Siamese

Who a Siamese suits

For people who want to be talked to and will answer back. A home that is occupied, sociable and tolerant of a loud opinion gets the most conversational companion alive. Anyone who wanted something decorative and silent has chosen the single worst breed for it.

How to build the bond: Answer back — conversation, even nonsense, is how a Siamese shakes hands. That sits on top of how the species works generally: Trust is earned in stillness: slow blinks, shared silence, respect for territory. The cat closes the distance — your job is to hold the door open.

The Siamese against the other nineteen

Lined up stillest to liveliest, the Siamese is the liveliest of the twenty cat breeds here, one of only 3 to reach the high-energy band — this is the end of the range where an under-occupied animal stops being a companion and becomes a problem to solve.

Ordered by how near each one sits to the Siamese on the energy axis, then by the notes they have in common. Every cat breed reads this table from its own position, so no two of the twenty are ordered alike.

The birth years a Siamese sits easiest with

This half of the reading is the species rather than the breed — every cat meets a given birth year the same way. These are the communities that sit easiest with one:

• Lion Spirit Guardian—1950,1962,1974,1986and later
• Cat Spirit Guardian—1951,1963,1975,1987and later
• Snake Spirit Guardian—1953,1965,1977,1989and later
• Horse Spirit Guardian—1954,1966,1978,1990and later

A birth year outside that list is not a warning — it is the half of the reading this page cannot settle on its own. Seat the pair on the board and it reads the rest. What the cat is like as a companion applies to the Siamese as much as to the other nineteen.

A pairing that involves an animal returns a word rather than a percentage. The board's deepest layer reads two inner selves against each other and an animal cannot hold one, so the result is described rather than scored — what is read here is the keeper's birth year against the species, and the breed decides everything about living with it day to day. An animal does get a chart of its own once its birth hour is known, one rung further up.

Frequently asked

What is a Siamese like to live with?

The most human of cats — a Siamese narrates its day aloud, insists on joining yours, and genuinely grieves when ignored. Its love is loud, jealous and lifelong. On the energy axis this catalogue uses, the Siamese reads as high-energy — 20th of the twenty cat breeds here when they are lined up stillest to liveliest.

Who is a Siamese a good match for?

For people who want to be talked to and will answer back. A home that is occupied, sociable and tolerant of a loud opinion gets the most conversational companion alive. Anyone who wanted something decorative and silent has chosen the single worst breed for it.

How do you bond with a Siamese?

Answer back — conversation, even nonsense, is how a Siamese shakes hands. That sits on top of how the species works generally: Trust is earned in stillness: slow blinks, shared silence, respect for territory. The cat closes the distance — your job is to hold the door open. The thing that most reliably undoes it — Grabbing the affection you were about to be given sets the clock back weeks — forced holds teach a cat to keep an exit in view.

Which cat breeds are most like a Siamese?

Bengal, Abyssinian, Munchkin — nearest first, measured on energy band and shared traits. At the other end of the same twenty sits the Himalayan, opposite ends. Every one of the nineteen is ranked against the Siamese further up this page.