madbaker: (Galen)
madbaker ([personal profile] madbaker) wrote2004-10-29 05:07 pm
Entry tags:

Scaaaary!

Since it's close enough to Halloween - I thought I'd scare you all with gratuitous cuteness.

Galen at 6 months:


Galen now. "Yess....?"


I know Siamese often darken as they age, but the contrast is pretty dramatic.

AWWWWWWW!!!

[identity profile] hyla-regilla.livejournal.com 2004-10-29 05:21 pm (UTC)(link)
here's my cuteness:
http://63.195.53.155/~fuzzbuckets/fuzz_004.html

my Himalayan darkened with age, as well.

I know Siamese often darken as they age, but the contrast is pretty dramatic.

but Galen looks more Burmese...burmeowse? Whitefooted, anyhow!
=^.^=

Re: AWWWWWWW!!!

[identity profile] madbaker.livejournal.com 2004-10-29 05:23 pm (UTC)(link)
He's not purebred. We got him from the animal shelter, where he was described as "seal-point snowshoe"...

Re: AWWWWWWW!!!

[identity profile] talonvaki.livejournal.com 2004-10-29 06:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes. He's basically a Siamese with the white spotting gene.

The "himalayan" gene is thermorestrictive, which means, the parts of the body that are cooler (the extremities: ears, nose, feet and tail) are darker than the torso. Selective breeding is employed to modify the contrast between warm and cold...or dark and light. Kittens, being smaller and also being more protected from cold, are very light compared to an adult. If you shave a part of the "warmer" body (as, for example, the belly of a female when spayed), the hair tends to grow back darker as the skin was cooler where there was no fur. If you bandage a shaved "cool" body part (a leg, for example), the hair grows back lighter, because the bandage keeps the warmth in.

This gene is also one of the albinistic genes in cats, which is why Siamese cats' eyes glow red instead of yellow-green. It is incompletely dominant to the burmese gene; when you breed a Siamese with a Burmese, you will get, on average, one Siamese, one Burmese, and two Tonkinese.

The white spotting gene is a separate characteristic, and it is the same whether you see it on a Siamese, a black-and-white "tuxedo" cat, or a Japanese Bobtail.

There is a formalised breed called the Snowshoe (http://www.breedlist.com/snowshoe-breeders.html), which actually started from random-bred Siamese-with-white cats. I had one in high school (exactly 10 years older than Harri) called Sgt. Pepper who would have been able to be registered as a Snowshoe except he had too much white spotting (about 45%)!

More than you ever wanted to know about cat genetics can be found here... (http://members.tripod.com/~siamkatze/cca/genetics.html)

Re: AWWWWWWW!!!

[identity profile] madbaker.livejournal.com 2004-10-29 05:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Is that a cat, or a dustbunny?
Thanks - that link gave me a huge giggle.

Her Name is Aeron Arianeira...

[identity profile] hyla-regilla.livejournal.com 2004-10-29 05:43 pm (UTC)(link)
and she is the sweetest bucket-o-fuzz on the planet!

[identity profile] aastg.livejournal.com 2004-10-30 07:36 am (UTC)(link)
Gratuitiously cute, yes, but there seems to be a glint of crazed anarchy in those eyes...truly, a cat to exuberantly wreck a sewing project! Ya gotta love 'em.

[identity profile] madbaker.livejournal.com 2004-10-30 11:40 am (UTC)(link)
Yes. Yes, he is. Sewing involves strings... his favored prey.

[identity profile] cvirtue.livejournal.com 2004-10-30 07:37 am (UTC)(link)
Yep, very cute.

So how many cats do you have? Maybe post a group photo?

Signed,
cat junkie

multiple cats?

[identity profile] madbaker.livejournal.com 2004-10-30 11:41 am (UTC)(link)
Just the one. Our place is only 1000 square feet, and he's not allowed in all of it!

We'd kind of like to get him a buddy to wash and fight; but the space restrictions may force us not to until we move.

Re: multiple cats?

[identity profile] cvirtue.livejournal.com 2004-10-30 11:53 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, sorry; thought you had more (clearly!)