Has anyone heard of this breed?

[Marts]

So my son is about to adopt this gorgeous young man his name is Pablo and he is 3 years old. The shelter has him down as a mixed oriental breed however on speaking to them they say he is a specific rare breed, I think they said catsu or ketsu however doing a Google search has yielded no results. Has anyone ever heard of this breed? And if so do they have any links regarding any special needs? TIA

 

[Willowy]

Looks like a polydactyl Bengal with curled ears. . .definitely not random-bred. . .maybe a Highland Lynx/Highlander? That's the closest I can find.

Has the shelter attempted to find the breeder? I'm sure they scanned for a microchip but sometimes they can find them in other ways.

 

[Marts]

I'm not sure if they found the breeder however did say there are currently very few breeders of this cat breed.

He was unfortunately given up to the shelter due to stress of being around other cats, dogs and small children and had started spraying everything. Fortunately my son lives on the edge of a big forest so this boy will have an awful lot of space to roam without any danger.

 

[Willowy]

What country are you in? (Nevermind, read your profile, UK).

Ok, yeah, I was going to say that shelters don't adopt to people who let their cats out, and the forest is just as dangerous as the city, but in the UK it's more normal for cats to go out, and no large predators. So that should be a good situation for him!

He's a very handsome kitty, that's for sure.

 

[lutece]

We can see that your cat has the curled ear mutation from the American Curl, a rosetted patten that probably comes from the Bengal breed, and polydactyl feet. We can guess that your cat was probably intentionally bred by someone, but that doesn't mean that your cat is a specific breed. There are a lot of breeders out there who have unregistered or experimental breeding programs that combine various mutations and patterns, sort of like "doodle" dogs.

Here's another recent thread with a cat with similar features.

Cat breed??? need help

hi guys, i have three cats and two of them i know their breeds however my recent cat hazy is new to the family and we got her from a friend for free who didn’t really know what she was either other than american curl and maybe serval? i’m not sure but he also mentioned something about the...

thecatsite.com

 

[Marts]

lutece W Willowy - I have finally found the breed he is a keetso know for their curled ears and for being polydactyl either way I think he's a very handsome young man

 

[Willowy]

Huh, not sure if 2 breeders counts as a real breed but at least they did register with TICA. I still think someone should contact the breeder, should be easy with only 2 of them . Responsible breeders like to keep track of the cats they've bred.

 

[Marts]

I was just telling my son he should contact the breeders to let them know he is coming to live with him incase either of them are keeping track of him

 

[lutece]

Huh, not sure if 2 breeders counts as a real breed but at least they did register with TICA.

FYI, these cats are not "registered" with TICA. They are "recorded" with TICA, which is actually a significant distinction. TICA maintains an "experimental record" where breeders can record any combination of cats. This is intended to be a way for people working with experimental new breeds to keep track of pedigrees. However, there is actually some controversy over the experimental record, because many breeders use it to create and "record" mixes that could never be actually accepted for registration with TICA because of the way they combine different mutations or wild species hybrids. Many folks in TICA feel that it is a problem that breeders advertise that their cats are "recorded with TICA" implying that the breed is accepted in some way by TICA (such as on the web site for this "Keetso").

 

[Marts]

lutece - ah ok cool, so not a registered breed at all, which is probably why the shelter just put him down as being an oriental mix breed.

 

[lutece]

That's correct. The "Keetso" is a mix that these two breeders would like to make into a breed, but my understanding is that it's not possible to get it recognized under TICA rules, because of the combination of structural mutation traits. In TICA, you cannot combine two breeds with structural mutations, and you cannot combine a wild species hybrid with a structural mutation breed. These rules are intended to prevent combinations of mutations like "Kinkalow" and "Dwelf" and "Scottish Kilt" from being recognized, as well as all the wild species hybrid mixes that some people also produce.

(Here's an excerpt from TICA rules, click to enlarge.)