Turkish Van Influence?

[yoshicity]

Hello! I've had my cat Minnie for about 10 years, and a couple years back, I came across some information of the Turkish Van breed and noticed some similarities, but was never sure if she was an actual Turkish Van. She has a very soft coat, and has "the thumbprint of God" in between her shoulder blades. I've never noticed any interest with water. She is very active and loves to climb her cat tree and the dining room table, as well as knock over any flower vases in the house. Minnie is also appears to be intelligent, quickly catching on to any game we play with her, and often outsmarts our other cat. I doubt she is actually a Turkish van (lack of interest with water, possibly too many orange spots), but she does display quite a few of the characteristics of the breed, leading me to question whether she may be a mix of some sort. Opinions?

 

[abyeb]

Minnie is a pretty girl! It’s not too common that we see female cats with orange. She would be in the red and white harlequin pattern, not the Van pattern, because she has too much orange patches (the Van pattern means only color by the ears, on the tail, and occasionally a spot on the shoulder blades). Your other cat, though, appears to have a perfect Van pattern. Are they a sibling of Minnie’s?

 

[yoshicity]

Thank you! My other cat, Whitey, does have a Van pattern, but he shares no other of the characteristics of the breed. We adopted him about a month after we got Minnie, so they're not siblings. I have no clue if he belongs to any breed, but I love them both to bits!