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THE COLORPOINT SHORTHAIRS
Take one Siamese and paint its points (ears, paws, tail, nose, genitals) in myriad colors and you have what is now known as the Colorpoint Shorthair in CFA (Cat Fanciers of America)! These lovely colored Siamese -type cats, first created around 1947-48, in fact have 16 different point colors instead of the 4 traditional colors of the original Siamese (seal, chocolate, blue, lilac). They are the first cousins of the Siamese, named as a separate breed by CFA in 1964.
The early breeders of these elegant creatures concentrated on fabulous red and cream colors using hybridizations with domestic shorthairs. More solid colors were introduced with time. And then came the tabby or lynx point varieties which added stunning tiger stripes to the colored points. Next the parti-colors or torties were developed as an interesting phenomenon of the red gene. Torties are particularly memorable because of their loving but independent, distinctive attitudes (better known as "torti-tude"!). It's as if the blotchy
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The early breeders of these elegant creatures concentrated on fabulous red and cream colors using hybridizations with domestic shorthairs. More solid colors were introduced with time. And then came the tabby or lynx point varieties which added stunning tiger stripes to the colored points. Next the parti-colors or torties were developed as an interesting phenomenon of the red gene. Torties are particularly memorable because of their loving but independent, distinctive attitudes (better known as "torti-tude"!). It's as if the blotchy Take one Siamese and paint its points (ears, paws, tail, nose, genitals) in myriad colors and you have what is now known |
as the Colorpoint Shorthair in CFA (Cat Fanciers of America)! These lovely colored Siamese -type cats, first created around 1947-48, in fact have 16 different point colors instead of the 4 traditional colors of the original Siamese (seal, chocolate, blue, lilac).
They are the first cousins of the Siamese, named as a separate breed by CFA in 1964.
halloween-like markings of red, cream and black on their faces give them an unpredictable clown-like nature. They are the Lucille Balls of the cat fancy to be sure! And true enough, the tortie pattern is sex-linked, so torties only come as females. Their parti-colors are the product of the red gene on top of the 4 original Siamese colors, with random "blotching" of the reds and creams against a dark background. With some luck, a blaze may appear as a symmetrical split of the red/cream colors on one-half of the face and the Siamese solid color such as black (seal) on the other half, giving these lovely creatures a striking appearance.
Colorpoint Shorthairs have the same elegant structural standards as their Siamese cousins, differing only by their unique point colors and patterns. Like all their relatives (short and long hairs alike, so including the Balinese, Javanese, Oriental Short and Long Hairs), they require little grooming and so they are especially good in households with allergies to cats since they have little dander. Only an occasional bath is recommended but you must allow the freshly bathed cat to dry in a warm spot without blowing dry (itpuffs up the coat!). As with the Siamese and Oriental Shorthairs (but different from the Long Hairs), the coat must be brushed with the concave side of a small rubber brush to remove loose hair and make the coat lie straight and flat. The coat can then be "finished" by smoothing with a chamois cloth to add some gloss.For additional information on Colorpoint Shorthairs and their relatives, go to the CFA website: www.cfa.org
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