Crobylos or Red Torches       

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Redpoint Siamese, Crobylos or red torches  

By Henk Keers

Crobylos is derived from the name of the first name in ancient Greece who occupied himself with the work on hair. He was known fairly well in the period of 1500 BC until 150 AD. He became especially known for his hairdos in which he used a red color. Generally these hardos became known as “TORCHES”. I do not wish to lay claim to the fact that Redpoint Siamese are torches but still some similarity is there. You can say a lot on the colour red but is a Redpoint really red? When the Redpoint was first seen it was described as yellow, marmelade, salmon red, ginger and orange of which the latter is the most appropriate. An other very appropriate name used mainly in the Americas is Flamepoint. The red of the cat is somewhere between yellow and red of the colorspecture. With the Siamese the points have most colour, the shadowing on the body are a subtle mirror of the pointscolour.

A redheaded stranger

On the back of an elephant is a Dutchman, in his hand a Gouda pipe. This entourage is part of accompany on its way to the shogun. This image can be seen on one of the Nagasaki-images, which were made for about a century from 1750 onwards. That makes the book a tribute to these special souvenirs from Nagasaki, which were eagerly sold to tourists and traders who visited the Japanese port who tried to catch a glimp of the redheaded strangers. A situation like this must have occurred when dr. Nora Archer exhibited her first Redpoint in the UK in 1952.

England 1952. It is early in the year and we are in the exhibition hall where the Southern Cat Counties Club have organised an exhibition. As always the pens are decorated by the exhibitors. Not with brightly coloured frilled curtains but with spotlessly clean white curtains, a white blanket, eating, drinking and litter tray. Exactly as befitting an aristocratic pedigreed cat. The sealpoint owners put their friends in the pens. There is a somewhat unusual atmosphere in the hall. Today there is something special, there is some murmuring in between the pens. Among all those sealpoint Siamese there is a similar pen. What is this? I cry out loud. Here is a redheaded stranger! Together with his tortiepoint sister is Somerville Golden Peregrine. A strange fellow with orange redpoints. Believe me that was quite a shock to all those present. Redpoints are the living products of a few enthusiasts who started crossing a sealpoint female to a red domestic shorthair in 1948. Who could have suspected what that would bring about. The Redpoint has become the most successful example of experimental breeding because of their efforts. Some purists say that the Redpoint is a hybrid but that is unjustified. The Redpoint is the result of a mating between two members of the Felis Catus group. Phyllis Lauder described the Redpoint in most glowing terms in her book. “All his accessories are a beautiful, glowing golden red; his eyes are blue, his fur is pale, he is completely and absolute a Siamese”.

Redpoint Siamese and the oriental counterpart enjoy famousness all over the world nowadays. In my search for the roots of the Red Siamese I came across many. The research was great fun and I discovered that there were many fanciers who were as enthusiastic as I am. A highlight was when I discovered that Mrs Fitchet was incorrectly stated as the first breeder of Redpoints in South Africa. That was not the case. That honour belongs to Mrs Bradford.

Why a Red?

At a certain moment we were called who insisted on having a Redpoint. The demand for Redpoints is there but here was something desperate in the demand. Something that makes you scratch your ears and wonder what this is all about. Well we made an appointment. The following Saturday they were coming to visit us and have a look at a Redpoint. At that Saturday at the time agreed upon the doorbell rang. I opened the door and who could imagine my imagination. Father, mother and child all redheads. Now you can see why we insist on having a Redpoint the man said. Well, I certainly could see why!

The character of the red Siamese is not really different from that of other coloured Siamese. As owners of Siamese since 1971 we are often asked by visitors how we can tell all these Siamese apart. In itself that is really funny as no cat is the same. A cat, and certainly a Siamese, is an individual. Not just its looks, but especially its character. Provided it is well socialised a Siamese is extremely affectionate, domineering, enterprising, possessive and especially a cat of the clock. What the cat wants goes. If it wants something it wants it now, not after a little while, NOW. A Tortie is just a little more so than a Redpoint. That is why we have coshed the following motto:

If you are meeting a Siamese for the first time, consider before you embark into fellowship, and having considered, you will embark, and, having embarked, you are no longer master of your own fate!

Once you have had a Siamese in your home you can never do without them, you adjust your home, you even adapt your clothing. Don’t laugh, it is really true! If you have more than one Siamese it is important that each individual gets just as much attention as the other. A Siamese is very easily jealous and will show that as well. With some there is a special bond. Sometimes a look is enough to understand one another. A matter of mutual trust. Where I go, he goes and vice versa. Did you know that Siamese can smile? When I come home from work he is waiting for me with a melancholic look and he hooks his lower canine over his upper lip as if he is smiling. You just try to pass him without paying him attention!

Red is sexlinked

This phenomenon has been explained a million times but is always worthwhile to do it again briefly. There are only two basic colours: black and red. Chromosomes always consist of pairs and are the carriers of genes, which are responsible for the colour. The colour Red (O=Orange) inherits sexlinked and can be found on the X-chromosome. (XO). A female has two X-chromosomes (X,X) and a male has one X-chromosome and one Y-chromosome (X,Y) On the Y-chromosome there is very little genetic information present. The Y-chromosome develops the male characteristics in the ovum. A red male passes his red colour to his daughters. Red males can only pass on red. It is the female however who decides the eventual colour. A red male mated to a red female (OO) only gives red kittens (OO=homozygotous red) Mated top a black female gives only tortie females (Oo=hetrozygotous)) and black males (oo=not red). How does the orange-red pigment phaeomelanine work? Simply said it is a biochemical process that under the influence of phaeomelanine makes the black disappear from the hairs. This gives a lighter pigment grain, which we perceive as red. The non-agouti gene (a), which every cat has, that with black only shows partially has no influence on red. A plain Red or Cream is technically spoken not possible, you will always see agouti markings. You cannot tell with a red whether it is a tabby or not, even not with the so-called thumbprint because these too are manifestations of agouti which is not influenced by the red. That nature thinks otherwise? In America there is a Red-line (Da-Glow), which inherits barless red, although the owner could not explain to me why or how. In itself special and for the most enthusiastic among us certainly something to look into. More info

When a Redpoint is born it can be recognised by the glow of the fur through which the piglet like skin subtly shines.  All the more noticeable in a mixed litter. A trained eye can spot the redpoints immediately. Whit two weeks the points become noticeable. When growing up the shadows will become more clear in all kinds of red, which gives the fur such a beautiful golden glow in the sun. The intensity of the red is because of the influence of the rufus genes. There influence gives a deep red colour. Compare an ordinary cat with a carefully bred pedigreed cat. Choc-carrying Reds often have a warmer glow to the fur than seal carrying ones. Experience however teaches us that we regularly have to breed back to sealpoints in order to keep a good blue eye colour but which makes the colour red cooler. An oriental shorthair red can be recognised at once of course. Different from the Siamese they are born fully coloured.

Freckles, a reflection of the sun

Her red hairs glow like molten gold in the sunlight. Her nose is covered with tiny freckles and accentuate the elegant, even sensual form. The funny tiny suns show warmth and affection. Truly I am in love with those freckles.

Freckles or efelides have nothing to do with health of the cat but are only faults in colour. They are the size of pinpricks to pea size. Brown or black spots in the skin, so not in the hairs, and are the result of a collection of pigment in the upper skin, which is enhanced by the sun. Just as with redheaded people red cats always have freckles. The standard therefore tells us that freckles may not be considered a fault. Freckles mostly occur on the ears and the nose but often also on the eyelids and the gums. As the Redpoint gets older the effect becomes more intense. There are several theories on the cause. One speaks of a somatic mutation. It sometimes happens that red cats have some black hairs or spots. This could mean that there is a fault somewhere in the chemical process that changes black to red. It could also mean that the cat would not be a Red but a Tortie. Test matings usually prove the opposite. Females inherit like true reds and a Tortie male would normally be sterile[1]. An other more credible theory is inheritance. In genealogy we speak of freckles as a dominant gene (F-). When no freckles are visible we speak of (ff). Just as in humans this would mean that cats are heterozygous for freckles. With most cats this will not be noticed as most cats have a dense pigmentation where the dark freckles can only be seen with great difficulty or not at all. With red cats the freckles vary from dense black to delicate pink. We should not confuse freckles with depigmentation. These are faults in pigmentation in the skin and are due to too much or too little melamine. Depigmentation is the loss of pigment in places where this is usually present. Depigmentation is also called Vitiligo because in parts of the skin the pigment cells disappear. This also occurs in cats, often visible on the nose and footpads. With several skin diseases white depigmented spots can occur (leukodermia). With (inherited) albinism the pigment lacks completely, not just in the skin but also of the hairs and eyes. With hyperpigmenttaion, which can have many causes eg. A pregnancy too much pigment is formed and the colour of the skin becomes light to dark brown. As red always masks another colour we can often tell from the freckles on the ear which colour that is. A seal carrying Red will have clear dense black freckles whereas a choc carrying Red or Cream, which masks blue, will have much softer toned freckles. If your cat likes to bask in the sun, be careful for just like red headed humans it is sensitive to sunburn.

Explanation of pictures

 Freckles on the lips

 12 year old redpoint watch the nose and eyelids

   Choc-carrying red (choc coloured freckles)

 Freckled nose

 light soft freckles

Sources:

History of the Redpoint part 1&2, Henk Keers

De erffactor rood, Henk Keers

New Siamese, Phyllis Lauder

Genetics for catbreeders, Roy Robinson