can my kitten be a russian blue mix?

[amaliasabb1291]

hey guys i just adopted my kitten Iago 2 weeks ago  from a shelter he is now 12 weeks old since he was born.he is a rescue cat and they said he is a domestic short hair but he has a lot of the russian blue features such as grey fur, contour face, piercing yellow eyes but I can tell he def is a mixx since he has a few very faint stripes on his fur. he also is very vocal idk why. he also has faint rings around his tail

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• amaliasabb1291
• Jun 10, 2013

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• amaliasabb1291
• Jun 10, 2013

 

[StefanZ]

Yeah, the body could be of a pet quality, but still decent, RB. But the yellowish eyes, shadows of tabby - the renown M makes either a look alike "moggie" without no real connection, or a mix.

Not a lost and gone astray real RB.

Such a moggies were once upon a time used to reinforce the  RB breed...

You can be happy with him, as he is surely happy being with you.

Good luck!

   Welcome to our Forums!

 

[amaliasabb1291]

Thanks stefanz! so are you saying there is a possibility of RB in him? i know he is a mix with a tabby because of the stripes i see but i see RB qualities as well

 

[maewkaew]

 I think Stefan is  saying it's not impossible he could have some Russian Blue mixed in. but  also may be a moggy with no ancestry of that breed ,  who just happens to resemble them in some ways --  but  in other ways,  is different  ( for example the eye color .  Russian Blues have emerald green eyes.   And as you and Stefan both mentioned, he's got more ghost tabby markings than one would expect to see in a pedigree RB.       (It's not exactly a matter of being a "mix with a tabby".  All cats have the genetic code for some tabby pattern,  and even in solid cats from many generations of solid cats,  it can show through in "ghost tabby markings" especially as kittens.   And even more so when there has not been selective breeding to try to lessen it.      That may show less as he grows up. 

Of course with a mix they could get some traits and not others.  

Really there is no way to know for sure, but Russian Blues are quite rare .   ( It may depend where you are.  I think there may be more of them in Sweden since that's one oThere are SO many more blue "Domestic Shorthairs" ( cats of no particular breed)   than there are Russian Blues.  and with most of the RBs being neutered as kittens and not allowed to run around mating with the cat down the street,  the likelihood of pedigree RB ancestry is very low. 

Here are a couple links from a Russian Blue breed club that might help give some perspective.  

http://www.russianblue.info/is_it_a_rb.htm

http://www.russianblue.info/Russian_Blue_rescues.htm

However I think it is not quite true what they say that the RB was bred using only "known Russian Blues" except for a few Siamese at the time of WW2.   There were also British Shorthairs and their non pedigree relatives (blue moggies from the UK),  for example.     I have read historical accounts by RB breeders from a long time ago who talked about how they lost that plush double coat from the crosses to Siamese and had to breed to British Shorthairs trying to get it back. 

This kitten does have a lovely sculpted head shape that is a bit reminiscent of RBs but  might mean a little influence from some cats of Asia, for example.   but there's such a great variety in domestics that it makes it hard to say. 

WHatever his background,  he is really a very attractive kitten!