Short haired tabby with lynx tufts - what is he?

[icanhascat]

Spock is about 4 years old - we’ve had him since he was two, and people have mentioned he’s a strange looking cat. He’s a short haired tabby but he’s got these tufts coming out the top of his ears - I’ve never seen that on a short haired cat before. Is it possible he’s something other than your run of the mill shelter mix?
He’s not particularly large -only about 10 lbs- and he’s incredibly talkative - he likes to yell.

 

[lutece]

He's cute! He appears to be a brown mackerel tabby domestic shorthair.

Small ear tufts like that are occasionally seen in shorthaired cats, and do not indicate any particular breed ancestry. I have seen them over the years in quite a few of my cats, so I can tell you that small ear tufts can happen even in cats that are documented to be homozygous shorthair (not carrying the longhair gene).

Unlike dogs, it's not quite accurate to describe a non pedigreed cat as a "shelter mix." Most cats are not mixtures of breeds; most simply do not have any breed ancestry at all. Selective breeding of cats is a relatively recent human hobby, and cats of specific breeds are quite rare, making up only a tiny percentage of all cats. There is plenty of genetic diversity in the domestic cat gene pool, and cats can vary a lot in size, shape, hair type, color, and temperament. Each one is unique and special

 

[jeannem]

Suki has hair tufts growing out of her ears. They told us at the shelter she is a tuxedo type cat.
j