History

The Siamese is a cat breed which has been in Thailand for many centuries. Known there as the
Vichien Mat, it seems to have been a pet for royal and nobility. A tradition tells us on how one of
these cats was placed in the tomb of deceased emperors and that when it emerged through a hole
specially left, it was thought to have carried the soul of the dead from the grave of its first stage of its
journey to the next life. Siamese cats got their name from Thailand which used to be called Siam.
Although Siamese cats were already in the West and seen at early British cat shows, they may not
have had the clear pointed pattern with which the breed is now identified. Indeed cats with coats
darker than the extremities had even been reported else where in the world long before.