Binx and MacKenzie

[lo-botomy]

Hi all!

I'm curious about my kittens I adopted from a shelter. They were both written up as Domestic Short Hair--Binx is black and MacKenzie is a diluted calico.

MacKenzie's mother was feral, and Binx was rescued from a hoarding house. The vet described MacKenzie as a tortie instead of calico. How would you describe her?

As for Binx, the vet and I both agreed that he has a very unique face and large ears, and the vet suggested that he might not be a DSH, but instead a black egyptian Mau? I figured you all would know better than me, since I'm relatively new to cats! I'm just curious! Thanks!

This is them!

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• Nov 21, 2013

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• Nov 21, 2013

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• Nov 21, 2013

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• Nov 21, 2013

 

[maewkaew]

Congrats on your lovely new cat friends!   

I would describe Mackenzie as Blue Tortie.    ( sometimes called Blue-Cream Tortie) .  Blue is the dilute of Black and Cream is the dilute of Red (orange / ginger).  

She has so little white on her ( what is it, one paw?)  that it would be a stretch to even add  "and White" to her color / pattern name.    I think probably if she were showing in the Household Pet class, she would just be listed as a Blue Tortie.

 She definitely would not meet  the definition of Calico according to breed standards in CFA that use that term ( that = a lot more white , and fairly good size , distinct patches of the other 2 colors)   But some people use the term "Calico"  casually for any cat with black-based pigment + red based pigment + white,  no matter how small the amount of white.   so I guess that is how she got called Calico by the shelter.   ( or they may just mix  up Tortie and Calico.   Calico is really like a sub-category of Tortie & White cats.)

It is unlikely for Binx to be an Egyptian Mau.    EMs do occasionally come in black but it would be less common,  and it's not like the breed is common anyway.    All the breed cats  put together are  only a tiny percent of cats .  and most  are from several more popular breeds.   Egyptian Mau is pretty far down the list.   An EM is less common than a hairless Sphynx cat.

  I do see his head shape may be a bit different than average cats of North western European ancestry ( which is what most of the ancestry of cats from North .  but to me it does not really look like a Mau.  in fact the muzzle is more wedge like  ( though not extreme).       It could be maybe something like  Siamese somewhere in his ancestry. 

 He is a very elegant cat, that is for sure!   They're both beautiful.