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Siamese Are Walking Heat Maps

Metryq

Metryq

Fleet Captain
Fleet Captain
A friend recently sent me this link describing how Siamese cats are "temperature sensitive albinos."

Hopefully no one will get the wrong idea and think their cat is like a chameleon or a mood ring and start subjecting the poor fuzzball to extremes of temperature. According to the article, the color change might take many weeks as the hair grows out.

I know I'd never get very far running tests with Ellie, my heat-seeking cat. She knows where the down puffs are by day, and every night she crawls under my blankets. If a Winter day happens to be sunny, then my solar cat is in her favorite window recharging.

(Below: Ellie diffracting sunlight in her favorite window.)

Diffraction-Cat.jpg
 
That was a chance photo opportunity I couldn't pass up. I like to hang a "suncatcher" in my window during Winter—a little color to brighten up an otherwise colorless season. Ellie was sitting in the sun, almost dead center of the rainbow display so that it looked as though she was the source. I quickly pulled out a camera, praying she would not suddenly get up and come over just because I was looking at her. (Ellie is like that.)

Follow the convergence of the rainbows, and you will see the orange spot on the blanket (just past Ellie's right cheek) of the suncatcher. The suncatcher itself is just out of frame at the top.

And yes, Ellie's ears are always cold, while her head is always warm.

YellowSubmarine said:
And your cat's not really a cat.
Click to expand...

Correct. I've noticed "seams" in her fur at the sides of her neck and down the center of her tummy—like the conflicting fur on guinea pigs. Upon closer inspection, I've found that they are zippers for the cat suit. She's an alien zoologist here to study humans.
 
Have two Saimese. The older one is getting darker as the colder climate gets to his fur. The younger one is still three years behind on his darkening.

 
Of course they've commandeered the bed. I don't think I could deal with two Siamese cats. My grandmother had three at one time, but they were unusually taciturn for their breed. Elegance talks all the time. When she first moved in, I was talking to a friend on the phone. And of course Ellie was talking a mile a minute in the background. My friend paused and asked, "Are you somewhere there's a baby?"

Ellie has darkened with age (she's a little over 5), but her back is still lighter than the older cat pictured above. In the photo below—my favorite shot of Ellie—she is about a year old.

Yeti-Cat.jpg
 
My grandparents had four around the time I was born. I think my father's side of the family has had Siamese since the 1950s. Some are smarter than others, but generally I consider Siamese cats to be generally smarter than most other cats.

Two are fine. They mostly keep each other in check since they are brothers, three years apart.

And many Siamese are talkative. Presently, the older one is named Hanashi, which was suppose to be Japanese for "talker". He actually doesn't talk as much as when he was a kitten. Only when hungry or needing attention. His younger bother, Kitt, is more talkative, and has the Siamese gravelly voice. He tends to announce his presence and chatter a little. Also sass when yelled at. They are also very curious. But unlike other cats we've had over the last 40 years, these two have absolutely no interest in human food. Prior Siamese have in into ham and other food. The Siamese we had when I was born was blind, and ate anything (and everything he found).

Hanashi is quite large. When laying on a hearth rug he takes up whole length of it at about 44 inches from stretched out paw to tail. The beeder was even suprised how big he was. Kitt is more or less normal sized for a cat.

Closest image I could find to them being the the same pose to show scale. The rug is 4 feet across at the bricks.

 
Last edited:
Ithekro said:
The Siamese we had when I was born was blind, and ate anything (and everything he found).
Click to expand...

Including rubber bands, lady bugs and odd stuff like that? For the most part, Ellie is "better" than all the other cats I've had over the years—she doesn't claw the furniture, she isn't always into things and knocking them over, etc. But I do have to watch for oddments like rubber bands. Ellie's big thing is socializing. A real velcro kitty. Anyone new walks through the door, she's right over there talking non-stop, "painting" their legs with her tail.

Wow, Hanashi is big. Forget sharing the bed, he'd take it over. Ellie is built like the common house cat, which makes some people say she is big. They expect all Siamese to be skinny with kinked tails, like "moderns." Ellie is a half-breed modern and "applehead." So she does not have the extreme pointed face of moderns, nor the rail-thin body.
 
The old blind Saimese (Ding Ding) "ate like a dog" according to by grandfather.

As for the velco kitty, Kitt is like that. Hanashi is only like that when he is hungry (or really lonely).

These are the first we've had that are more traditional faced (Hanashi more so that Kitt). Before that all ours have been "appleheads". The blind one was a mix with a Himalayan, while the Saimese I had as a teenager was a Tortie Point (Mittsue. That one lived 21 years. My shoulder still hurts after 15 years of having that cat sleep on it every night.), but also appleheaded. Mittsue was named bacause my mother had a Bichon (dog) at that time named B'Shee. (Mittsue-B'Shee. We growned at that one, but the name held)
 
Metryq said:
A friend recently sent me this link describing how Siamese cats are "temperature sensitive albinos."

Hopefully no one will get the wrong idea and think their cat is like a chameleon or a mood ring and start subjecting the poor fuzzball to extremes of temperature. According to the article, the color change might take many weeks as the hair grows out.

I know I'd never get very far running tests with Ellie, my heat-seeking cat. She knows where the down puffs are by day, and every night she crawls under my blankets. If a Winter day happens to be sunny, then my solar cat is in her favorite window recharging.

(Below: Ellie diffracting sunlight in her favorite window.)
Click to expand...

Start Cat Pic Thread
-
Not mention "cats" in thread title

VkGjS6f.jpg
 
Last edited:
Sorry,
"Tribbles are tumbling heat maps"

Perhaps we can discuss whether or not Gary Seven's companion Isis is a heat map?
 
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