Work to formally establish a breed with combined Persian and Siamese traits, explicitly for the cat fancy, began in the United States in the 1930s at Harvard University, under the term Siamese–Persian, and the results were published in the Journal of Heredity in 1936,[1] but were not adopted as a recognized breed by any major fancier groups at the time.

Brian Sterling-Webb independently developed the cross-breed over a period of ten years in the UK, and in 1955 it was recognized there as the Longhaired Colourpoint by the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF).

[2] However, by the 1960s, some were re-introducing Siamese stock and producing less "Persian-style" cats,[2] In the 1980s, a concerted effort to re-establish the breed along more formally Persian lines ultimately caused the breed to be merged into Persian as a variant in some registries (e.g. in 1984 by CFA), and a decline in the "old" or Siamese-like specimens.

[2] The Himalayan is considered a colour variant of the Persian and not a separate breed by the Cat Fanciers' Association and the GCCF.

[8] The Himalayan has a long and thick coat all over the body including the tail and ear and toe tufts.

It's characterised by greasy skin, debris adhering to the folds of the face and nose, ceruminous otitis externa, secondary bacterial folliculitis and Malassezia dermatitis, and pruritus.