siamese

Question
I have 2 cats. One siamese, other black (I was told she was her sister) Both had babies, then got spayed.  No babies over past 2 years, for some reason she has a round hard belly right now? any suggestions? They are outdoor cats, happy healthy, very sweet!  Next Q:Do siamese have to breed with siamese in order to produce siamese babies? Or will one of the kittens look like the siamese mother even if father is not siamese?

Answer
Hi Celia.  Not absolutely sure about the hard belly, but it sounds like she could be constipated.  Since they're outdoor cats, it will be really difficult to monitor her bowel movements, but if there's any possibility of moving her inside for a day or two with a litter box, it might be a good idea.  For minor constipation (when she's still able to move her bowels but is passing smaller amounts than usual), giving her a product like Laxatone or Petromalt, which are hairball treatments available at pet stores, may be okay.  But if she hasn't moved her bowels in a couple days, a vet visit is in order.

A pot-bellied appearance can be a sign of infection with parasitic worms, and this is very common in cats.  Roundworms are especially common.  Outdoor cats might also have tapeworms, because they're passed through swallowing infected fleas.  Mostly cats with worms will have a squishy belly instead of a hard belly, but unless your kitties wear Revolution or Profender (treatments from your vet), then they probably could stand to be treated for worms, just in case.  Roundworm eggs are found everywhere in the soil, and because of the way cats groom themselves, outdoor cats are sure to pick them up!  Treatments for both roundworms and tapeworms can be found at pet stores or online, but the safest ones come from your vet.

As for your second question, Siamese must breed with other colorpointed cats in order to have Siamese babies.  If a Siamese breeds with a non-colorpointed cat, then none of the kittens will be colorpointed.  

The one exception would be in a situation it sounds like your two kittens came from.  A cat can actually be part Siamese without showing any signs of it, because the Siamese color pattern is recessive.  So say you had a black tomcat whose background you didn't know.  If he happened to be part Siamese, you bred him to a Siamese, and he passed on Siamese genes to the litter, the kittens who received those recessive genes would turn out Siamese, while the ones he passed on his dominant black genes to would turn out black.