Could her whiskers be a clue?

[espiritumapache]

It's not something I think I will be able to capture on camera, but, the tip of FireFly's eyebrow whiskers have little corkscrew curls. At first I didn't think much of it but I am bored at work and looked it up in google. One thing I read is that cats with American Wirehair or Rex breeds in their lineage can have random curls in their whiskers. Seeing as she is Tortico (a term I read is used for Calico markings on face/front end/ stomach and Tortie markings on back/hind end/tail) and a stray from who knows where, I never thought I'd have any clues as to possible breeds in her lineage. It would be really cool if that was a true statement... I mean I know I sound nuts, considering she doesn't have curly fur.. But it didn't specifically say if the curls on whiskers fallow further down the lineage if the all over curl is breed out. Does anyone know?

Either way, I looked up American wirehair cats and while a good amount of the personality traits match, the pictures didn't. So I looked up Rex cats and the personality traits of two Rex breeds match incredibly. Of the Devon Rex, I read about one trait that is 100% FireFly and I thought was just too uncanny: the desire to be near their favorite persons head/neck. FireFly will go to great lengths to lay around my shoulders/on my neck, even if it means risking getting herself wet. She follows me around from room to room (and I have to leave even the bathroom door open other wise she will cry and scratch the door like a lunatic) and even when I'm in the bath, she will climb up on my shoulders and lay, draped around my neck like a pillow (she also insists on sticking her head in the shower to make sure I haven't disappeared, lol) One thing I found in common between her, the Rex breeds and the American Wirehair is the strong affinity for being with their people... Which is something I always thought was odd about her since she is a Tortico, and the only tortitude trait she has is the constant talking, she is quite the conversationalist. I mean I know each cat is unique and that the calico/tortie/tortico coloration mutation doesn't necessarily mean she should have tortitude, but the term was made up for a reason, right? However, I will note that her extreme love for me might also come from appreciation of being taken in off the street... But by the same token, my grandmother had a tortie that she took in off the street as well and that cat was the epitome of the term tortitude.. Then again, each cat IS unique. Sorry if I sound like I'm arguing with myself, lol, I kind of am I guess. I just really don't know how much I can attribute to individuality, how much can be attributed to expected/lack of tortitude and how much can be attributed to her mysterious lineage.
One also must take physical attributes into account, right? From the pictures I saw, I think her shape and facial structure do have a slight resemblance to the German Rex, but as far as other Rex breeds, I see little resemblance. I am adding some pictures of her and can't wait for your opinions on weather or not she might have any of the breeds listed above... Or something totally different :-)

 

[maewkaew]

  She is SO cute! , 

 In the cat fancy her color / pattern would be called Tortoiseshell and White.    I think "Tortico" is a colloquialism , not actually an official term anywhere.  but no reason you can't use it if you like it! 

Curly / wavy  whiskers may be a clue of having some kind of Rex-like genes.    I'm afraid I don't know the answer to whether a cat would just retain the curly whiskers and not the whole curly coat.   Keep in mind it's not just one gene.  and the mode of inheritance may vary. 

Also keep in mind that it doesn't necessarily mean it came from pedigreed cats of those breeds since those were mutations found in  random-breeding cats    and then someone developed them into a breed.  And there have been actually a lot of cases of such mutations being found in moggies in very different locations .    This article lists at least some of the known ones   http://www.messybeast.com/curly-cats-rex.htm

 ( It is not all correct though,  for example the Si-Rex is at this time not   a separate breed  .  )    I have not read the whole thing but maybe  it might have some info about curly whiskered cats .  

 I wouldn't totally go by things like the descriptions of personalities to decide that a cat is partly some breed,  because other individual cats can also have traits like wanting to be by their person's head sleeping around their head or on their head, riding on their shoulders etc.     True,  yours does take it to an extreme that she even wants to  be around your neck in the bath!.  LOL!  She really sounds like a character!    

 

[espiritumapache]

Thank you!! And Thank you for your quick, informative reply. I'm afraid I'm not well versed in kitty genetics, lol, but I'll check the link out. If it's in laymen terms I should be fine Though now that you mention that it's not just one gene, I wonder if it has anything to do with the gene mutation that caused her to be tortoiseshell with white? (lol, tbh I think in thr future I have to stick with the ccolloquialism, tortico, it's shorter) For lack of better terms, and to sum up the question.. Maybe she's just a beautiful mix of random mutations? Lol

She really is a character and the most amazing little sweetest heart. My fiancee, who is not a cat person- in fact, he pretty much considered them the devil's work- absolutely fell in love with FireFly because of her quirky personality, desire to hunt and kill any bugs she sees (which is a lot since we live in an old basement apartment), her extreme playfulness and intelligence (she's only been with us 3 months and knew her name in a few days, is already understanding "no" and is walking on her leash with extreme confidence). Plus the way she gets along with our other fur kids (a chihuahua & ferrets) her getting along with ferrets we think is quite unique, lol. My fiancee even let's her on the bed, a luxury he won't allow to our other fur babies. She is just the complete package, and has made our family quite complete :-)

 

[maewkaew]

A gene that would influence the texture or curliness / straightness would be separate from the genes that make her tortie & white. 

She is a tortie because she got Red from one parent and "not Red" from the other parent ( which defaulted to Black). 

She's  "and White" because of the White Spotting gene. 

 What I meant about more than one gene is that there is more than one gene that have found to be responsible for a wavy or curly coat.  it's not the same one in each breed. ( and it's probably not even known for sure what caused it each time it has turned up in random-bred cats.) 

But it also may be true that there's some polygenetic influence on the amount of curl etc.  

Its pretty hard to say where this trait came from in her  .  

But she sure sounds like a great cat!