Mishka

[ambergreywind]

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• ambergreywind
• Aug 5, 2013

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• ambergreywind
• Aug 5, 2013

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• ambergreywind
• Aug 5, 2013

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• ambergreywind
• Aug 5, 2013

This is Mishka. I know he's a mutt of some sort, since I got him as a kitten from Craigslist, but he has some interesting features. As a kitten, he had guard hairs that were about twice as long as the rest of his coat, and you can see from the pictures, that he still has very long sections in his tail that form a plume to the sides when he walks tail up.

Most of his coat is long and silky black, but on his belly, it's wooly and a smoky gray (except the one white patch). He rarely needs brushed on top, if he gets knots, it's always in his belly fur

He's over a year old now, but he still has a very high kitten-voice. Also, he rarely outright meows. He has a long trilling sound that starts with a 'mmmrr', and he often chirps. He also chuffs when he's being aggressive.

He likes to bound around like a lot of my energetic cats, but the unusual part is that I have seem him hop up with all four legs at once.

Any ideas on influences he may have? I've had a lot of cats, but he's pretty unique.

 

[catspaw66]

Welcome to TCS. Yes, he looks unique. I would say somewhere in his background there was some Persian, although his head shape doesn't reflect it. I am not very good with judging genetics, but I saw your post was unanswered. Hopefully, someone with better knowledge will respond.

Whatever his background, he is one cool looking cat. Did you know the white spot is known as an "angel's touch"?

 

[ambergreywind]

He's probably got a few different breeds in him. Persian would make some sense with how thick his fur is. I thought he might have a little Maine Coon, both for the fluffy tail and the squeaky voice, but he doesn't have big paws or tufted ears.

Oh well, either way he's cute.

 

[catspaw66]

I instantly thought Maine Coon, then looked at the head shape and size, the lack of ear tufts, and lack of huge feet. That is where I got the Persian genes mixed with Heinz 57.

 

[StefanZ]

I looking at his pic in the right high corner, Im thinking on an Turkish Angora-look alike. Although he got blackish instead of the usual whitish...

Now,  black is no common color among persians nor MCO, although it does happens there, so seeing Turkish Angora as one of the ancestors is no worse guess than any other.

The white spot on the chest may also be called for an medaljong.

 

[maewkaew]

 He is a handsome boy  who is probably mostly random-bred  Domestic Longhair,  and   I do suspect from his coat ,  pics and your description,  that  he might have some Persian. in him.     So I'm agreeing with catspaw.   except I wouldn't  call it  "Heinz 57" because I think that is usually understood as meaning  a mix of many breeds,  in the way it is used about "mutt" dogs.     But cats are not like dogs that are usually a breed or a mix of breeds.  There has been much less selective breeding of cats.     The vast majority of cats have just bred randomly on their own.   Most cats are more like dogs were thousands of years ago before people started to breed them for different jobs.  The pedigree cats  with all the breeds together,  are only about 3% of pet cats  !   And the pet pedigreed cats are usually altered as kittens.  

  So it's likely that most of Mishkas ancestors were random-bred cats from the same general part of the world.  

Some of the traits you mention like having a big fluffy tail ,  are just traits of a cat with long fur on the tail.  and that can happen naturally .  

 I'm not saying Maine Coon ancestry is impossible.  It's just not  really jumping out at me.    ( not because of the color, because I do know of black Maine Coons.   There are some very beautiful ones.  In fact one of them was the Cat of the Year in TICA a few years ago.  ) 

Your cat may have some ancestors that are similar to the cats that were  the foundation Maine Coons.    Remember Maine Coons started out as a natural breed in their  area of Northern Maine.     It is not surprising that there are other cats elsewhere  whose ancestors developed in a similar climate,  who also got some similar features.  

Speaking of  Black,   Black Persians are rather popular here.  it's  easily the most popular color in the Solid Division in CFA Persians.  http://www.persianbc.org/2011solidc.php        In the last season  5 out of the top 10 in Championship ( whole adult cats) were Black. and 6 out of  the top 10 in Premiership ( spayed/ neutered adult cats)  and 4 out of the top 10 Kittens.  

In English, we call a little white spot on the chest a "locket" .    

Stefan,  I am curious what features you think are like Turkish Angora?  I am not seeing Angora at all!     To me, he doesn't look anything like the way they look in North America.  

GROOMING  --   

It usually IS the undercoat that gets matted first.     and some cats ( many Persians are notorious for it) have undercoats that form mats very easily  You need to use a comb on him regularly.  probably at least every other day.   A brush does not work so well, it just goes over the top and does not get out the mats forming in the undercoat.     It's much easier to just routinely comb and stop them before they get bad.  

 You want to get one comb that has the teeth more widely spaced  ( coarse)  and one that has them closer ( fine ) .   First comb with the coarse one.   You can also get combs that have one end coarse and the other end medium or fine  ( or some other combination)  

Here on this site you can see some examples   https://www.petedge.com/zpetedgemai...D26497DB5B&show=12&view=grid&wec-locale=en_US

There's also dematting tools https://www.petedge.com/zpetedgemai...D26497DB5B&show=12&view=grid&wec-locale=en_US

 

[ambergreywind]

Thank you for your comments. I know he's a mixed breed, and he basically looks like a lot of long-hairs I've dealt with, although his tail is still fairly impressive.

I have a double edged comb for him, although I sometimes miss the belly because he bites sometimes.

The reason I thought Maine coon was for his squeaky voice. He's gone from a kitten that fits in my hand to a 16lbs cat, and his voice is no different. I've heard that some hybrids chirp and trill, but I don't see anything wild looking in him. I heard Maine Coons had kitten-y voices.