lutece
or someone else can describe the specific tabby pattern better than I can.
jefferd18
, some call unidentified blue cats for Maltese cats. But for example Lutece says its not a good label. (sorry, not more. Real RB, and good look alikes, has also always a silvery gray shimmer on the coat...)
I have to somewhat disagree when it comes to the Maltese cat. I stayed at a cabin resort seven years ago in Pennsylvania that was famous for their Maltese cats. I found the history that you included about the Maltese fascinating.Your cats are gorgeous and look very sweet, too
I would describe Arya as a brown spotted tabby domestic shorthair. She has such a lovely face and expression! Spotted tabby is simply a tabby pattern, and doesn't indicate specific breed ancestry. Although it's not the most common tabby pattern in domestic cats, it is also not extremely rare. I'm not seeing any obvious indications of Bengal or other breed ancestry in Arya. She has a beautiful look all her own!
I would describe Charlie as a blue domestic shorthair. He is a handsome cat! He doesn't have a strong resemblance to any of the "blue breeds," however blue domestic shorthairs are wonderful cats in their own right, regardless of breed ancestry
"Maltese" was a term used for blue cats in the United States around 1900. Maltese were said to have been very popular at that time, and were bred and shown all over the US. We don't know a lot at this time about what the Maltese looked like, whether it was really a specific breed, or whether it was simply a name used for the blue color. Cat show judges at the time reported that there were all types of Maltese being bred and shown. Later in the 20th century, the Maltese fell out of favor and disappeared. However, it is possible that the early popularity of the Maltese may have spread the dilute (blue) gene throughout the domestic cat gene pool in the US, as the frequency of the dilute gene appears to be higher here in the US than in other parts of the world. So it is not so far-fetched to imagine that a random-bred blue domestic cat like Charlie may have inherited his color from the Maltese of olden days.
I'd love to hear more about the Maltese cats at the cabin resort! Some people still do use the term "Maltese" to refer to shorthaired blue cats in general, which may have been what the people at the cabin resort meant by the term. However, as far as I know it has been over 100 years since cats called Maltese were bred and shown.
