Located
in Southern California, we have been breeding old-style Siamese cats (Thais)
since 1994. Our
search for new (but old) bloodlines to expand the gene pool and ensure
the health of the Siamese breed led us halfway across the world to
Thailand and taught us many things about cats and life beyond American
borders.
One day a Thai gentleman, Aree Yoobumrung, whom we had met on our first
trip to Thailand, showed our Bangkok-based friend Martin
Clutterbuck a strange-looking black
cat with an unusual pattern of partially white hairs scattered
across the coat. He insisted the cat was the legendary Saem Sawet
described in Thailand's famous 700 year old Siamese Cat Poems. Martin
Clutterbuck sent photos of the cat to us and asked us what we thought.
The story is far from over. The end is still undetermined. But this much
we can tell you. Aree's "Saem Sawet" got us thinking for the first
time that maybe the Saem Sawet of 700 years ago was not a myth. While
it is not the only possibility, one of the more likely explanations is
that the Thai people beat the West to the concept of the Chausie breed,
just as they discovered the Siamese, the Korat, and the Copper (Burmese
or Tonkinese) long before the Americans or Europeans.
Whether that's true or is not, what Aree told us about his Saem
Sawet made us want to get better acquainted with the Chausie
breed, the one begun in the 1990s in the United States.
We discovered that the Chausie has a personality that has much in
common with our beloved Siamese. It's the same, but it's also not the
same. It's wonderful and it's unique.
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