The Siamese's famous 'talking' is not occasional chatter but a loud, persistent, opinionated yowl, and a bored or ignored Siamese will use it at 3am until someone gets up, which is not a personality quirk most new owners are warned about before buying.
11.69years, life expectancy at birth
About the same as the all-cat life expectancy at birth of 11.74 years.
Measured, not estimated: worked out from 7,936 UK cats that died in 2019 under veterinary care. Based on 88 deaths of this breed. 95% confidence interval 10.56 to 12.82 years. Life expectancy at birth is the average a kitten of this breed could expect; a cat that is already an adult has a longer expected total, because it has got past the risky early years. UK cats, so treat it as the best available figure rather than a promise about yours.
Teng et al. 2024, Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 26(5) — open access · figures cited with attributionHealth tests to ask the breeder for
There is no CHIC program for cats. These are the DNA and screening tests that the testing laboratories and cat health bodies name for the Siamese. A breeder who tests will show the certificates; a DNA result of "clear" for one variant is not a guarantee against the disease.
- PRA-rdAc (CEP290) DNA test (UC Davis VGL / Langford Vets) screens for late-onset progressive retinal atrophy / blindness
- Mucopolysaccharidosis VI (MPS VI) DNA test (UC Davis VGL / Langford, low prevalence) screens for lysosomal storage disease
- GM1 Gangliosidosis DNA test (Langford lists Korat GM1 at low prevalence in Siamese)
When to spay or neuter: by five months, whatever the breed. That is the one answer the AVMA, the feline practitioners and AAHA all give, and the spay and neuter page has why, and the two weeks after.
Eye ulcers: in cats they usually come from the herpes virus, and Siamese cats are among the breeds most prone to a sequestrum, a patch of cornea that dies and turns dark. Steroid eye drops can set the virus off again. The eye ulcer page has the signs and what to ask the vet.
Sources: vgl.ucdavis.edu · vgl.ucdavis.edu · langfordvets.co.uk. Checked September 2026. Check a breeder has the questions.
Adopt a Siamese near you
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Living with a Siamese
Siamese are intensely social, intelligent, and will follow you room to room narrating the whole time — this is not a cat that tolerates being ignored, and boredom shows up fast as destructive behavior or nonstop vocalizing. A large 2024 UK epidemiological study found Siamese life expectancy statistically similar to cats generally (not the exceptional mid-teens-to-20s figure often quoted in breed marketing), so don't buy on the promise of an unusually long life — buy because you want a cat that talks back.
Health you should know about
- Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) — an inherited, incurable retinal degeneration leading first to night blindness and eventually to full blindness; well documented as a breed-associated condition.
- Amyloidosis — abnormal amyloid protein deposits build up in organs, especially the liver and kidneys, gradually impairing their function; recognised in veterinary literature as more common in Siamese than in cats generally.
- Feline asthma and chronic bronchial disease — Siamese and Siamese-derived cats are considered at higher risk of asthma than the general cat population.
- Megacolon and other GI motility issues have been reported anecdotally in the breed, alongside a general predisposition among pointed/Siamese-derived cats toward certain congenital eye and neurological quirks tied to the same gene that produces their coloring.
Read the full Cat Care Guide first — costs, daily time, and everything a cat needs before you choose a breed.
Naming a Siamese? Thai cat names, 79 of them, with what they mean.
Sources — 5 references
Last reviewed October 2026. 5 sources listed below. Written and maintained by Petdeals.io. General care information, not veterinary advice — for a sick animal, call a vet.