albinogene

        The first of the colour-conformation genes affect coat pattern is the
        albinism gene. This gene controls the amount of body colour and comes
        in five alleles: full colour, "C", Burmese, "cb", Siamese, "cs", blue-
        eyed albino, "ca", and albino, "c".

        The full colour allele, "C" is wild, is dominant, and produces a full
        expression of the coat colours. This is sometimes called the non-
        albino allele.

        The Burmese allele, "cb", is mutant, is recessive to the full colour
        allele, codominant with the Siamese allele, and dominant to the blue-
        eyed albino and albino alleles, and produces a slight albinism, reduc-
        ing black to a very dark brown, called sable in the Burmese breed, and
        producing green or green-gold eyes.

        The Siamese allele, "cs", is mutant, is recessive to the full colour
        allele, codominant with the Siamese allele, and dominant to the blue-
        eyed albino and albino alleles, and produces an intermediate albinism,
        reducing the basic coat colour from black/brown to a light beige with
        dark brown "points" in the classic Siamese pattern and producing
        bright blue eyes.

        The Burmese and Siamese alleles are codominant, that is they each have
        exactly as much dominance or recessivity. It is possible to have one
        of each allele, "cbcs", producing a Siamese-patterned coat with a
        darker base body colour and turquoise (aquamarine) eyes: the Tonkinese
        pattern.

        The blue-eyed albino allele, "ca", is mutant, is recessive to the full
        colour, Burmese and Siamese alleles and dominant to the albino allele,
        and produces a nearly complete albinism with a translucent white coat
        and very washed-out pale blue eyes.

        The albino allele, "c", is mutant, is recessive to all others, and
        produces a complete albinism with a translucent white coat and pink
        eyes.

The albinism genes combine in some rather interesting ways:

               | C           cb          cs          ca          c
            ---+-----------------------------------------------------------
            C | full colour full colour full colour full colour   full colour.
            cb | full colour Burmese      Tonkinese    Burmese       Burmese
            cs | full colour Tonkinese    Siamese Siamese Siamese
            ca | full colour Burmese      Siamese   B-E Albino   B-E Albino
            c | full colour Burmese      Siamese B-E Albino   Albino

        Notice how the dominance characteristics among the alleles are normal
        except for the combination of Burmese and Siamese, which produce the
        Tonkinese pattern.

        The Siamese solid-point formed from the standard colours by the reduc-
        tion of colour expression from full, "C*", to Siamese, "cscs". This is
        a partial albinism and causes a downgrade in colour expression, the
        body colour becoming fawn and the points becoming Burmese. The solid-
        point colours are formed from the standard solids.

        The Siamese, a medium-sized cat with a long oriental body, long legs
        and tail, and a triangular head with a pointed muzzle, bright blue
        eyes and large pointed ears, has a fine, thick, glossy, and close
        lying solid-pointed, fawn-to-ivory coat .

        There are some differences between the American and British/European
        standards for the Siamese and related breeds: Balinese, Colourpoint
        Shorthair, Javanese, and Oriental Shorthair. The American standard is
        considerably more exaggerated than the British/European, which is
        closer to the original Siamese in build.

        This is a ancient breed, with records at least as far back as 1350,
        and is truly a Siamese cat, having been bred in the temples of Siam
        (now Thailand).

        There are many legends about the Siamese, especially concerning its
        crossed eyes and kinked tail. One story goes that the cats were given
        the task of guarding an especially sacred urn, which they did by
        watching it so closely that they became cross-eyed. Another legend
        says that the royal princess assigned the cats the task of protecting
        her rings. She placed the rings on their tails, and the cats then
        bent the tips over so they couldn't fall off. In these ways, the cats
        became cross-eyed and kink-tailed.

        The Siamese was imported to Europe sometimes in the mid 1800's, and
        was already popular in the cat shows of the 1870's. The initial
        reaction to the Siamese was that it was unnatural and nightmarish,
        defying all that was then thought to be the norm for the domestic cat,
        but its beauty and personality soon overcame this bad press.

        The Siamese is, perhaps, the most popular of all breeds. It is
        extraordinarily curious, investigating absolutely everything in its
        domain. Extremely intelligent, the Siamese and its cousins train well
        to the leash and to car travel, and can be taught to do tricks.

        The modern Siamese has an exaggerated oriental body and a long
        triangular face, created by breeders from the original stock of basic
        Siamese brought to England and the U.S. in the past century. This
        exaggerated body structure bears little resemblance to the original
        Siamese body, which was more like that of the modern-day Burmese.
        This breeding program has attempted to alleviate the crossed eyes and
        kinked tail, but has only been partially successful: there still
        being a lot of crossed eyes and the occasional kinked tail. Legends
        aside, the crossed eyes are due to the partial albinism of the Siamese
        gene causing irregular nerve connections between the eyes and their
        controlling muscles, producing crossed eyes and double vision: the
        cat squints to compensate for this.

        This cat is extremely vocal, loudly proclaiming its displeasure at the
        slightest provocation. It loves to "converse," and will answer back
        when spoken to. Active, loving, playful, intelligent, curious, and
        sensitive, it does best with an owner who will understand its
        capricious ways.