My Siamese(?) Is Short And Stocky. Persian? Dwarf?

[EveAndHerThieves]

I'm pretty good with figuring out what my cats are. It helps to know what DNA they have in their blood so I can keep an eye out for health issues. I can tell you Main Coon, Persian, Ragdoll, etc. My new cat, Rue, however, confuses me.

I was told Rue's mother was very Siamese. She has blue eyes, they're VERY crossed. But she has the markings of another breed. She doesn't look like a Siamese. She's also VERY stocky. Very, very stocky. Short paws, short tail. She's NOT flexible. In order to scratch her ear she has to sit on her rump, bend over, and hope she hits it with her paw. She can't bring her back legs up to her mouth to kick her toys. Heck, she can't really even hold her toys to her mouth. Her paws don't really bend like a normal cats, I don't think. They don't seem as jointed as a normal cat.

I'm wondering if maybe she's been inbreed too much, or is part dwarf or something? I'd like to know in case she's going to have health issues down the road I need to be aware of. She's only four, but you never know.

She HATES posing for pictures - she's too snuggly/licky - so I took a video of her playing with her toy. You can see she's just not bendy. And likes to rub her toy on her head for some reason.

Ideas on her background? She's a sweet, gentle little love bug with a horrible temper. She's also pretty clueless. Not very trainable, really. Unless it's her toys.

Dropbox - VID_20181010_113845674.mp4

 

[lutece]

The vast majority of cats are neither purebreds, nor mixes of breeds; they are simply domestic cats without specific breed ancestry. Even if a cat superficially looks like a specific breed (Maine Coon or Ragdoll, for example) it doesn't necessarily mean the cat actually has ancestors from that breed, and therefore doesn't give you reliable information about risks of any specific health issues.

From your video, Rue looks like a pointed domestic shorthair. I'm guessing tortie lynx point, either seal or bluepoint (it's not easy to tell from the video). The colorpoint gene (which gives Rue her pointed color) originally came from Siamese cats in the 1950s/60s, but at this time is widespread in the domestic cat gene pool, and doesn't indicate recent Siamese ancestry.

I am not really sure what you mean about Rue not being as jointed as a normal cat. Do you have pictures or video of her sitting up and walking around?

 

[EveAndHerThieves]

This is going to sound horrible, and I DO NOT mean it that way. But you know when a little person walks, they don't have full range of movement? Some can't reach above their heads, some can't touch their toes? Like the guy from the movie Willow. Even just dwarves in video games. Their movements are very stocky. That's what Rue has.

Dropbox - IMG_20181017_234410227.jpg This is about as far in as she can tuck her front paws. She doesn't tuck them under her when sitting.

Dropbox - VID_20181017_234814.mp4 This is her walking around.

Dropbox - IMG_20181017_234439479.jpg Her from her side. Her paws are very short.

Dropbox - VID_20181017_235410.mp4 Her playing in my TWO HUNDRED DOLLAR flower pile for my bouquet.

Dropbox - IMG_20181018_000037.jpg Her back leg, extended as far as it will go.

Let me know if those don't help. I woke her up from a nap and she thinks it's snuggle/playy time.


I'm not so much concerned about her DNA as I am with her shortness. I know Munchkin cats have a TON of health issues. Socks is also short, but it works and she's still VERY flexible. Rue can't really go down stairs. She has to go both front paw, wait for hind ones to catch up, front paws, hind paws.

 

[lutece]

I don't think her legs are as short as a Munchkin cat's legs... I think she just has relatively short legs and a heavy body. Perhaps she would be more flexible if she lost a little weight? Two of my cats are a bit overweight and have similar proportions to Rue.

 

[jen]

I don't mean this offensively but her legs don't look short at all, she just looks overweight. If she lost some weight she might have more flexibility.

 

[EveAndHerThieves]

Oh yes, she's fat! She came to me fat. We're working on it.

Maybe it is just that. I'm used to taller cats - everyone who sees her says she's a 'low rider' - so maybe I'm just used to them being more bendy.

We shall see what happens when she skinnies up.

 

[Willowy]

She does look a little stumpier than most cats, but I think mostly she's just fat . I think you'll see a lot of improvement when she loses weight.

 

[Kieka]

Her body shape reminds me of my girl Rocket. Rocket is short, stubby and has a barrel chest. She is helped by optical illusion on her legs from the white and tan fur making her legs look longer, plus she's skinny and short hair. But Rocket has short legs, not Munchkin short by any means but standing on her hind legs she can barely reach my knee with her front paws. I measured her and completely stretched out as far as she can go from tips of her toes to her nose she is two feet, that's body and legs combined.

Rocket is a feral moggy, long line of tabby and Bicolor in the feral colony she came from. A random pointed wandered in and spread the point gene through the colony giving us her.

 

[Kflowers]

Until Rue manages to lose weight you might want to check the middle of her back to be sure one of the cats helped her wash. I had a short and stocky - the vet said he wasn't fat and that vet wasn't shy about things like that. He couldn't reach the middle of his back to clean it, which meant dander-like flaking and dirty fur. Fortunately, after he came to us, the puppy adored him and took over washing kitty back duties.

Without a puppy, I'd just be sure to brush the fur on Rue's spine well. Of course you may already be doing this. In which case, sorry for telling you to do what you're doing.

 

[EveAndHerThieves]

Until Rue manages to lose weight you might want to check the middle of her back to be sure one of the cats helped her wash. I had a short and stocky - the vet said he wasn't fat and that vet wasn't shy about things like that. He couldn't reach the middle of his back to clean it, which meant dander-like flaking and dirty fur. Fortunately, after he came to us, the puppy adored him and took over washing kitty back duties.

Without a puppy, I'd just be sure to brush the fur on Rue's spine well. Of course you may already be doing this. In which case, sorry for telling you to do what you're doing.

No worries, better safe than sorry! She's actually got the smoothest fur of any cat I've ever seen EVER. My other cat, Socks, cleans herself obsessively. Her fur is SOFT. But Rue's fur.... Wow. It's like it's been conditioned. I never really see her clean it much, but you can tell it's very well maintained. She's also obsessive about licking me, so I get her to lick my hands and brush her face with it just in case.
Clyde is 19, can't hardly breathe, and weighs 15 pounds of blubber (belly pooch. Vet says only surgery would fix it.) He's short haired, but he can't clean. He gets a bath once a week. His fur is TERRIBLE. So if Rue stops cleaning, at least I know what to look for. I've no idea how Clyde still has fur at the rate it falls out.
Since all of my cats are slightly wild they NEVER snuggle, except Fiddle and Kira. And that's because Fiddle sat in Kira's spots so Kira just sits on Fiddle.

Her body shape reminds me of my girl Rocket. Rocket is short, stubby and has a barrel chest

That looks just like Rue! And now I know how to describe Blackie, so thanks for that. She's very thick in the chest, like a pitbull. It's not something I've seen before. Granted, all my cats are strays I've rescued so I don't know much about breeds, but still.


Another quick question. I have a very large (read: fat) long haired white cat. She has gray spots all over her. I'm unable to tell where those kinds of markings come from. Ideas?
I know the black/white "Tuxedo" cat, the tabby, the Rag Doll, Main Coon, Persian, the Tuxedo cat who is gray instead of black, Calico, Tortoise shell. But I'm not sure about Beck. I describe her as a white cat someone shot with gray painballs, but I know that doesn't help. I've also had another kitten with the exact same pattern except black. She looked like a cow. Again, not helpful. (We named her Moo.)