Identifying my kittens' breed and age

tatusko

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Hi all,

My and my wife adopted 2 sweet kittens around a month ago and now we are proud humans under the ownership of Orion (tabby) and Pangur Ban (white).
The kittens were found on a street without mother when they were around a week or two old, kept in shelter for a while and then moved from one foster family to another until we've picked them. With that in mind, there is a lot we'd like to know about them, including the breed and whether the age estimated by the vet is accurate.

1) Let's start with a tabby one, Orion, as it should be easier. He's very wild, loves running around the apartment, catching toys in the air and climbing larger trees (to our disapproval). He's not fond of frequent human interaction, but sometimes he asks for pets and loves sleeping in our laps. His meowing is VERY high pitches and sounds more like small dog's barking... His fur is rather short and my wife thinks he's spotted, while I think he's more of a mackerel type. What do you think? Perhaps he's something in-between? According to vet, his birth was estimated on 10th of September, so he is a little bit over 5 months old, which seems accurate.

2) White one, Pangur Ban, might be more difficult. He's very affectionate, loves climbing on humans, gives kisses and adores being pet. He's more of a ground cat - prefers playing with toys that roll around the floor and is a bit clumsy when it comes to jumping. He has heterochromia and quite long and fluffy hair, for a shorthair (?). He's very vocal and meows frequently. We are thinking between White Russian, Rag Doll or Turkish Van... As for age, according to vet, he is 1 week older than Orion, but he's also much bigger, longer, heavier and acts more mature, so we think the age gap might be 1 months, not week?

Thanks for all the help!
 

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StefanZ

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Could we have good pics from aside ? Esp the tabby.
 

lutece

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They are lovely kittens, and you picked great names for them!

If the kittens were found at such a young age (only 1-2 weeks old), the shelter or foster people should have an accurate idea of their age, based on the date when they were found.

I would describe Orion as a brown mackerel tabby domestic shorthair. I can see in the pictures that he has some stripes and some spots, which is normal for a mackerel tabby (it's unusual for a mackerel tabby to have just stripes without any spots).

I would describe Pangur Ban as an odd-eyed white domestic shorthair. His white color appears to be due to the "dominant white" gene which masks all other colors and can produce blue or odd eyes. Dominant white is different from the white spotting gene found in Turkish Vans and Ragdolls. I'm not seeing a similarity to any of the breeds you mentioned here.

Most cats are not any particular breed, and are also not mixtures of breeds, unlike dogs... most cats are simply domestic cats, but that doesn't make them any less special! Each cat is a wonderful and unique being with its own special personality and looks. Enjoy your kittens :)
 
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tatusko

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Thanks for the answers!

Could we have good pics from aside ? Esp the tabby.
I've attached photos from the side, one for each kitty.

If the kittens were found at such a young age (only 1-2 weeks old), the shelter or foster people should have an accurate idea of their age, based on the date when they were found.
I remember hearing a story where someone found a dog which was so malnourished that they thought it was a very young puppy, while in fact it was older. I was thinking maybe similar case happened with Pangur Ban, as he's much bigger and around 0.5-1kg heavier than Orion. But I guess all kitties grow at different pace.

We know nothing about cat breed, so we've just googled some info and listed the breeds which kinda look similar. Turkish Van was winning as photos from google look like a spitting image of Pangur Ban + the fact that we are located close to Turkey helps. I'm happy with them being 'domestic cat' breed. Like you've said, they are already extremely special to us and it doesn't matter if they have fancy ancestors or not :) It's just pure curiosity on our side.
 

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lutece

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I remember hearing a story where someone found a dog which was so malnourished that they thought it was a very young puppy, while in fact it was older. I was thinking maybe similar case happened with Pangur Ban, as he's much bigger and around 0.5-1kg heavier than Orion. But I guess all kitties grow at different pace.
A 1-2 week old kitten is developmentally very different from an older kitten. It's not just a matter of size. So if they were estimated at 1-2 weeks when found, the estimate probably isn't very far off. Yes, all cats grow at different rates and it's normal to see size differences between cats.

The Turkish Van is a longhaired breed that is homozygous for the white spotting gene, causing the cat to be mostly white with colored patches on the head and tail. White spotting may look superficially similar to solid white like your cat, but it is genetically different. Most cats aren't any particular breed. Enjoy your sweet kitties :)
 

StefanZ

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Ok, tabby is a broken mackerel, even if there ARE some spots, but there are also clearly these mackerel stripes, breed domestic shorthair.

White will in lack of anything better, be labelled solid white domestic shorthair.

Both are very nice in its respective fashion. :)
 
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