Girls

We'd like to begin by introducing you to our lilac point show-style Siamese girl. Her name is Swiftriver Anuket of Sarsenstone. She was bred by our friends Deb Legrand-Wellman and John Wellman of Swift River Cattery. Anuket was named after the Egyptian goddess of the Nile cataract. She steals the heart of every stranger who comes in our door. She's never met a person she didn't like.

More photos of Anuket. All photos are by Cris Bird unless otherwise indicated:

1. Anuket just starting her adult career as a show cat She still looked like a big kitten at that point. Photo by Jim Brown.
2. Anuket enjoys the morning sun. (Siamese love warm places to nap, such as sunny perches.)
3. If you think I'm going to fall for that dumb toy-waving routine while you snap another photo, think again! (Siamese are intelligent.)
4. Anuket is a typical, nosy Siamese. (Siamese are too curious for their own good.)
5. Show-style Siamese are supposed to have long necks, and they get even longer when they are curious about something, as Anuket demonstrates.
6. The more curious Anuket gets, the longer her body gets, too. (Show-style Siamese are supposed to have super-long bodies.)
7. In fact, you wouldn't BELIEVE how curious Anuket can get. Look at her reflection in the glass to see how hard she is stretching upward. (Siamese are more active and athletic than most breeds.)
   

Anuket's Half Sister

Ch Swiftriver Peril of Sarsenstone Photo by Cris Bird	Where Anuket is laid-back and likes everyone she meets, Peril is cautious and choosy. That in part is why we named her Peril. But Peril, like Anuket, was also named in honor of the cattery where she was born. Swift rivers are perilous as well as beautiful, and swift rivers tend to run deep. Peril is deep. She's a complex, sensitive, acutely intelligent cat who forms profound relationships with one or two people she loves very much. With her special people, and only with her people, Peril is also funny, outgoing, and charming. Peril was one of our queens for a time, but we recently retired her. She was a great mom, but being in heat all the rest of the time wasn't her idea of fun, nor ours either. Right now she's helping us raise her son Jet and get him ready for a show career, but she may want a home of her own one of these days. §

Our girls: Peril, rear, with half sister Anuket, front	Warm sun puts Peril in a silly mood Photos by Cris Bird	Peril has beautiful eyes

For More Information About Sarsenstone Siamese, click on the links below

• Kittens Available
• The Costs and Other Practical Details
• Our Show-Style Boys
• About Siamese color and pattern
• A Word About FIP
  
• History of the Sarsenstone Cattery Name
  
• Photos From Our 2001 Visit to Thailand
• Links to Other Websites
  

You can contact Sarsenstone Cattery by writing to Cris Bird (click on the link). Sorry, due to a very busy schedule, I can handle initial inquiries only by email. Questions about the breed and our cats are welcome.

PLEASE NOTE: If you have an anti-spam program on your computer, be sure to put the Sarsenstone Cattery email address on the list of approved email addresses. If you don't, no matter how many emails you send to us, I won't be able to reply.

In addition to conventional registration with major cat associations such as CFA and TICA, Sarsenstone Cattery participates in the Who's Your Daddy program. Our cats are all microchipped and their DNA profiles are recorded in a DNA registry managed by theVeterinary Genetics Laboratory at U.C. Davis. The parentage of our kittens can be verified via DNA testing. We breed authentic, healthy Siamese—for the benefit of the breed we love, not for profit—and we are not afraid to prove it. See www.whosyourdaddy.info

©1996-2007 by Dr. Cris Bird of Sarsenstone Cattery. You may not copy or distribute the photos or text on this page in any form without the prior written consent of the copyright holder.