(click on picture to enlarge)

Blue Point litter out of:
Sire: Jenanca Chalerm (Thai Blue Point)
Dam: Chandrakan Silverdeva (Thai Blue Point)
They are 1 girl (on the front, left) and 3 boys
born on March 2004
Breeder: Catherine Piper - Lekwind Cattery - UK

The litter is interesting because it's the first TBP x TBP with a combination of lines, but really because they are so cute. Jenanca Chalerm (Aneas av Kalhammaren x Kiriki Thursdays Childe). He was born 16/9/02 in Britain, having been conceived in Germany from a Norwegian sire and a USA dam, both Korat, living proof that recessives go on forever...

The Pointed Kitten's Lament...

I'm not a little Korat, although you would not think it true,
My mother was a Korat, my father was one too.
My sister and my brother, with coats of deepest blue,
Are certainly both Korats, of just a perfect hue.

But if I'm not a Korat, will someone tell me please,
What breed of cat am I then, some sort of Siamese?
A throwback to my ancestors who made a point or two
And passed along the points to me to hand them back to you?

Charlotte Creeley.

Jen's riposte

Oh my poor confused little one, you must understand
That Korat means a blue cat, in your native land.
To call you what you're plainly not, we just shouldn't do,
But you're one of our breed's kittens, so there must be a name for you.

The Korat comes from Thailand, proud of its history
And you have that same Thai ancestry, way back in your pedigree.
So considering your origins, and your phenotype
In UK we say Thai Blue Point. I do hope that's all right.

That little piece of verse neatly summarises the dilemma of the early Korat breeders. The Standard of Points called for blue only, but the Korat doesn't only produce blue kittens. From the earliest days of recorded Korat breeding in the west (1959), kittens have been born occasionally with a siamese type pattern, pale body with some shading, but the blue colour restricted to the points (face, ears, legs & paws, and tail).

In other parts of the world these have been, and still are, considered as Korats with a blemish, in the same way as a kinked tail or a white patch makes a cat unsuitable for the showbench. In the UK another colour is classed as simply different, it can't be listed as a fault. Breeders came to recognise affectionately these little rarities and in 1993 a name was chosen for registration and record purposes.

ORIGINS

So where did these genes, 'alien' to the Korat, come from? The origins of the Thai Blue Point must lie somewhere back in the mists of time in Thailand. Seal Point Siamese (Wichienmaad), Korats (Si-sawats) and Copper cats (Thong Daeng) all existed as recognised Thai cats several hundred years ago, at the time when the Smud Khoi cat book poems were written. Although Siamese, Burmese and Korat have been developed as distinct and separate breeds in the west since the beginning of the 20th century, each breed carries a genetic legacy from their native country. It is on record in Siamese histories that the Korat is thought to have added the ‘blue’ for the Blue Point Siamese, possibly the Burmese acquired their blue genes from this source too. It’s not really very surprising that Korats gained added extras in return.

In 1959 when Mrs Jean Johnson imported Korats from Bangkok to the USA and became the first westerner to breed these cats she used Siamese Blue Points that she had brought from Thailand as an outcross. 50% of her kittens from these early matings were themselves Blue Point, showing that the Korats themselves already carried the necessary genes. Blue Points have occurred since from other lines not related to these first imports, showing the gene is truly of Thai origin and not some added extra acquired from deliberate or accidental cross breeding.
It is truly AN ANCIENT NATURAL BREED.

THE FUTURE

Once its existence was acknowledged it was left to breeders to decide whether they wanted to select for the BP pattern, or ignore and try to breed away from it. There was one condition. The pointed cats should qualify for a show bench place on their own merits, as a separate entity from the Korats.

Preliminary Recognition was granted by GCCF in February 2002 and Thai Blue Points can now be show in the Thai assessment class.

The Standard of Points calls for a heart shaped face, large blue eyes and blue points with silver tipping. With such attractive qualities demanded it surely won't be long before the Thai Blue Point wins a special following of its own.

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