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Aww, they’ve gotten so big! I love seeing growing-up pics. My cats have had a lot of color change in the last few months, too! I’ll have to post an update when I get some good pics.

I’m seeing seal silver lynx point, but it’s too early to know for certain. The tail is too dark to be anything but seal, so expect the color to darken somewhat. I highly suspect silver as well, due to the paler striping between the tail rings and the silver dusting on the paws. For example, see...

All my cats were stray/feral kittens from my neighborhood, so I don't have direct experience adopting from a shelter. That being said, I did work at a Vet clinic for six years and have experienced lots of cats and people in different life circumstances. Only you know when you are ready for...

She appears to be a classic black torbie! Specifically, she is a black tortoiseshell who also is a tabby with the classic pattern. Very cute! I hope her little face gets treatment soon; it looks like she might have been trapped in a car engine or got into a scrap. Good luck with the baby!

I have taken in one stray and two truly feral kittens. The best method I found is to only let them eat when you are present. If you can, feed them by holding out a spoon with tasty soft food and treats, and don’t let them convince you to put it on the ground. Make them build up a little...

I agree, blue classic tabby, Domestic Shorthair.

I would say black-based mackerel or black-based broken mackerel, with the long hair breaking up the markings to make them more diffuse. I could believe a ticked tabby, but I think there is enough definition to the markings to reject that. The term “brown tabby” is not really a genetic term. To...

Genetically, Domestic Mediumhair is just a longhair that doesn’t fully express the longhair gene to a great degree. If a cat isn’t shorthair, the longhair gene is likely present, but there are secondary genes that affect how long the long hair gets or where on the body it is found. In cats that...

Yes, colorpoint was likely originally from those imported cats. I’m not disputing that whatsoever, just clarifying that colorpoint alone is not enough to claim genetically statistically relevant relationship among modern colorpoint cats. As for behavior, I have two littermate colorpoint cats...

Oh my goodness that rice cooker photo!!! What a fun dude.

While the original colorpoint cats were likely Siamese brought to America slightly less than 150 years ago, their popularity and the breeding boom in the 1950s led them to being interbred with the general genetic population to the point that the colorpoint trait is very common in many unpapered...

She is a black-based tabby-tortie (torbie) with the swirled/classic pattern. She has the oyster-swirl of a classic tabby, but it is obscured somewhat by the tortie orange mixed into the black of the stripes. Very cute!

I want to see those majestic eyebrows and boopable snoots in all their sideways glory! What is your favorite shot(s) of your kitty from the side? I’ll start: Delphi Sydney Cairo

Yes, thank you for pointing that out. Many people assume that cats and dogs share similar backgrounds, but that is far from true! Speaking strictly from a U.S.-centric perspective, most dogs that were imported to the Americas were originally brought over for a specific purpose. It was expensive...

It’s not that DNA tests are unreliable, but that they aren’t testing for what people assume they are testing for. DNA tests in cats generally have a genetic database of purebred cats that they are comparing submitted samples to. When your cat comes back with “15% Maine Coon”, it does NOT mean...

I second the catio idea. If you have a porch or patio they can be easily converted, or you can purchase a fairly inexpensive kit. The extra bonus is that if someone does adopt her after you build the catio, you then have an amazing catio space to use with your own cats or future fosters and TNR...

I definitely agree. Vets do give their best guess, but in adult animals it can be very difficult to determine age. I worked at a veterinary hospital for six years, and I’m still crummy at determining ages. Vets usually go off of several factors, including the general health and state of the pet...

He is almost guaranteed to be a dominant white because he is deaf. Likely no particular breed, though I agree he looks like he may have a little oriental region ancestry due to the tall ears. Dominant white is a dominant gene which causes any cat with even one copy of the gene to be white...

All cats have a gene coding for a tabby pattern, but what people call the “tabby gene” is really the agouti gene, which is not carried by all cats. The agouti gene is responsible for the visible stripes seen on most tabby cats. There are certain conditions under which the tabby pattern can be...

Yes, she and her sister both have velvety fur. Her sister even more so, but the texture doesn’t photograph well. Hopefully it comes through in some of these: