Did You Know That Siamese Cats Can Change Colors?

                                       
Crazy Comic Collecting Man showed up at the place with a strange expression.  He had just finished visiting his parents at their home, which is exactly why the look was questioned.
"Our Siamese, Squishy, is changing colors.  He was taken to the vet and when we went to pick him up, he had a shaved rectangle.  Now, the fur has grown back and the rectangle is black."  CCC (pronounced triple C) said.
"Did someone smoke one of those funny cigarettes in your neighborhood again?"  Cait, my human housemate, questioned CCC.
"Well maybe.  My parents caught the neighbors' kid banging around on their roof again.  But that's not the point!  My cat has a black rectangle on his belly where there was once light brown fur!"  CCC explained.
This is true, dear readers, Siamese cats change colors.  Imagine the typical Siamese: 
                               
This picture was a pain to download, just like Miss Lily, that lap-lover I live with.  No wonder she's Siamese.
Well, You see the parts where the fur is darker...These are the areas that lose the most body heat and thus, the fur grows in darker.  I'll see if I can find a scientific explanation for everyone.
"The pointed pattern [1] is a form of partial albinism, resulting from a mutation in tyrosinase, an enzyme involved in melanin production. The mutated enzyme is heat-sensitive; it fails to work at normal body temperatures, but becomes active in cooler areas of the skin.^[10] This results in dark colouration in the coolest parts of the cat's body, including the extremities and the face, which is cooled by the passage of air through the sinuses. All Siamese kittens, although pure cream or white at birth, develop visible points in the first few months of life in colder parts of their body. By the time a kitten is four weeks old the points should be clearly distinguishable enough to recognise which colour they are. Siamese cats tend to darken with age, and generally adult Siamese living in warm climates have lighter coats than those in cool climates. Originally the vast majority of Siamese had seal (extremely dark brown, almost black) points, but occasionally Siamese were born with blue (a cool grey) points, genetically a dilution of seal point; chocolate (lighter brown) points, a genetic variation of seal point; or lilac (pale warm gray) points, genetically a diluted chocolate. These colours were at first considered "inferior" seal points, and were not qualified for showing or breeding. All of these shades were eventually accepted by the breed associations, and became more common through breeding programmes specifically aimed at producing these colours. Later, outcrosses with other breeds developed Siamese-mix cats with points in other cat colours and patterns including flame point, lynx (tabby) point, and tortoise-shell ("tortie") point."
Quote from the wisest of wise websites, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siamese_(cat)
So what happened to Mr. Squishy, CCC's cat, was the area the vet shaved off was cold, so the fur grew back darker.
Lily is a lilac-point and thus diluted according to the passage.  Yes, I said diluted and not diluted chocolate.  I was trying to be funny.
The introduction of Squishy to the cast may leave readers with the question, "Why's his name Squishy?"
This, dear readers, is a disturbing look into the mind of CCC.  He's not all there.  The cat was actually bought from a breeder who wrote, "Maximillian of the Five Crowns" on the paperwork that accompanied Squishy to his new home.  At some point, Squishy started liking CCC more than the other family members and he dubbed him Squishy.  Remember, this is a man in his 30's who owns many, many comics and knows as much about them and their storylines as he does about literature or history.  Very disturbing indeed!
Cait, however, just baby talks to us.  This is much better.  I like Cait and show her my affections often by interrupting her whenever possible.  She gave us all tuna today.  Yay!
Well, dear readers, that's the extent of my scientific research for the day.  I hope everyone thought it was interesting.

Miss Lily the Siamese Kitty Gets Snobby

                                        
Oh, dear readers, I've got a good one today.  Lily the lazy Siamese, I live with, doesn't like being told, "No."
Soon after Lily was adopted, Cait, my human housemate, discovered telling Lily not to do something made her upset.  For example, Lily is sitting on the counter and Cait catches her there.  Cait says to Lily, "No" and then Lily says, "Ah-nnnnnnn!"  While this protest is leaving her mouth, her upper lip and whiskers wiggle with the vibration of the sounds. 
Most new cat owners, when discovering the nasty side of a Siamese, would be concerned, but not Cait.  She thought it was great and waited to show the naughty behavior to Crazy Comic Collecting Man.  
CCC (pronounced triple C) showed up about an hour after the first incidence and Cait said, "Look what Lily will do."  Since CCC was coming from work, he was in the process of putting his keys and wallet down when he was bombarded with this new information.  Of course, he looked at Cait confused and then Lily even more confused.
Cait said to him, "Watch Lily and see what she does..." then putting Lily on the counter said, "No." 
Sure enough, Lily said, "Ah-nnnnnnn!"  Her whiskers wiggled and everything.  She didn't even attempt to remove herself from the counter.  I, Blittie the good kitty, would jump down.
Next day, Cait discovered Lily didn't like words that ended with an O, like taco or Plato. 
Lily was reposing happily on the couch when Cait was talking on the phone about getting some tacos.  This brought back some memory in the little mind of Lily and out came the "Ah-nnnnnnn!"  Cait found this absolutely hilarious.
CCC returned from work again and Cait was watching TV.  She turned to CCC and asked him if he liked to read Plato. 
"What are you talking about? Plato?"  CCC asked confused.
In response to the sound of Plato, Lily became annoyed and said, "Ah-nnnnnnn!" 
She'll even say this in mid-sleep.  Someone brings up something with an O sound and sure enough, Lily says quietly, "Ah-nnnnnnn..." during her sleep, whiskers wiggling.  Sometimes, she only manages to pull back her upper lip slightly and make her whiskers wiggle.  This is understandably followed by giggling and snickering.

PurrBuddy: Worst Kitten Ever

                                          
   As I have written before, I am a blue-gray cat and I live with two others: a Siamese named Lily and a calico female named PurrBuddy. The latter cat is the youngest and the biggest troublemaker. Let me describe the trouble:

   PurrBuddy and I have to share a food bowl. I am the older cat so I have the privilege of eating first , as any civilized cat knows. Purrbuddy has now accepted this fact on one amusing condition: she reaches into the food bowl, knocks out a paw full of kibbles onto the floor and then, she can eat when I do. This, of course, makes a mess since she does not find all the kibbles, some of them roll under the cabinet and the bowl's edge. When they roll behind the bowl, she uses her face to scoot the bowl to catch them. At that time, I have to reposition myself in order to eat. Sometimes, the food bowl is a few feet from where it started.
   When PurrBuddy is done eating, she cries until she is let out. Recently, she has learned to jump at the doorknob making big thuds against the door. If PurrBuddy is allowed to eat on her own, the crying is worst and she does not eat any food.
   Lily gets her bowl in the kitchen, while the two of us have to go into the bathroom with the door shut. If the door was open, PurrBuddy would run from our food over to Lily's and eat it, pushing poor Lily out of the way. In fact, once she is let out of the bathroom, she runs directly to Lily's bowl and inspects it, often licking the last bit out of the bottom. She has this same behavior whether or not she started out in the bathroom with me or by herself.
   Lily has bad teeth and has to have her food in an easily chewable state, usually smushy. She is usually given the first opportunity to eat when we are offered meat. When meat is served, we are given a large community bowl. PurrBuddy is put into the bathroom or another room until we have eaten our fair share, then she can join us. If she is not put somewhere else, she would shove until she got all the meat. I suspect that she may think meat has been served when she is put in the bathroom, that is why she runs over to the Lily's kitchen bowl.
   The naughty behavior does not stop with the food bowl. PurrBuddy has developed a nasty habit of attacking Lily, who howls loudly. Although she mostly just bites Lily's head without removing any fur, this behavior is not desirable. Experts say that as long as the attacker is not growling or hissing before the attack, then this is not a sign of an aggressive attack. This behavior and its resolution is the main reason for this blog.
   Cait has been putting PurrBuddy in room by herself when she is caught. Another recommended method is dropping a towel on the attacking cat to get his attention and walk away. (Walking away from a naughty cat is a good tactic because when cats have had enough of another they walk away showing their backsides to the offending cat.) Also, treating this cat to more attention and allowing him to have the food first sometimes stops the lead cat in the household from picking on the others.
   PurrBuddy is not the top cat in the household and only targets Lily, so Cait suspects the behavior comes from jealousy of the extra attention Lily gets. Lily tends to seek out laps to sit upon, so PurrBuddy must see that she gets extra affection and knows she gets the meat food bowl first. Cait has decided to give PurrBuddy more treats, spend more time petting and playing with her.
   Hopefully sometime soon, PurrBuddy will stop her attacks on Lily and peace will reign in the house.
   PurrBuddy likes to growl when picked up by one person, the Cat Bather. We'll call this person the Cat Bather, because that is what he does best. Cait promises you this person is completely foolish at everything else, but that is another story. Fortunately, PurrBuddy doesn't do anything about it right way and the behavior is ignored, but it is very naughty.

   So long for now and best wishes to all.

Book Recommendation: I really enjoyed Outwitting Cats by Wendy Christiansen. She outlines several naughty cat behaviors and their solutions. It's a very humorous book.

• Words belong to me, Blittie the Blue Kitty
• Clip Art obtained on Microsoft Office Online Images and colored to look like me.

 

 

Bonjour et Bienvenue de Blittie the Blue Kitty! Excuse my French, I do write in English...

Hi everyone! 
I am trying out blogging on YouTube.  I've been blogging on Open Salon for about 6 weeks now and I have had an absolute blast.  Great people over there. 
One thing I like about this new site, YouTube, is that I can change the font easier.
So, what should I tell you about me?
I am a Russian Blue cat that has coerced a female human into typing up some blogs for me.  A few months ago, I had signed up on Open Salon and left the account empty.  One day, I typed my name into Google and got a rude awakening.  I noticed that a video game was using my name but with a slightly different spelling.  The game called villain cats "Blitties" -- the singular is "Blitty".  They are box kitties.  My name is Blittie and it is a combination of the words blue and kitty. 
I couldn't let a video game steal my name!  I had to set the record straight!  So, I started blogging.
I am looking forward to getting to know everyone here.  I'm going to press my paws together and then, press the PUBLISH POST button. 
Best Wishes,
Blittie

This is my picture if you happen to catch me over on Open Salon.