Pretty sure my new kitten is largely part Bombay.. !

Blank.starr

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The man we got her from didn't know much other than she's a cat and has short black fur! He even gave her to my boyfriend at 3.5 weeks old. It's okay, I've raised kittens before but she's now 8 weeks and if there's one thing I noticed right away, it's this cat is super intelligent!! She learns very quickly and is OVERLY curious about EVERYTHING.. even for a cat. Then I noticed the way she stalks around- it looks like a miniature wildcat, like a tiny panther. Since then I've noticed her very round features and INSANELY large ears. Her eyes are starting to turn yellow now as well.
 

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jen

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Bombay is an extremely rare breed you are not likely to just come across and since the vast majority of cats in the world are simply Domestic, that would make her a Domestic Shorthair. In fact, they aren't even mixes of specific breeds like dogs can be. It just doesn't work that way in the cat world. She is adorable though, I am such a sucker for black cats!
 

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What a lovely kitten! I would describe her as a black domestic shorthair.

It's very unlikely that your kitty would have Bombay ancestry. Most cats are not any particular breed, and the Bombay is one of the rarest breeds... I hardly ever even see a single one at a cat show (and I go to lots of shows). Compared to your kitty, the Bombay has a much more rounded face with short muzzle, short heavy body, round copper eyes, and a flat shiny coat.

Domestic shorthairs are wonderful cats, and many of them are super smart, curious, and fast learners, given the opportunity. You must have done a good job of raising your baby, and it sounds like she is truly loved and appreciated :)
 
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Blank.starr

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I do know she's a DSH, don't get me wrong. But DSH is simply a cat with mixed ancestry and not any one specific breed.
 
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Blank.starr

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You must have done a good job of raising your baby, and it sounds like she is truly loved and appreciated :)
Thank you!! She's adjusted really quickly, even though I was a little concerned when she was plopped into my hands so young. :/
 

lutece

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I do know she's a DSH, don't get me wrong. But DSH is simply a cat with mixed ancestry and not any one specific breed.
Not quite. Unlike dogs, most cats actually aren't mixes of breeds... most cats are simply domestic cats without any breed ancestry at all. Cats domesticated themselves by hanging around people, and almost all cats throughout history have reproduced without any human intervention. People have not been selectively breeding cats for very long, and cats belonging to any specific breed have never been more than a very tiny minority of all cats.
 

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I have a Bombay kitty actually. She's even got black toe pads which only Bombay kitties have. And yes, she looks like a miniature black panther. I think that most people refer to kitties without a pedigree as "domestic shorthairs," and that's true too.
 
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Blank.starr

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I have a Bombay kitty actually. She's even got black toe pads which only Bombay kitties have. And yes, she looks like a miniature black panther. I think that most people refer to kitties without a pedigree as "domestic shorthairs," and that's true too.
Raven actually does have black toe pads, oddly enough. 🤔 That is adorable.. I love black kitties. 😍 It's just weird, on that note, because then by any means "domestic Short/longhair" refer to alleycats too.. 😶 But even then pedigree cats live on the street sometimes. 🤷
 

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Why do you think only Bombay kittens have black toe pads? I have a domestic shorthair black cat from a litter of all sorts of mixed patterns, from the middle of nowhere farmland in Ohio. You think she has even a lick of an extremely rare breed of cat hardly even found in the United States? No.
 
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lutece

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It's just weird, on that note, because then by any means "domestic Short/longhair" refer to alleycats too.. 😶 But even then pedigree cats live on the street sometimes. 🤷
I'm not sure what you mean by this comment!

Other domesticated animals, such as dogs, horses, cows, sheep, goats, etc., were purposefully bred by humans from ancient times, and developed into distinct breeds... but cats are different. Cats domesticated themselves by hanging around human settlements, and although people carried cats with them when they traveled, cats chose their own mates, and were not selectively bred by humans.

Cat "breeds" didn't really exist until people started to selectively breed cats. The early cat fancy started in the late 19th century. Cat fanciers selected a small number of cats that they thought were good examples of particular traits, started to record their pedigrees, and defined various "breeds." Cat fanciers also imported cats with unusual features from other parts of the world, such as pointed cats from Thailand that became known as the "Siamese" cat, and bred these cats.

Selective breeding of cats has never been very popular, so cats belonging to any specific "breed" have always been a tiny minority of all cats. Most cats have always been simply domestic cats.
 
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Blank.starr

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I'm not sure what you mean by this comment!

Other domesticated animals, such as dogs, horses, cows, sheep, goats, etc., were purposefully bred by humans from ancient times, and developed into distinct breeds... but cats are different. Cats domesticated themselves by hanging around human settlements, and although people carried cats with them when they traveled, cats chose their own mates, and were not selectively bred by humans.

Cat "breeds" didn't really exist until people started to selectively breed cats. The early cat fancy started in the late 19th century. Cat fanciers selected a small number of cats that they thought were good examples of particular traits, started to record their pedigrees, and defined various "breeds." Cat fanciers also imported cats with unusual features from other parts of the world, such as pointed cats from Thailand that became known as the "Siamese" cat, and bred these cats.

Selective breeding of cats has never been very popular, so cats belonging to any specific "breed" have always been a tiny minority of all cats. Most cats have always been simply domestic cats.
What I mean is, simply that all cats still came from an origin source of their genes. They didn't just *poof* into existence. Just like people, they get everything from their appearance and personality all recorded in their genes from their parents and direct bloodlines. Breed is just a made up term in order to classic specific traits, but so are human races. They still came from ancestors. So I guess, a mixed breed may be no "specific breed" but it doesn't illegitemize their blood.. that sounds a bit like saying, for example, people aren't any specific race just because they're more than one. (Sorry, I don't live in a melting pot country.. 😅) 🤔🤷
 

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Hi all! I read what I posted in regard to Bombay cats. I'm no expert on the subject however. From what I've read an American woman bred the breed, which is how it came into existence.
Also, a lot of cats seem to get abandoned in my area, so there happens to be a lot of different breeds of cats here.
 

lutece

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What I mean is, simply that all cats still came from an origin source of their genes. They didn't just *poof* into existence. Just like people, they get everything from their appearance and personality all recorded in their genes from their parents and direct bloodlines. Breed is just a made up term in order to classic specific traits, but so are human races. They still came from ancestors. So I guess, a mixed breed may be no "specific breed" but it doesn't illegitemize their blood.. that sounds a bit like saying, for example, people aren't any specific race just because they're more than one.
Human "races" (ancestral groups) aren't the same as animal "breeds." Cats, like humans, can also be split into different ancestral groups originating from various areas of the world, but this isn't the same as cat "breeds." Animal breeds are developed through selective breeding by humans.

Maybe it will help to refer to the UC Davis Cat Ancestry site:
"Cat breeds were developed from random bred cats and most breeds are less than 100 years old. Random bred cats from around the world can be traced back to 8 geographic regions of origin: Western Europe, Egypt, East Mediterranean, Iran/Iraq, Arabian Sea, India, South Asia and East Asia. The Cat Ancestry test will determine if a cat descends from one or more of the 8 ancestral groups. Once the ancestral origin is determined, comparisons are done with 29 breeds of cats to determine if the cat has similarities to any of the reference breeds.​
Cats are not like dogs. Dog breeds have a long history of development and selection for specific tasks such as herding, retrieving and hunting. Today, most mixed dogs descend from crosses between different breeds. Wild cats were originally tamed to provide vermin control for human settlements. Cat breeds were more recently developed from these tamed, random-breeding cat populations. Cat breeds were selected more for their appearance than performance. Today, most mixed (random bred) cats descend from crosses between random bred cats, and not from crosses between breed cats."​

Note the distinction between "ancestral groups" (the counterpart to human "races"), versus "breeds". All cats descend from ancestral groups originating from some region of the world. Most cats, however, do not descend from any specific breeds. Cats were domesticated about 8,000-10,000 years ago, but most cat breeds are less than 100 years old, and cats belonging to any specific breed are very rare compared to random-bred domestic cats.
 
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Blank.starr

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Human "races" (ancestral groups) aren't the same as animal "breeds." Cats, like humans, can also be split into different ancestral groups originating from various areas of the world, but this isn't the same as cat "breeds." Animal breeds are developed through selective breeding by humans.

Maybe it will help to refer to the UC Davis Cat Ancestry site:
"Cat breeds were developed from random bred cats and most breeds are less than 100 years old. Random bred cats from around the world can be traced back to 8 geographic regions of origin: Western Europe, Egypt, East Mediterranean, Iran/Iraq, Arabian Sea, India, South Asia and East Asia. The Cat Ancestry test will determine if a cat descends from one or more of the 8 ancestral groups. Once the ancestral origin is determined, comparisons are done with 29 breeds of cats to determine if the cat has similarities to any of the reference breeds.​
Cats are not like dogs. Dog breeds have a long history of development and selection for specific tasks such as herding, retrieving and hunting. Today, most mixed dogs descend from crosses between different breeds. Wild cats were originally tamed to provide vermin control for human settlements. Cat breeds were more recently developed from these tamed, random-breeding cat populations. Cat breeds were selected more for their appearance than performance. Today, most mixed (random bred) cats descend from crosses between random bred cats, and not from crosses between breed cats."​

Note the distinction between "ancestral groups" (the counterpart to human "races"), versus "breeds". All cats descend from ancestral groups originating from some region of the world. Most cats, however, do not descend from any specific breeds. Cats were domesticated about 8,000-10,000 years ago, but most cat breeds are less than 100 years old, and cats belonging to any specific breed are very rare compared to random-bred domestic cats.
Not denying that, just thinking that, well even those "ancestral groups" were random bred.. so even pedigreed cats still have random bred genes some way down the line.
 

lutece

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Not denying that, just thinking that, well even those "ancestral groups" were random bred.. so even pedigreed cats still have random bred genes some way down the line.
Yes, all pedigreed breeds originally descend from random bred domestic cats. For each breed, a relatively small number of "foundation" cats were selected from the domestic cat population, and the breed was then developed through selective breeding over many generations. Most of the cat population, however, remains simply random bred.
 
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