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In Siamese cats, there are, apparently, two factors for saturation and two for color or hue. The seal or brown color is dominant over the blue color. The
intense saturation is dominant over the dilute saturation. When the intense saturation is present, the cat will not show the dilute characteristics just as, when the seal coloring (hue) is present, the blue is not evident in any way. We can, therefore, postulate that there are nine actual kinds of Siamese resulting from combinations of these characteristics. (There are nine genotypes and four phenotypes.) These nine kinds are A through I on the accompanying chart. One can see four color differences. A through D comprise the first, the well-known Seal Point; E and F, the second, the Chocolate Point; G and H, the third, the recognized Blue Point; and I is the fourth or little-known Frost Point.
Where the intense saturation and the seal hue occur with either or both of the other two characteristics, as in B, C, or D, the cat will not show any observable difference from A, the pure seal of intense saturation. The Chocolate Point coloring will result where the seal hue and dilute saturation factors are present and the intense saturation is lacking. The blue hue factor could be present but would not be observable in the individual.
When the seal hue factor is not present, the cat will be blue pointed, but when the intense saturation factor is also lacking, the cat will have only the dilute factor and will be a Frost Point. Only this cat, the Frost Point, can be presumed to carry exactly what is seen. All Blue Points can be presumed to carry no seal. Whenever
the intense saturation factor is present, with or without the dilute saturation factor, but with only the blue hue factor, the Siamese is the Blue Point recognized by the cat fancy today.
Genetically speaking, these factors seem to be simple Mendelian autosomal (i.e., not sex-linked)
alleles, acting independently: that is. the genes for seal—blue and those for intense-dilute are on separate chromosome's.
There is no genetic reason why the Siamese colors and their dilutions should not be bred together just as the long hair colors are often combined. Unless one indulges in special experiments and labels the resulting cats as hybrids, breeds should not be mixed or crossed. However, the four Siamese phenotypes all belong to the same breed.
In appearance, the Frost Point, described above, is to the Blue Point what the Chocolate is to the Seal Point. The Frost point is readily observable when the distinguishing characteristics are
understood. There is a generally accepted standard for the chocolate-pointed Siamese. However, this standard does not include one of the most outstanding
features and the one which is considered by most authorities to be the final test of the Chocolate and of the Frost Point. This is the apparent coral tone in the footpads and nose leather of both due to reduced pigment saturation. The Chocolate Point standard set forth by England's Governing Council of the Cat Fancy in 1950, and as adopted in 1951 by the United Cat Federation in the United States, otherwise describes the cat clearly. The Frost Point is often described as "points too light, body color too light" (to conform to the Blue Point
standard) as was usually said of Chocolate Points before their recognition.
Chocolate Points are often described as not being the real thing because the individual's points may not all be the same shade of chocolate. The idea is
expressed that the individual is but a "spoiled" Seal Point. Actually there are both Seal Points and Chocolate Points which should be penalized for lacking the uniformity we all desire, but the poorly colored Chocolate Point is,
nevertheless the "real thing" IF its nose leather and pads give the proper indication. Seal Point and Blue Point breeders must acknowledge that the relatively small percentage of show specimens
perfectly uniform in color on all points is the result of long years of careful selection.
In the United States, there have been many show winning Siamese which were Chocolate Points or which had Chocolate Points in their ancestry. Ch. Siam's Tobermory of Storisende was one (see photo, Vol. 15, CFA Stud Book), Wy Yu Yu of Yates de Airy was another, Alastor of
the Dark Gauntlets a third. In recent years, Chocolate Points have even won Championships as Seal Points. One of these Seal-Point-champion Chocolates was a male in a litter also containing three Blue Point females (one now a double champion) and a Frost Point male. The sire was a Seal Point and the dam a Blue Point. This litter would
indicate that he is a "D" on the adjoining chart and she an "H".
This past season special trophies were offered at two West Coast shows besides those awarded in regular Chocolate Point classes of the Western Cat Club show in which an even dozen cats and kits of this color were entered.
The first Blue Point of record may be found in Volume I of the English
Siamese Cat Register. This cat, "Rhoda", was born in 1894. The same volume lists five cats as "Chocolates", three born as early as 1897. There are four other males listed in this volume, but not as
Chocolates, which have been cited as such by England's P. M. Soderberg in recent articles. Another male, Adastra, also mentioned by him, is listed in the second volume as having won a first in a
"Chocolate Class" in 1926. If the first Chocolates were actually Chocolate Points, the color was first recorded soon after Blue Points and very shortly after the first
Siamese were brought to England in 1884. Mr. Soderberg discusses the question of whether the term "chocolate" described body color or point color without
reaching any evident conclusion. (Surely there must be some record of the standard by which the 1926 Chocolate Class was judged?) The cats he mentions later in the same articles as being Chocolate Points are the very cats merely described as "chocolate". "Wander", a 1923 first place Chocolate winner, traces back nine generations to the 1896 Prince of Siam,
sire of three Chocolates, double grand-sire of another and, according to Soderberg, himself a Chocolate. It seems
unlikely, to us, that depth of body color would breed THAT true and we feel many frustrated Siamese breeders will agree with us. It is more likely that they were all chocolate
pointed.
Although the English express the opinion that their Chocolate Points have a long way to go before their type can be compared with that of fine Blue Points and fine Seal Points, at least
several of the specimens we have seen and handled (and owned) have excelled in type. Since Chocolates often occur in the finest strains, this is easily
understood.
The accompanying chart may be consulted to determine what to expect from any mating of two Siamese if it is known what factors each of the individuals might carry. It may also help to explain how a Chocolate Point can appear
unexpectedly in a litter. The ratios given are based on Mendelian expectance and mathematical probability. To use the chart, locate the color and probable
recessive characteristics of one parent in the top row headings and those of the other parent on the vertical column. Trace down from the top, and to the right from the vertical, to the
intersection, where the probable proportional results of that mating are indicated.
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