ACA Standard for the Siamese and Balinese Cat


General:  The ideal Siamese is a medium-sized, tubular, refined cat with long tapering lines from nose to tip of tail.  The coat is fine and lies extremely close to give a painted on appearance.  The Balinese is a long haired version of the Siamese.  Because of the longer coat, the Balinese appears to have softer lines and less extreme type.

Breed Type	90	Orecatay King Louis belonging to Diane Varni prominent stud Blue point male Balinese His kittens influenced many ACA lines Orecatay Cattery, Drain OR, USA   (since 1959)	Best Siamese, Best Short Hair - Rose City Cat Club ACA second championship show Robert Knight's Cissi (1945)
Head and Neck	20
Eyes	10
Ears	5
Body	20
Legs and Paws	5
Tail	5
Coat	10
Colour Body	5
Colour Points	10
Condition	10
Total	100

Head and Neck:  Head shape is long, tapering wedge.  Head size is medium in good proportion to the body.  The wedge starts at the nose and flares out in straight line to the outer edges at the ears forming a triangle.  the top of the skull is flat.  The muzzle is fine and continues the wedge shape.  The nose is long and straight and is a continuation of the forhead with no break.  no whisker break apparent when whisker pads are smoothed back to determine the underlying bone structure.  The chin is well defined and in line with the nose and the upper lip.
Neck is slender.

Eyes:  Eye aperture is almond shaped, size is medium and not protruding.  No less than the width of an eye between eyes.  Each eye is bisected by a line running from nose to a point in the middle of the ear continuing the harmony of the overall wedge.  Uncrossed.  Colour - blue, the deepest shade preffered.

Ears:  Strikingly large, pointed, wide at teh base and continuing the lines of the wedge

Body:  Medium size, long and svelte.  Abdomen tight and body hard.  Distinctive combination of fine bones and firm muscles.  Shoulders and hips of same width and continue the sleek lines of the body, thus giving the charecteristic tubular appearance.  No flaring of lower ribs.

Legs and Paws:  Long, slim legs, in proportion to the body.  Hind legs higher than the front.  Paws are dainty, small and oval shaped.

Tail:      Siamese - Long and slender, tapering to a fine point.  
              Balinese - Tail hair is long and feathered.

Coat:    Siamese - Short, fine textured, glossy and lying close to body.  
              Balinese - Medium in length, fine textured, glossy, close lying and silky. Coat lengthens on underside and britches.

Body Colour:  Even, with subtle shading allowed on shoulders and hips.  Allowance should be made for darker colour in older cats as pointed cats generally darken with age, but there must be defined contrast between body colour and points.  Penalise belly spots.

Point Colour:  Mask, ears legs paws and tail are dense and clearly defined.  Solid points are as dense as possible with little or no barring. Mask covers the center of the face including whisker pads and connected to ears by tracings.  Mask does not over top of the head.  No ticking or white hairs in points.

Colour Classes:  Determined by point colour.  Each colour must be distinct and definite.  No cat may appear to be a combination of two or more point colours.  The body colour, point colour and nose leather must all harmonize.  Paw pads on all colours should harmonize with point colour but do not excessively penalize rosy tones in all point colours.