Abyssinian mix?

[indolence]

I've always considered my kitten Jefferson to be a DSH brown tabby, goofy and handsome, but people keep commenting on his coat. He's got tabby marks on his face and stripes on all his legs, but the stripes fade to a ticked pattern on his back. He's 15 weeks old now and 5.5 pounds, already quite muscular. I swear I saw him do a somersault in the living room this afternoon.

Every time we visited the vet for his booster shots, anyone coming into contact with Jeff had to pick him up and show him off to other workers and say "Oh, isn't he cool?!". They spent most of his first visit discussing his parentage. They think he's got some Abyssinian in him, and some of my friends have said the same thing. However, I know he was born in a barn to a feral mother so I have a hard time believing he's got any real breed in him.

Here are some photos of him growing up. What do you think? Could he have some Abyssinian heritage, or is it just some recessive tabby gene?







(Ha, I had to include that picture. I watched him scale up that mattress and then proceed to consider doing something very stupid.)

 

[missymotus]

He's a ticked tabby, doubt he'd have any Aby in him but he's gorgeous

Tabbies come in different types, Mackeral, Spotted, Classic and ticked.

 

[cattoys]

I dont know about your pet's breed but i really find your pet so adorable.

 

[zazi]

yeah i'd say.... he's a ticked tabby too... (ticked=one fur has 2/3 bands of colour)
100% ticked tabbies are pretty unusual....
he's like my zooey who is mostly ticked up to her paws where she gets unticked and the fur gets soild colored again....

i've only ever seen one 100% ticked tabby and he was a brown beige and he looked a lot like an abysinnian colorwise...

 

[carolina]

He is gorgeous!!

 

[miyu-amaya]

aww my kitty looks kinda like yours! but my cat has white paws and a white nose. and she also has some brown stripes in her face,.
I also want to find out what breed mix she is,
do you have an idea?

 

[StefanZ]

Originally Posted by indolence

However, I know he was born in a barn to a feral mother so I have a hard time believing he's got any real breed in him.

You know, geniuses of all the sorts are born also among common people, among peoples deep rows...

Thus, abys look alikes, and russian look alikes, etc, may be born from moggies.

If it feels important for you to think he is somewhat alike an aby, do so, I think. You do certainly have a case.
Talking about mix is to speculate too much.

But. Please tell somewhere more about his story, and not least, his mothers story. Especielly if it ended well.
It is joyous to hear about stories which ends well, but depressing to tragic storyies....
Please write the link.


Tx a lot for adopting this little guy, giving him a very first rate home!

Good luck!

ps. Welcome to the Forums!

 

[northernglow]

I also want to find out what breed mix she is, do you have an idea?

Her color is tortie ticked tabby with white. Hard to say if there is any breed mixed in as she looks to be very young. And I would need to see a pic which shows the head and body shape.

Ticked tabbies are found in many breeds so it's very wide to try and guess what's in her, if anything. It's usually more the body built which may reveal something from a moggie's ancestry than a color or pattern.

 

[nekochan]

Miyu-amaya your kitty looks like a brown ticked torbie and white.
I have one of those myself, Harlequin, she was also part of a feral litter:

WOW Jefferson looks SO much like my ticked tabby DSH, Spot! He's Harlequin's brother.

Here is Spot as a baby:
(he's the one in the front left side)

A little older baby:

He's the one in the back here:

Slightly older:

 

[maewkaew]

Super cute kitten!

Ticked tabby is in the domestic population. I believe this gene may be more common in the moggy population in Asia than in the West but it's all over the world and doesn't necessarily mean there's any pedigreed Abyssinian ancestors.

Actually despite the exotic legends I think the Aby breed came , at least to a great extent, from British ticked tabby moggies! http://www.abyssiniancats.info/history1.php

 

[callista]

The Abyssinian is famous for its ticked coat, but ticked fur can show up in lots of places. It's an unusual coat pattern, to be sure, but you can't tell whether it came from an Aby parent or just showed up randomly. It's a little like the way a cat can be pointed like a Siamese without actually being Siamese--it's pretty and unique but you can't really trace it back to a specific breed. I like that about mixed-breed cats; some of the prettiest cats come from random breeding and get adopted from the shelter.

 

[maewkaew]

It's usually not possible to guess from their color or pattern that a cat even probably has any ancestors of a particular breed or location since most coat colors and patterns have existed for centuries in random-bred cat populations on various continents.
That's true about ticked tabby, as we were saying. But actually it's not true about the pointed pattern -- that's one of the exceptions. There is good evidence that it had not been seen in domestic cats outside Southeast Asia until the Siamese were brought to other parts of the world starting in the late 1800s. Since then, of course, the genetic code for this pattern has become widely spread throughout the random-bred cat populations in other countries.

So for pointed moggies in Europe or America, it's virtually certain they have a bit of Siamese ancestry (on both parents' sides, since it's a recessive), but it could be from many, many generations ago and may be inherited via ancestors of one of the other breeds who themselves originally got the pattern from the Siamese in one way or another. It's actually likely that in most case the most recent pedigreed ancestors were from decades ago when it was much more common for people to have unaltered pedigreed pet cats and to let them roam around and mate with the neighborhood cats)

The less common sepia and mink patterns, and the chocolate /brown color (genetic b/b) and its dilute version "lilac" also are signs of SE Asian ancestry.

The classic / blotched tabby pattern is Western in origin (especially common in the UK) . So conversely, if this pattern is seen (either distinctly or as ghost markings on a non-agouti cat) on a SE Asian cat, that would be a sign of hybridization with Western cats.

Then there are things like intensity of color that hint at some possible recent pedigreed ancestors. like very very warm tones in a brown tabby. or like a silver tabby with great contrast and little tarnishing. Or really deep copper eyes. These things don't tell a specific breed though, since they would be seen in multiple breeds.... and it could always be just random. There are some moggies who look so fabulous that people think there must have been selective breeding to get that look but it's just Nature.

PS Thanks also to miyu-amaya and Nekochan for sharing some photos of their beautiful ticked tabbies.

and I love the photo of Jefferson on the mattress.... he looks very Aby there! . and re the very stupid thing he was considering, my cat has done it ( climbed onto the top of a door )

 

[guineapiggirl]

Hi there! I was wondering if anyone has a picture of a true abby i could look at,

My interest being - I have an abyssinain guinea pig, and i was wondering how on earth they could have the same name for a breed, and bee so very different! (An abyssinian guinea pig has rosetts, and can have any coloured fur desirable. )

I have been having a look around your forum, and found it very friendly and educational! Despite me not having any cats, or having any intention of breeding them, i do find it very interesting to learn about

Thankyou for anyone who replys.

 

[orientalslave]

Have you tried Google?  I expect it will show you more photos of Abysinian cats than you can shake a stick at.

 

[guineapiggirl]

Thankyou! I now feel incredably stupid for not thinking of that in the first place! But now i have even less idea how the two things have the same name.

 

[orientalslave]

The people naming cat breeds are not the people naming guinea pig breeds so I guess that's how it happens.  The origins of the Aby cat are not really clear, the name gives a hint at some of the theories about it.

 

[GoldyCat]

Here are a couple of pictures of my abyssinian.

5 months old, when I first got him


First birthday


Abyssinia is an old name for Ethiopia. Historically Ethiopia/Abyssinia and Egypt have been closely related intermittently, sometimes being confused as the same country. When these cats first appeared in England in the 1880's people thought they looked like the paintings of cats in the Egyptian tombs. Hence the name Abyssinian. How convoluted can you get? No idea why they weren't called Egyptians, but I like the name Abyssinian. Genetically it's more likely that they originated in India, but nobody seems to really know.

Wherever they started, they're beautiful cats IMO.

 

[kedwyn]

Your baby looks a lot like my Persephone! Miss P's mum was part Abby and had some tabby markings. Miss P like your little guy has the oversized ears, triangular face, muscular forelegs, tan and grey  vs tan and white fur mix added to the extreme acrobatic and climbing talents that do indicate an Abby heritage. They are known as being the spider monkey of the cat world and Persephone is definitely a spider monkey! Not all purebreds are locked in cages, they get out and breed with the general population too!

 I tried to upload her photo but it wouldn't work. But I am willing to bet he is an Abby Tabby too.