how do you know?

[catchat]

toughCookie here...

how do you know if a cat is a flame point, or a seal point, etc.? I don't understand what the differences are or how someone knows, what are the markings on each, etc?

are there more than those 2 ? I mean, is it just seal point or flame point, or is there another POINT breed? I am not knowledgable about breeds other than the basics I guess. I want to get a book on cat breeds, does anyone know of a good book on the subject? I looked at amazon, but not sure which to buy.

[AmberLee]

Hmmm, I found a GREAT book at the library with wonderful illustrations. Let me find out it's name/author and get back to you. Good luck. I know there flame, seal, and at least two other point types, but my brain's fried tonight. Good luck.

[Efrat]

There are more than just seal and flame point... point is a pattern in cats where their body is one colour and all the points (like feet tail, nose, ears) are a different color, usually I think darker than the rest ...I'm not an expert but that's the basics...

I have 2 colour point british shorthair- Kfitzi is a blue point, and Milki is a Lilac Tabby point.

How do you know the difference? well sometimes it's easy to know but sometimes you have to know a lot about breeding and colours to know exactly...

Here is Kfitzi with his blue points :)
http://www.entermyworld.com/catslove/kfitzi/kfitzapr02c.jpg

and Milki with his Tabby lilac points ( much lighter color with a tabby pattern)
http://www.entermyworld.com/catslove/milki/milkjuly02b.jpg

[Miss Meow]

Maybe check out your local library first, if you have one. That way you can see if the books have good pictures, descriptions etc. Lots of cat books have drawings or black and white pics to keep the cost down, but you can't really see what you're looking at :rolleyes:

[neko1]

Seal point:
A pale, even cream color with obvious seal points restricted to the face, ears, legs, and tail. The nose leather and paw pads should be a similar rich seal color.
Blue point:
Cool, glacier white is the preferred body color, with no sign of a creamy tinge. The points should shade to a slate blue, with nose leather and paw pads the same.
Chocolate point:
The body should be a pale ivory color, with points, nose leather, and paw pads a pale, milky chocolate color.
Lilac point:
Body color should be a glacial white, with the points showing a pale, pinkish gray tinge. The paw pads and nose leather should be a lavender pink.
Red point:
A clear white body with deep apricot colored points is the ideal. Nose leather and paw pads should be flesh pink.
Cream point:
The body should be clear white, with pale pinkish-cream points, nose leather and paw pads.
Tabby point (tortie point):
These are available in a variety of colors. The body tone should be as recommended for the solid colors with the nose leather and paw pads similar. For the torties the colors should be well mingled, and the tabby point is the only variety that allows for stripes on the pointed areas.

This infor came from the Complete Cat Book By Paddy Cutts.

[rosethecopycat]

My understanding is that there are four basic colors;
seal, chocolate, blue, lilac. See above post for description. There are also the other colors: red (Flame), cream points
Then there are pattens that are mixed in with color, such as tortie, and lynx and tabby (which may be the same as lynx, referring to the "M" pattern on the head)
Yeilding the sub-catagories of:
Blue tortie point, chocolate tortie point, seal tortie point, red lynx point, seal lynx point, cream lynx point, lilac lynx point, blue lynx point, chocolate lynx point.
And the sub-sub catagories of: lilac tortie lynx point, blue tortie lynx point. chocoate tortie lynx point, seal tortie lynx point.
That's all my book lists.

By far the most popular is the standard Seal Point and I believe the Blue or Lilac point.

There are many Siamese look-a-likes. Some of them are not orientals, but have color points.
Such as:
1)Himalayan (a long haired cross between a Persian and a Siamese)all colors represented,
2)Birman (longhaired color point)
3)Ragdoll (long haired cat noted for going limp when you pick them up)
4)Balinese and Javanese (long haired crosses between Angoras and Siamese)
5)Color Pointed British Shorthair (Siamese and British Shorthair cross) (looks like Siamese but has a stocky body type)
6)Exotic, (cross between American Shorthair and Siamese) (US version of British cat)
7)Snowshoe, (resembles a stocky Siamese cat with mittens)
8)Color Pointed European Short hair
9)Rex (curly haired cats) can also be color pointed as well as
10)Burmese and
11) Tonkinese

Oriental short hair cats are descendents of Siamese but no long show any color points. Siamese are often mistaken for being an Oriental Shorthair.

Lastly, Siamese cats have blue eyes.
If you get a cat that they call Siamese that doesn't have blue eyes, they are mixed with Siamese at best. Not that there's anything wrong with that!
My Siamese is a mix (with sky blue eyes) and I wouldn't trade him for the world.

:)

I'm sure there are many people on this site that have more information than I, please feel free to correct me if necessary.

Refer to the thread: How they sleep in funny positions... to see pictures of some of the wonderful Siamese shades, and other pictures of precious cats here on board.

Thanks for listening.

rosethecopycat