Colorpoint Shorthairs are Siamese’s first cousins.
Aside from the four Siamese colors, this breed is distinguished by its elegance in sixteen different “point” colors.
The Colorpoint Shorthair is a Siamese hybrid breed that is half-sibling to the Siamese due to their foundation and continued breeding with the Siamese. Colorpoints in 1947-48 look nothing like their angular, leggy descendants today. Colorpoints today have the same structural standard as Siamese, with the only difference being their distinct point colors.
Initially, breeders focused on cats with red or cream spots restricted to the points (face, legs, ears, tails and genitals).
Early hybridizations with domestic shorthairs, as well as refinement by concentrating the Siamese gene with the red gene, resulted in the first Colorpoint Shorthairs.
To distinguish the new breed from the Siamese, CFA breeders adopted the name Colorpoint Shorthair for registration purposes, and the breed was recognized as a breed in 1964 after a lengthy process. The early cats who contributed to the creation of the new breed were given the Colorpoints’ first color class, called the solid points, which are the red and cream points.
The tabby versions of the Siamese were introduced into the Colorpoint Shorthair programs in the four Siamese colors as time passed and the early hybrids gained popularity.
These tabby pointed cats are known as lynx points in the CFA and are shown in their own “lynx point class” as seal-lynx points, chocolatelynx points, blue-lynx points, lilac-lynx points, red-lynx points, and cream-lynx points.
Torties, also known as parti-colors, are an intriguing result of the red gene’s hybridization process.
This color class of Colorpoint Shorthairs is known as the parti-colors. It is abbreviated as “tortie or cream points.”
They are memorable breed representatives due to their loving yet independent attitudes.
The parti-colors are a “by product” of the red gene and are available in the four Siamese colors with random mottling or “blotching” of red and/or cream with the basic Siamese color.
They frequently feature a “blaze,” which is a symmetrical split of the red and/or cream on one side of the face mask and the Siamese color, such as seal, on the other.
This is, indeed, a striking appearance. Tortie or cream parti-color points are only found in females because the red color gene is sex linked. Color descriptions begin with the primary Siamese color and progress to mottling of red or cream. As a result, we have seal-tortie points, chocolate-tortie points, blue-cream points, and lilac-cream points. When a parti-color point is bred to a lynx parent, the last four colors are tabby, or lynx, versions of the parti-color points, namely the seal-tortie lynx point, chocolate-tortie lynx point, blue-cream lynx point, and lilac-cream lynx point.
Colorpoint Shorthairs, like their Siamese cousins, require little grooming and are ideal for households with cat allergies because both breeds have low dander. Bathing is recommended on occasion, but allow the freshly bathed coat to air dry in a warm location. Brush the coat with the concave or short side of a small rubber brush to remove loose hair and make the coat lie smooth, rather than blow drying it. By smoothing the coat with a chamois cloth, the coat can be “finished.” Because the Colorpoints’ glistening, muscular hard tubular bodies are part of their natural beauty, balanced diets high in protein are generally recommended.
If you follow the breeder’s instructions when purchasing your Colorpoint Shorthair, you will be rewarded with a long-lived, joyful companion.