What breed is my cat?

[akemimiku]

image.jpg

• akemimiku
• Mar 13, 2013

My cat's a girl, Maya, & I've always wondered what breed she is. My mom & grandma say her coat is Calico but I don't think that's it. I'd like to know what her coat is as well. She loves to go outside & she explores a lot. She doesn't like people (except me & my mom). She gets angry often & she is very dominant over the other animals in the house (she likes to be the "big dog" lol)
Thanks to anyone who can help!

 

[akemimiku]

image.jpg

• akemimiku
• Mar 13, 2013

Here's another picture of Maya.

 

[northernglow]

She's a tortie tabby with white. Can't see the exact tabby pattern 'cause her tail is blocking the view, but a mackerel if she has stripes, spotted if she has spots and classic if she has big thick swirls on her sides. Without registration & pedigree, she's a domestic longhair. Very pretty.

 

[StefanZ]

Without registration & pedigree, she's a domestic longhair. Very pretty.

Yes!

What country are you AkemiMuku from? Ie where is Maya from?

Welcome to our Forums!

 

[northernglow]

 Ie where is Maya from?

Pretty sure she's in US, no one else uses the term calico.

 

[StefanZ]

Pretty sure she's in US, no one else uses the term calico.

OK. I suppose it is then possible to say she is somewhat a look alike to Maine Coon, to have something to compare with. 

I mean, MCO is a breed purebred from a natural population, so they have quite a few  "moggies" who are, so to say, MCO´s  forefathers (or foremothers).

Although I do of course agree entirely with your diagnose, NorthernGlow.   

 

[callista]

Hey, I like the term "calico" for that coloring. It might be provincial, but the three-colored female calico cat is so striking it deserves a special name.

 

[akemimiku]

Yes!
What country are you AkemiMuku from? Ie where is Maya from?


Welcome to our Forums!

I live in the US & I found her here as well. If it helps any, we live in Texas.

 

[maewkaew]

Maya is a beautiful cat! She has a wonderful coat, a complicated pattern with interspersed dilute colors Blue and Cream, all mixed together with a tabby pattern.

She's got tortoiseshell coloring, which is what happens when a cat -- almost always a female -- gets black from one parent and red from the other parent. Then in this case she also got the dilute gene from both parents, which turns Black into Blue (grey)and turns Red (orange/ ginger) into Cream (pale orange/ peach/buff/cream')

AND she has a tabby pattern sort of laid over / mixed with the tortie.

The different cat associations have different names for the combination of tortoiseshell and tabby. As you've heard, one name outside the U.S. is Tortie-Tabby. In TICA she would be called Torbie. And in CFA she'd be called a Patched Tabby. Now to put her color with that, just add "Blue" in front.

But now we have to add the white! At least it looks like she has white on her chest? If it were just s little spot, that would not be included in her color name. but if it's a big spot and almost the whole chest is white , that would make her "Blue Torbie and White" or "Blue Patched Tabby and White"

Here is a Blue Torbie and White Maine Coon kitten

http://www.mcbfa.org/colorbluetorwh.jpg
This shows more examples of blue torbie ( also called blue patched tabby) http://www.mcbfa.org/mainecooncolorsII.html

I think of Calico has having a lot more white. like a white background with patches of black and red ( or blue and cream) in the midst of the white. Here is a dilute calico Maine Coon.

http://home.total.net/~grandmc/Katana.jpg
 

Calico is a term that means different things to different people. Colloquially, some people call any cat with black, red and white, (or blue, cream and white), a "Calico", no matter how much white and no matter how the colors are arranged. People using it that way would call Maya a Calico -- and they might say "Dilute Calico".

But there is another stricter definition of Calico, and she doesn't fit that one. Calico is actually an official term used in some breeds in CFA . Their definition of a calico is a cat that is 2/3 white , with distinct good size patches of the black -based color and the red-based color... and without tabby markings seen in the black or blue patches. Most the rest of the cat associations in the world would call that "Tortoiseshell and White".
 

Re BREED: The vast majority of cats aren't really considered a particular breed. It is very different from dogs since humans have bred dogs a lot more for different jobs, and through selective breeding over many centuries, the different dog breeds were developed. With cats there has been much less human control over their breeding. Cats have mostly just bred randomly on their own with the other cats in their part of the world. The cats in different regions of the world do have some differences, and especially in some rather isolated areas, there have developed what some people recognized as "natural breeds". But then there are lots of other cats that have just never been designated as a breed.
 

Maya is very probably not a "breed", but yeah I can see she does somewhat resemble a young Maine Coon female in a summer coat (not as shaggy and full as the winter coat) or one could say she is similar to some of the ancestors of the Maine Coon. Being from Texas it is not reasonable to think she IS a member of the natural breed. So we can just say she looks a bit similar. But she looks like she is little more refined in build. and I'm sure a MC expert if they met her could tell other ways that she differs. She looks a little like a Turkish Angora too but that is just about impossible that she would have any of that in her. I mean they were thought to be extinct until they found a zoo in Turkey had kept a breeding colony. Anyway, most cats aren't a breed, they are just their own unique self and no less lovely or special - especially Maya who is very beautiful..

 

[northernglow]

Maya is a beautiful cat! She has a wonderful coat, a complicated pattern with interspersed dilute colors Blue and Cream, all mixed together with a tabby pattern.

She looks like a brown tortie tabby on my monitor, not blue.

 

[maewkaew]

NG, you could be right. the lighting isn't the best. and the red-based color does look more intense than many blue torties. but the dark color looks blue to me. \ AkemiMiku, If the darkest fur on her is black she is a brown torbie and white ( aka brown tortie tabby and white, or brown patched tabby and white) . If the darkest fur is dark grey, then put "blue" in the place of "brown".