What Breed Is My Cat?

[TaylorMansford2001]

Does anyone recognize any breeds in her? I know she isn’t purebred, I’m just wondering what she looks like. She is a pretty big cat. Her personality is like a dog, and she has a silent meow. Her tail is really big and fluffy. None of her kittens looked anything like her.

 

[TaylorMansford2001]

Could she be a snowshoe?

 

[SheaBear]

I would say almost definitely a Maine Coon!

 

[StefanZ]

Dog alike behavior? Compare perhaps to a pointed Siberian or its sibling breed Neva Masquerade.

 

[abyeb]

She’s gorgeous! I would describe her as a blue lynx point mitted Domestic Longhair. I agree with StefanZ that pointed Siberian is probably the closest breed comparison.

 

[lutece]

I would describe her as a blue lynx point and white domestic longhair. (Since she has quite a lot of white on her face, she isn't just mitted -- I would say she is a bicolor.)

It is always tempting for people to assign longhaired cats to a breed such as Maine Coon or Siberian or Norwegian Forest Cat, but the fact is that almost all longhaired cats are domestic longhairs without specific breed ancestry. The longhair gene is widespread in the domestic cat population. I am not seeing Siberian in this cat... here is the Siberian breed presentation if you want to study it. Towards the end there are comparison pictures with Maine Coon and NFC.
http://cfa.org/Portals/0/documents/judges-ce/Siberian.pdf

 

[thefiresidecat]

not seeing the maine coon. if I squint I can see the siberian... but I'd go with birman personally..

 

[ramscici]

I see Siberian in her personally! It's the eye shape.

 

[Talien]

Could she be a snowshoe?

Her face markings, blue eyes, and white paws suggests she's got some Snowshoe in there somewhere. Definitely a Tabby though (see the M pattern on her forehead?) so she's not purebred as you noted.

 

[lutece]

Her face markings, blue eyes, and white paws suggests she's got some Snowshoe in there somewhere.

White markings like these simply come from the white spotting gene, which is extremely widespread in the domestic cat population. The same gene is responsible for most types of white markings that are seen on cats, ranging from "tuxedo cats" with very little white, to van pattern cats with lots of white.

The pointed color and blue eyes come from the colorpoint gene, which is also widespread in the gene pool, due to the influence of Siamese that were popular as pets beginning in the 1950s/60s.

Because these two genes are very widespread in the population, there are lots of cats that you might call Snowshoe "lookalikes" out there, but this doesn't indicate Snowshoe breed ancestry.

 

[sabian]

I think I'm going to have to go against the grain and say Ragdoll lookalike because of the color point and blue eyes. The fur reminds me more of Ragdoll too. Ultimately without a DNA test it would be a DLH. Manny is the spittin image of a Siberian but his DNA test came back Ragdoll/MC mix however, Siberian was sixth closest match. He's probably Tonkinese!

 

[thefiresidecat]

first pic is tibby. he is a purebred siberian. his eyes are round. and he has a tiny snout.

second pic is drommie purebred maine coon.. she's just different in every way from this kitty.

third pic ragdoll.. I don't see the resemblance here at all either. (although I see a lot of similarities to siberian)

4th and 5th are birman. to me this one bears the most resemblance. (but I don't think she's a purebred. )

if you go by basepaws she's Abyssinian for sure. lol considering that from basepaws two related purebred cats can get totally different results. it seems valid that you could call a cat a breed just by closely resembling a breed

 

[sabian]

thefiresidecat I would have to agree that Birman is a closer resemblance. The fur looks more like TaylorMansford2001 girl. Aren't Burman merely blue eyed, pointed, medium haired Tonkinese though!?

I still say Manny and Tibby are related! Let's do a DNA test!

 

[TaylorMansford2001]

 

[TaylorMansford2001]

Thanks everyone!

 

[TaylorMansford2001]