British Shorthair Mix?

I rescued GM a month and a half ago from a local rescue that saves cats from the Middle East. His international papers labeled him as a British shorthair but the local rescue disagreed and thought Abyssinian because of his coat/color.

He has the chubby cheeks, short/thick neck, smirk etc of a bsh but he's not as big as you'd expect a male bsh to be - he weighs about 9.5 lbs and is roughly 1.5 yrs old.

His temperament is pretty chill for the most part, typical high energy in the morning and right before bedtime. He doesn't like to jump up high, doesn't like being held and isn't a lap cat but he likes to be near us all the time. He's been fighting an upper respiratory infection for the past few wks so hard to say how his behavior might change once he's feeling 100%.

Thought maybe he could be a British shorthair mix of some kind. Interested in everyone's thoughts!

He is definitely not an Abyssinian! Those look very different!!

If you do not have pedigree papers, he would technically be considered a domestic shorthair... However, he could certainly be a purebred British Shorthair. Not all BSH are huge cats, and there are breeders in the world who work with BSH in that color (shaded silver).

He doesn't have very extreme type, so he could possibly be a mix... but I would guess from looking at him that he has a significant amount of either BSH or a similar/related breed in his ancestry (such as straight eared Scottish Fold, etc). A little bit of Persian / Exotic could theoretically produce a similar appearance, although he really does look more like a BSH.

lutece said:

He is definitely not an Abyssinian! Those look very different!!

If you do not have pedigree papers, he would technically be considered a domestic shorthair... However, he could certainly be a purebred British Shorthair. Not all BSH are huge cats, and there are breeders in the world who work with BSH in that color (shaded silver).

He doesn't have very extreme type, so he could possibly be a mix... but I would guess from looking at him that he has a significant amount of either BSH or a similar/related breed in his ancestry (such as straight eared Scottish Fold, etc). A little bit of Persian / Exotic could theoretically produce a similar appearance, although he really does look more like a BSH.

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Yes I agree that he doesn't look at all like an Abyssinian and tbh I did not know what an aby looked like when the rescue first mentioned having one and kept telling me he would "lose his chubby cheeks soon". When I later googled Abyssinian I thought def not lol. But my vet actually mentioned aby too.

I definitely think he's more British than anything else, also considered a Scottish straight

He’s gorgeous! And he really does look like a British Shorthair!

abyeb said:

He’s gorgeous! And he really does look like a British Shorthair!

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Thanks! Charlie looks very handsome too

I agree with Lutece's analysis.

He isnt ticked tabby - common in Aby, as your local shelter apparently thought.
He is shaded, prob silver shaded.

And yes the air of British is heavy here. Even if without papers nor proven history nothing is sure.

One of the few cases when a probable domestic may be a pure or almost purebred for real!
And not just a vague perhaps look alike.

StefanZ said:

I agree with Lutece's analysis.

He isnt ticked tabby - common in Aby, as your local shelter apparently thought.
He is shaded, prob silver shaded.

And yes the air of British is heavy here. Even if without papers nor proven history nothing is sure.

One of the few cases when a probable domestic may be a pure or almost purebred for real!
And not just a vague perhaps look alike.

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I did do a little research of catteries in Kuwait and found their bsh cats are more on the slim side and look alot like GM; so I am pretty sure that is most likely his breed. Thanks for your input!

Whatever he is, what a gorgeous regal looking cat.

susanm9006 said:

Whatever he is, what a gorgeous regal looking cat.

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So nice of you to say! We agree but think we're pretty biased