Turkish van mix?

[Jillion81]

I have had sweet Mimi since she was 4wks (on hold) at the local cat shelter. As she grew, she started to develop spots. It was rather comical actually but made me curious about the breed. Her fur is super thick and plush, unlike any other cat that I have owned. She is now 5yo, and I lost my 20yo tonk mix last month. We adopted a new orange tabby 18wks old. I was searching cat names and such and came across this term harlequin and was curious. The searching then led me to the Turkish van breed. Now, I am curious if this is in fact what Mimi is?! I am new to this site as of today! Thank you for your insights!!!!

 

[betsygee]

Hi there! I don't know anything about breeds but wanted to welcome you to the site. I'm sure someone will come along soon who can help you with your questions.

 

[Zara12345]

Hi there! I am sorry that no one has replied to your post yet. You have a beautiful cat and from what I see your cat looks van patterned which means that she has the pattern of a Turkish van cat. Her fur does look quite thick though so there is the possibility that she is a domestic long hair mix but Turkish vans are very rare so the possibility of her being a van mix is unlikely.
Lots of cats are born looking like Turkish vans but if they haven't come from an authentic breeder they are classified as domestic long hairs.
Regardless of the breed, she's still very pretty!

 

[StefanZ]

I have had sweet Mimi since she was 4wks (on hold) at the local cat shelter. As she grew, she started to develop spots. It was rather comical actually but made me curious about the breed. Her fur is super thick and plush, unlike any other cat that I have owned. She is now 5yo, and I lost my 20yo tonk mix last month. We adopted a new orange tabby 18wks old. I was searching cat names and such and came across this term harlequin and was curious. The searching then led me to the Turkish van breed. Now, I am curious if this is in fact what Mimi is?! I am new to this site as of today! Thank you for your insights!!!!

Welcome!
I agree with the above poster. Yours is a van patterned. Harlequine is high white too, but have also some splatches on the body itself. ps. I see there is one splotch on the shoulder, but its still the van pattern, I think.

Now, van patterned cats happens here and there, but the breed of Van cats is rare. They are also longhairs (or semi-longhairs if you want).
So the heavy money bet is she is a very pretty domestic, in the van pattern.

ps. Looking at her head, I wonder if she isnt a tabby? Or possibly a tortie... As there are some different nuances in the coloring; such nuances are commown with brown tabbies.