A Colorpoint Shorthair weighs 2.3-5 kg and its coat takes about five minutes a week. The maintenance is elsewhere: a Siamese metabolism that burns hot, airways that react to dusty litter, a retina gene, and teeth that need looking at from year one.
The year at a glance
| Window | Coat and skin | Air, mouth and weight |
|---|---|---|
| January-February | Rubber glove weekly, 5 minutes | Room at 20-22 C; weekly toothbrush; monthly weigh-in |
| March-May | Glove twice weekly; nails every 3 weeks | Spring weigh-in; change litter before the pollen season peaks |
| June-August | Weekly; wipe the chin after wet food | Air conditioning over open windows; watch coughing on humid days |
| September-October | Twice weekly during the shed | Autumn weigh-in; annual dental check if not done in spring |
| November-December | Weekly; check for dry skin flakes | Heated bed, no draughts; food up 10 percent in cold weeks |
Coat work: five minutes, one glove
The single short coat barely sheds and never mats, so a chamois or rubber glove once a week is the whole job. Run it head to tail with the lie of the hair to lift dead hair. A slicker used hard leaves the surface patchy for weeks.
Bathing is a rare event: every 3-4 months, or when the cat has walked through something oily. Siamese-family skin runs slightly dry in heated rooms, so if you see fine white flakes along the spine in December, add a humidifier and a tablespoon of wet food rather than another bath.
Weight and food
This is a lean, high-metabolism breed, and most of them are underfed rather than overfed. Use the bands, then feel the ribs.
- 3 months: 0.9-1.4 kg, four meals a day
- 6 months: 1.7-2.5 kg, three meals a day
- 12 months: 2.5-3.6 kg, two meals a day
- Adult female 2.3-3.5 kg; adult male 3.2-5.0 kg
- Daily: 1/3 to 1/2 cup dry (40-60 g) or 3-4 oz wet (85-115 g)
- Winter: add 10 percent, because shivering burns through a small body fast
Weigh monthly and write it down. A drop of 200 g in a 3 kg cat is nearly 7 percent of body weight and worth a vet call, while the same loss in a 6 kg breed is noise. Keep the cat slim rather than skinny: ribs easy to feel, spine covered, no hip bones showing.
Air: the asthma half of the calendar
Feline asthma is common in this breed and dusty litter is the usual trigger. Use a low-dust clumping litter, unscented, poured from a shallow height, and keep the box away from the bedroom. No aerosol sprays, scented candles or indoor smoking, and a HEPA filter where the cat sleeps.
Two or more coughing bouts a week, or wheezing after ten minutes of play, means chest X-rays. Count resting breaths: 30 a minute or less is fine, a persistent 40 or more at rest, or any open-mouth breathing, is urgent. An asthma cat should have a written action plan and a spacer with a metered inhaler if the vet prescribes one.
Eyes and heart
Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA-rdAc) has a DNA test in this line, so swab once and file the result. Night blindness shows first: the cat misjudges the sofa edge in dim light, or keeps its pupils wide in a bright room. A dilated eye exam every 12 months from age 5 catches what a torch cannot, and there is no treatment beyond keeping the furniture still and a night light on.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the other inherited risk. Echo at 12 months, then every 12-18 months, and every 6 months once a murmur appears. Sleeping respiratory rate is the home test between scans: under 30 normal, 35-40 for three days needs a call.
Mouth and liver
Siamese relatives lay down tartar early, so brush three times a week with an enzyme paste from year one and book a dental check every 12 months. Back-teeth gingivitis is easy to miss because the cat keeps eating; watch for dropped hard food or chewing on one side.
Hepatic amyloidosis runs in this family and often shows only at crisis: jaundice, sudden refusal of food, weight loss over two weeks, and a cat that sits facing a wall. There is no screening test, so annual bloodwork with bilirubin and albumin from age 5 is the practical option. Any yellow tinge to the gums, ear leather or whites of the eyes is same-day.
Warmth, company and play
Three short sessions a day of 10-15 minutes suits this breed better than one long one: wand work in the morning, fetch at lunch, puzzle feeder in the evening. Ten minutes of clicker training counts as exercise. Vertical shelves near a warm window and some indoor enrichment matter more than floor toys, and so does a second cat: one left alone 10 hours a day yowls by 6 pm.
It dislikes cold draughts. Keep the room at 20-22 C in winter, put the bed away from doors and windows, and use a covered bed or a heated pad on low. In summer it handles heat better, but water still needs watching: three wide ceramic bowls, refreshed twice a day.
Five mistakes that cost the most
- Using dusty, scented clay litter in a breed prone to asthma
- Free-feeding a cat that should stay at 3-4 kg
- Skipping dental checks because the cat still eats
- Bathing monthly to "keep the points dark"
- Leaving it alone all day in a cold flat with no perch
The litter mistake ends in an emergency: two asthma attacks mean medication and a spacer for life, and the fix was a 10 dollar bag of low-dust litter.
When to call the vet
Same day: two coughing bouts in 24 hours, resting breaths above 40, no food for 24 hours, or 5 percent weight loss in a month. Immediately: open-mouth breathing, blue or grey gums, yellow gums or eyes, collapse, or a cat straining in the box with nothing passing. A Colorpoint that hides under the bed and stops answering is sick more often than it is sulking.
Twelve months, five habits
- Weigh monthly; a 200 g drop matters at this size.
- Glove the coat weekly for 5 minutes; bathe every 3-4 months at most.
- Brush teeth three times a week, dental check once a year.
- Low-dust unscented litter, no sprays, HEPA filter in the bedroom.
- Echo at 12 months, eye exam from 5, bloodwork from 5.
Frequently asked
How often should a Colorpoint Shorthair be bathed?
Every three to four months at most, and often less. The single short coat has no undercoat, sheds very little and cleans itself, so a rubber glove once a week does the real work. Bathing monthly strips the oils that keep the coat smooth and tends to leave the skin drier and flakier in heated rooms. Bathe when the cat is genuinely dirty or greasy, not on a schedule.
What litter is safest for a Colorpoint with asthma?
A low-dust, unscented clumping litter, poured slowly from a shallow height so it does not billow. Dust and fragrance are the two common triggers, and clay dust stays airborne for minutes after pouring. Keep the box out of the bedroom, avoid aerosol sprays and candles nearby, and run a HEPA filter in the room where the cat sleeps. Two coughing bouts in a week means a vet visit with chest X-rays.
Do Colorpoint Shorthairs really need annual dental checks?
Yes, from about the first year. Siamese-related lines lay down tartar early and gingivitis at the back teeth is easy to miss because the cat keeps eating normally. Brush three times a week with an enzyme paste, and book a professional check every twelve months. Dropping hard food, chewing on one side or pawing at the mouth means the interval should be shortened rather than stretched.