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Old December 12th 03, 05:19 PM
David Stevenson
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wrote
A lot of people mistakenly consider any cat with points (darker feet, tail,
ears, and face) to be Siamese, but Siamese is a distinct breed from other
pointed varieties, such as Balinese, Birman, Burmese, Colorpoint Shorthair,
and Himilayan. A lot of people just call any pointed long-haired cat a
Himalayan and any pointed shorthair a Siamese.

I suppose that only a purebred geek really cares about the distinction,
since people typically say "Siamese" when they mean "pointed", but when you
are talking about characteristics of the Siamese breed and genetic diseases
to which they are prone, the distinction matters. Pointed, non-Siamese cats
aren't necessarily any more likely to have these diseases than any other
cat.


As far as I am concerned I think that anyone who refers to a cat as
Siamese does so because he believes it is a Siamese. It is more likely
to be ignorance when it is not than a belief that it does not matter.

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