Cinnamon, Fawn and Caramel Point Siamese

Cinnamon, Fawn and Caramel Point Siamese cats are relative newcomers to the Siamese breed standard – so new you might never have heard of them, although it's possible that they've been turning up in Siamese litters for quite some time without being identified as distinct colors.

The Governing Council of the Cat Fancy in the UK now includes all three colors in the Siamese breed, while in the USA the Cat Fanciers' Association lists Cinnamon and Fawn points under Colorpoint Shorthair, and Caramel Points under Colorpoint Oriental.

Their distinct coloring comes from the genes they inherit from their parents. The study of genetics is ongoing and rather complex but more and more is being discovered as time goes on.

Cinnamon, Fawn and Caramel are solid point colors, but can also be found as Tabbies, Torties, and Tortie-Tabbies.

Like other Siamese, these point colors have pale coats and brilliant, intense blue eyes. So how do you identify them?

Cinnamon Point Siamese

Cinnamon Points can look quite similar to Chocolates, but whereas a Chocolate Point has dark chocolate-brown points, the points on a Cinnamon are more of a warm, reddish, rusty-brown – like cinnamon, the spice after which they're named.

You can see this well on the very handsome boy below, whose name is Tristan and is, according to his owner Kate, rather camera shy!

Like Chocolate Points, their paw pads have a pinkish tone. However in  Cinnamon Points this pink underlies a cinnamon brown and their nose leather and eye rims should also be cinnamon. Their legs may be slightly paler than their other points, with their coats are a pale ivory.

Fawn Point Siamese

Fawn is the ‘dilute’ color of Cinnamon - a paler, bluer version of Cinnamon, which can look quite similar to Lilac. They have off-white, magnolia-colored coats and warm-toned, rose-pink to mushroom points.

Their nose leather, eye rims and paw pads should be a pinkish fawn, with legs either matching, or slightly paler.

You can see these characteristics well in the photos above and below of this very handsome boy, Pepé - courtesy of one of our readers, Rebecca Wood.

(If you compare Pepé's coloring with the photo of the Lilac Point over in the right-hand column, you'll see that the Lilac Point is slightly more gray-toned where Pepé is definitely a warm, rosy mushroom.)

Caramel Point Siamese

Caramel Points are the newest of this group to gain recognition, and their coloring comes from the presence of a ‘dilute modifier’ gene.

As its name suggests, this dilute modifier gene (Dm) only acts on the already dilute colors, which are blue, lilac and fawn.

The DM gene gives a brownish tone to these colors, resulting in blue-based, lilac-based or fawn-based Caramel Points. In reality, lilac-based and fawn-based Caramels are very similar to each other.

Caramel Point kittens develop their color slowly, and they may look like Lilac or Blue Points to begin, with until the overlying brown tone becomes apparent.

All the variations of Caramel Points have off-white coats, which darken with age so that the contrast between their coats and points becomes less clear with time.

Blue-based Caramels have dark brownish-blue/purple points, lilac- and fawn-based Caramels have paler, brownish-gray/pink points. In all cases, the legs may be slightly paler than the other points. 

Related Pages

• The Tortie Point
  
• The Flame Point
• The Lynx Point
  

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