Alright, I know she's a tabby, but what type?

[junipersmama]

I recently got a new kitten from a woman who was giving them away. She's clearly a tabby (and I'm assuming just a brown tabby, though the fur around her face is reddish), but while her body looks mackerel (a little hard to tell), she has a spotted belly. What is going on with this girl? Will these things figure themselves out as she gets older?

She's also got no tail, and while that's not related, I've never had a fully tailless cat before - there's not even a nub. 

Also, if anyone wants to guess at what color her eyes will be, that'd be pretty cool too

Head on:

Photo on 4-11-13 at 7.22 PM.jpg

• junipersmama
• Apr 11, 2013

Spotty Belly

Photo on 4-11-13 at 7.22 PM #3.jpg

• junipersmama
• Apr 11, 2013

Stripey Sides

Photo on 4-11-13 at 7.23 PM.jpg

• junipersmama
• Apr 11, 2013

Here's a bonus of her sitting on my dog's face

Photo on 4-10-13 at 10.46 PM.jpg

• junipersmama
• Apr 11, 2013

 

[smitten4kittens]

Hi there and welcome to TCS. Your kitten is precious! I love her

. I have a brown tabby and he has a mixture of spots and stripes too. It didn't change as he got older. I think it's called a broken mackeral pattern.

Anyway, your kitten is darling.

 

[junipersmama]

Thanks for the help!

 

[maewkaew]

Brown Mackerel Tabby would be the "official" classification.     and as s4k said,  some people call it a broken mackerel pattern when the stripes are broken up.

 Tabby kittens usually have those cute belly spots and sometimes keep them forever.  

She basically has the original wild type pattern from the wildcat ancestors.

Her eyes will most likely end up green or gold.  but too early to tell yet.  

 Looks like she already has conquered the doggy.  LOL

 

[junipersmama]

Thanks! I'm hoping for a striking eye color, though I'm not expecting it - I anticipate something hazely.

As for the dog, she is completely OBSESSED with him. I knew he liked kittens and was good with them since she's the second baby kitty I've brought into the house, but generally cats take a little while to warm up to him and then just tolerate him, as has been with case with my roommate's cats. But Juniper follows him around, meows at him when he won't let her cuddle, and obviously just climbs all over him. I've never seen anything like it! And the woman I got her from gave her away because her dogs kept trying to attack her. Clearly she was not scarred by this!

 

[manizheh]

the no tail part comes from the Manx cat. so somewhere in her background is a manx cat. Many many years ago I gave away my then two year old cat to my sister. I had a german shepherd who kept trying to catch the cat (not in a good way). The cat thought this dog was his best friend and would not leave him alone. This cat was not worried by being almost caught, many times.

So I decided to play it safe and send him to my sister who was expecting her second child. She also had a labrador who was not fussed about having cats around.

the cat and the baby who was born a few weeks later became best friends. He lived a very happy life till just recently when he passed away at the age of eighteen.

 

[orientalslave]

the no tail part comes from the Manx cat. so somewhere in her background is a manx cat.

<snip>

It's a spontaneous mutation which has arisen several times in different places.  Manx are incredibly rare cats - I've never seen one at a UK show and only 2 were registered with the GCCF in 2011.

http://www.messybeast.com/bobtail-cats.html

 

[junipersmama]

I kind of just thinks she's a little inbred as opposed to having an actual Manx in her lineage. I don't know anything about her background, but she's VERY tiny, and that mixed with the taillessness (which that chart would call rumpy) makes me think that there may have been some inbreeding. However, it is easier to refer to her as a manx when I'm telling people about her, because they generally know what I'm talking about. Bobtail doesn't quite cover it since there's nothing there at all.

 

[callista]

Yeah, I think you are right--there is more to Manx than just not having a tail. They have these sturdy, round bodies, with longer back legs than front legs, thick coat... you can see what I mean if you just google it and look for photos.

 

[junipersmama]

She does have the long back legs, but I think that must be linked to the taillessness itself. 

 

[orientalslave]

Quite a few breeds of cat, and quite a lot of domestics (cats of no breed) have longer back legs.  However they all reach the ground so are clearly a perfect length.