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The Thai Cat: the Revival of the “Moon Diamond”

At first glance, you might mistake her for a Siamese cat – and that would not be surprising. Because the breed is known today as the “Thai cat” arose from the breeding effort to optically match the “modern” Siamese to their original breed. The Thai cat is therefore sometimes referred to as the “traditional Siamese cat”. The beautiful exotic is correspondingly demanding as a pet – you should have some experience as the owner of this breed.

Thai cat: character

The Thai cat cannot hide its close relationship with the Siamese cat: It is stubborn and spirited, but at the same time affectionate and demands a lot of attention. If she doesn’t get it, she unequivocally vents her displeasure and can get very loud about it. She tends to dominate and stands out with a strong assertiveness and a “possessive” nature.

The Thai cat is a sensitive, affectionate velvet paw, which appears downright “dog-like” in its human orientation and is very fixated on its chosen “can opener”. Some compare the pedigree cat to a small child who never leaves their side and chatters incessantly. The Thai cat usually has no problems with children and dogs in the household.

The beautiful pointed cat is always curious and open-minded: she examines everything unknown extensively and appraises it “expertly”. She is extremely skillful: for example, she quickly finds out how to open doors. With a little patience, some Thai cats can even walk on a leash and accompany their people on walks outside.

A Thai cat is a housemate that you should take good care of – and even then, she definitely needs the company of a fellow cat. Ideally, you adopt littermates or choose a cat with a similar personality as a roommate for your Thai.

Husbandry and care of the Thai cat

Hereditary diseases as a result of overbreeding are not specifically known in the Thai cat, but there are certain dispositions for diseases that affect point cats in general. These include strabismus (squinting) and nystagmus (eye twitching), both caused by melanin deficiency resulting from albinism.

Siamese cats are prone to a number of breed-specific diseases, including heart, kidney, eye, and fat storage diseases. The close relationship between the two lines may also increase your Thai’s disposition to these diseases. If your Thai stays healthy, their life expectancy is around 16 years.

Taking care of the Thai cat’s short coat of hair will not cause you any great trouble: it is sufficient if you brush off its fur once a week with a rubber brush. Alternatively, use a slightly damp piece of leather. Since the Thai cat has hardly any undercoat, it reacts sensitively to cold and damp weather. Life as an outdoor cat is therefore not recommended for this pedigree cat in our latitudes.

Alternatively, your Thai cat needs opportunities to work out indoors: Above all, it likes to use climbing facilities. Fast-paced hunting and hide-and-seek games suit the temperament of the clever furry friend.

Colors of the Thai cat

Like its counterpart, the Siamese cat, the Thai cat belongs to the pointed cats. The permitted colors and markings are identical for both breeds. The “pointing” is a mutation that leads to a so-called “partial albinism”. The actual base color of the cat is reflected in the mask, ears, legs, and tail. In the rest of the body, a metabolic disorder causes the enzyme responsible for the formation of color pigments to function poorly. This enzyme also reacts with the body heat of the cat and causes discoloration on the slightly cooler parts of the body.

There is a whole range of possible point colors among Thai cats – however, only four of these are recognized in the breed standard: seal point (black base color), blue point (“diluted” black), chocolate point (chocolate brown), and lilac point (“diluted” brown).

Other variants such as Cream Point, Red Point, Fawn Point, Cinnamon Point, Apricot Point, and Caramel Point are not accepted by most standards. The special variant “Foreign White” (pure white) is also not recognized.

The body color of the Thai cat ranges from ice gray to ivory to cream and bluish-white. In addition to monocolor, tabby, tortoiseshell, and “torbie” (a combination of tabby and tortoiseshell) are also patterned. However, these are only apparent at the points.

By the way:

Pointed cats like the Thai cat are born bright, the point markings only fully develop around the first year of life. You can therefore not yet see the final color of a kitten.

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