Snowshoe Siamese

I only know two Snowshoe Siamese -- Chairman Mao, in the top photo, and Spooky.  Spooky asked me to do a limerick on Snowshoe Siamese, so I did.  I didn't know much about the breed, but I have a couple of cat books and I looked it up.  The breed came about because purebred Siamese sometimes were born with white toes, which was considered a fault in cats put in shows.  Some people really liked the white toes, though, and crossed these Siamese with American Shorthair bi-colored cats, what we usually call tuxedo cats.  The result was the Snowshoe Siamese.  The typical Snowshoe Siamese has the color points similar to the traditional Siamese, but they have a white nose and mouth area and it is preferred that they have an inverted-V shape where the white meets the dark mask.  Spooky shows this quite well.  Chairman Mao's coloring conforms to what is called the "mitted" variation, I think.  Snowshoe Siamese are best known for their friendliness.  They get along well with other cats and  dogs and they love their humans.  They are also extremely playful and will stay very playful into old age.  This makes them great cats for multi-animal homes and they also make great cats for children.

                                    Snowshoe Siamese just love to play.
                                    They can chase a feather or a mousie all day.
                                              There's never a struggle
                                               To get them to snuggle.
                                    They love their humans aaalll the way.