Things I Wish I Knew Before Adopting a Siamese Cat

Last June, I adopted a Siamese mix cat to be my companion at school. Her name was Lea, she was so cute, and she immediately started kneading me when they put her on my lap the first time we met. I knew it was meant to be, so we took her home that day.

Siamese cats are very vocal cats. This is something I already knew, and I was excited for when I adopted my cat (we changed her name from Lea to Marzipan). I love vocal cats, one of our other cats is pretty vocal, so I thought I knew what I was getting into. Turns out, Siamese cats are vocal at all times, even when you’re not there. She talks at me when I’m near her, but she also screams into the void at night, or when I’m just in the other room. Marzipan also really loves to greet me, sort of like a dog. If I leave the room and come back a minute later, she’s really happy to see me and trills at me in greeting. The point is, I thought she would be chatty directly to me, but she likes to make noise whether I’m there to listen or not. She especially likes to make noise at 2am when I have to be up early the next day.

Siamese cats bond very deeply with one person. Of course, they still love other people in the house, but there’s a very special bond between them and their person. Luckily for me, Marzipan bonded with me. Of course, I wanted my cat to bond with me, and I wouldn’t want her to change at all. I just wish I knew how deeply she would bond with me. Some of this could just be the personality of Marzipan, but she is attached at the hip to me. Anywhere I go, she needs to be there too. If I go to the bathroom, she cries and cries until I let her in. If I go upstairs, she has to run up the stairs to follow me. I could go up and down the stairs eight times, and she would happily run up and down all eight times if it meant she could be near me. In the mornings, she likes to lay on my feet or my chest as I’m waking up. She also demands to sit in my lap whenever I’m doing my makeup or on the computer (she’s sitting on my lap as I write this).

Siamese cats are smart. I like to joke that Marzipan isn’t the brightest bulb in the bunch, but the truth is, she’s pretty smart. She learns things very quickly. Unfortunately, she hasn’t learned anything good. She learned very quickly that if she hops on the counter, she can drink from the faucet, and we’ll turn it on for her. We did this for her once, and she’s been insistent about it ever since. I’ve also had to move her from home to school, and vice versa, and she’s adjusted pretty well to it. She also knows when she’s doing something I don’t like, and she’s very quick to stop as soon as she sees me start to get up.

Every cat is different, so even though there are things that certain breeds do, it doesn’t mean your cat is going to do the same thing. I love that she’s super needy, and super vocal, I just wish I realized how intense these would be before I adopted her. I absolutely adore my needy, loud cat, and I wouldn’t trade her for the world.