Seal Point Siamese: The Color the Breed Arrived In
Deep seal-brown points on a warm cream body: the color the 1871 Crystal Palace cats wore, and the one definition all five registries still agree on, word for word close.
Published August 21, 2026 3 min read
Contents
Every other Siamese color is measured against this one. The seal point is the historical baseline. The cats shown, described and photographed in the press at London's Crystal Palace as early as July 1871 were seal points, and so were the earliest Western imports. It is also the rare thing in cat registries: a definition with full five-way consensus.
's standard reads body "even pale fawn to cream, warm in tone," points "deep seal brown," nose leather and paw pads matching the points. says body "Cream," points "warm seal brown." Canada's says "pale fawn or cream." Five registries, one color, no argument, which the extended colors (red, , ) cannot claim.
Reading a seal point
The darkest of the classic four: near-black brown mask, ears, legs and tail against the warmest body tone of the set. Seal points also DARKEN the most with age. The pointing gene is temperature-sensitive, and coat pigment keeps developing wherever the skin runs cool. An older seal point often wears a shaded fawn body that would fault on a show bench and matters not at all at home. The eyes, as with every Siamese color, are "deep vivid blue" by rule: there is no such thing as a green-eyed registered Siamese.
Born white, like every Siamese
Seal point kittens are born white and show their points FIRST among the classic colors. Pigment can start appearing about a week after birth (the registry's own genetics document says so), where dilute colors take weeks longer. If you are comparing kittens in a litter at eight weeks, the seal points are the ones already wearing most of their mask. The colors hub carries the full mechanism.
Money, briefly
No cattery we read in any of four markets prices seal points differently from any other color (the price page has the whole market). The one paperwork note: a seal point is showable as a Siamese at every registry, which is not true of every color on the extended list.
The paperwork on one card
| Registry | Files this color as |
|---|---|
| / / / / | Siamese: full five-registry consensus, one of the classic four |
The vet's take
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Frequently asked questions
What is a seal point Siamese?
The breed's original color: deep seal-brown points on a warm cream-to-fawn body, blue eyes by rule, defined near-identically by all five registries we read. The 1871 Crystal Palace cats were seal points.
Do seal point Siamese darken with age?
Yes, the most of any classic color: the pointing gene is temperature-sensitive, and body shading deepens over the years. A show fault, not a home problem.
Are seal point Siamese rare or expensive?
Neither: it is the breed's most classic color, and no cattery we read prices by color.
What color are seal point kittens at birth?
White: the womb is uniformly warm, so pigment only develops after birth on the cool extremities, starting around a week old in seal points.
Community questions
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This is information, not veterinary advice, and it cannot tell you what is wrong with your cat. Our rule is a simple one: if something is wrong with your cat, call your vet, and call an emergency clinic if it is out of hours. Nothing you read here is a reason to wait.
Medical information applies to every reader. Prices, legal duties and common practice do not: unless stated otherwise, they are given for the United States, and they differ in the UK, Canada and Australia, and often between states or provinces. Check with your own vet and your own local authority.
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