What Breed Is Silas?

[Elphaba09]

We found a 5-week old kitten two weeks ago. He was covered in fleas, extremely malnourished, anemic, lethargic, spots of mange, and a burn on his hip. We fell in love, named him Silas Endeavour Book, and he is now part of our lovely glaring of 9.

We took him to the vet and he is on the road to recovery.

Silas has the oddest coloring I have seen in person. It is both charcoal and amber/tawny with white on his face and stripes and polka-dots on his body. His ears seem large, as do his paws, but he has a delicate face. His fur is currently a combination of short hair and spiky hair. His body is long and skinny, as is his tail. His ears seem to have a bit of tuft.

Somethings about him remind me of my Maine Coon who died several years ago, but he just does not seem to fit in many ways. I was so worried about his health when I took him to the vet that I did not ask. He goes back next week for his checkup.

 

[abyeb]

I think I would describe him as a charcoal tabby (I think it looks like mackeral tabby), Domestic Shorthair. I don’t think his fur looks long enough to be called a Longhair, but you could call him a Mediumhair. I don’t see any particular breed influences in him that are screaming at me; but another poster might be able to see something that I can’t quite put my finger on. It will be easier to ID any possible ancestry when he’s a bit older as well. Silas is a very handsome kitten, no matter what!

 

[Elphaba09]

I think I would describe him as a charcoal tabby (I think it looks like mackeral tabby), Domestic Shorthair. I don’t think his fur looks long enough to be called a Longhair, but you could call him a Mediumhair. I don’t see any particular breed influences in him that are screaming at me; but another poster might be able to see something that I can’t quite put my finger on. It will be easier to ID any possible ancestry when he’s a bit older as well. Silas is a very handsome kitten, no matter what!

Thanks! I agree that he is a handsome guy! We have two mackerel tabbies (Fennimore and Willow), and he only slightly resembles them. I can definitely see the tabby part! He just seems to have more spots on his back then they do. Maybe he is a charcoal spotted tabby?

 

[lutece]

At this age he still has his kitten coat. Malnutrition can also affect coat texture and color. You will be able to see his color and pattern better as he matures and grows a healthy adult coat. I would describe his color as brown tabby, broken mackerel pattern (some stripes and some spots).

 

[StefanZ]

Isnt his steerboard side all red? If so, he is probably a torbie. Which of course adds to make it difficult to analyse the exact pattern.

Sure its a he? Male torbies do happen, but female are much more common.

We need a good pic from aside, to see the exact pattern.

Many tabbies has spots on the belly, so this doesnt prove anything.

 

[Elphaba09]

At this age he still has his kitten coat. Malnutrition can also affect coat texture and color. You will be able to see his color and pattern better as he matures and grows a healthy adult coat. I would describe his color as brown tabby, broken mackerel pattern (some stripes and some spots).

Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I was thinking that, too. He is young and was very sickly when we found him. (Seriously, the little guy fell asleep about 10 seconds after I got in the car with him he was so exhausted.) I guess we will just keep waiting.

 

[Elphaba09]

Isnt his steerboard side all red? If so, he is probably a torbie. Which of course adds to make it difficult to analyse the exact pattern.

Sure its a he? Male torbies do happen, but female are much more common.

We need a good pic from aside, to see the exact pattern.

Many tabbies has spots on the belly, so this doesnt prove anything.

Thanks for your reply! Yep, we are sure he is a he. The vet agrees. He has a lot of red on him, especially the longer hair. The longer reddish hair makes it difficult to see his patterns on his side and back, but up close you can see a lot of rosettes and stripes. The spots on his belly are also on his parts of his back. Of course, he had a touch of mange and has at least one burn mark on him. I wonder if what I am seeing are shadows/scars from other burns that healed before we found him.

We have two brown tabbies and have had them since they were 3 months old. Silas has similarities but there is enough of a difference to make me wonder if there is something else going on. (We also have a muted tortie, two calicos, a black cat, a tuxedo, and a grey one.)


Regardless, he is a cutie.

 

[StefanZ]

If he has enough spots on backside he may count as a spotted tabby, even if he also has stripes. At least in the european great association of Fife.
I remember I saw a post on a swedish forum, where the poster did reregister her cat, from striped tabby into a spotted tabby. As there become clear he had more than 7 spots on backside / sides - and thus counted as spotted.

For a pet owner its not much practical difference.
But for a breeder it is: knowing if the cat is carrying spotted tabby or striped tabby. Maybe even both, but still: Having the spotted gene will produce at least some spotted kittens. Otherwise not.

ps. He IS very sweet!

 

[Elphaba09]

If he has enough spots on backside he may count as a spotted tabby, even if he also has stripes. At least in the european great association of Fife.
I remember I saw a post on a swedish forum, where the poster did reregister her cat, from striped tabby into a spotted tabby. As there become clear he had more than 7 spots on backside / sides - and thus counted as spotted.

For a pet owner its not much practical difference.
But for a breeder it is: knowing if the cat is carrying spotted tabby or striped tabby. Maybe even both, but still: Having the spotted gene will produce at least some spotted kittens. Otherwise not.

ps. He IS very sweet!

He is a sweetie-pie. He was at the vet today for another checkup. They are betting that he is part Maine Coon, but agreed that he has strange hair. It is both long and short, which makes the pattern difficult to see. The pictures of his face are from the day I found him. I will try to get a better picture of the fine reddish hair that sticks out and is about 3" long in some spots. The shorter hair (his undercoat?) is charcoal and grey for the most part. He seems to have several swirling stripes and five or six spots on his back and side sort of worked in with the swirls.

Now that the hair is growing back on his ears, he has what looks to be the start of tufts.

 

[lutece]

Give him time for his coat to mature; see how it looks when he grows a healthy adult coat. It may be ragged and multicolored because of the conditions he was living in. Dark areas of a cat's coat can become reddish or discolored from exposure to the elements or lack of proper nutrition.

 

[mightyboosh]

The last photo is priceless, you just have to use it again at some point.

 

[susanm9006]

Not an identification expert but I was wondering whether he may have a little Abyssinian blood with that reddish coat and delicate face.

 

[Elphaba09]

Not an identification expert but I was wondering whether he may have a little Abyssinian blood with that reddish coat and delicate face.

The vet mentioned the fact that his face and red highlights reminded her of an Abyssinian. Hmm. Perhaps somewhere in his heritage, there might be a bit.

 

[Elphaba09]

Here he is with the flash on. Please, ignore the dust! If you look to the left side, you will see I am getting ready to vacuum and dust.

 

[Elphaba09]

Oops! Forgot to add that he only has five toes and is just starting to get back the hair on his ears.

 

[susanm9006]

Boy those ears also remind me of an Abbyssian kitten! He is just too cute.

 

[Elphaba09]

Boy those ears also remind me of an Abbyssian kitten! He is just too cute.

I know! Just looking at him makes me smile. Those big ol' ears!
I need a new camera. Even with the fash, his colors are not showing right, and the longer fur is hard to see. Oh, well.

 

[Willowy]

Give him time for his coat to mature; see how it looks when he grows a healthy adult coat. It may be ragged and multicolored because of the conditions he was living in. Dark areas of a cat's coat can become reddish or discolored from exposure to the elements or lack of proper nutrition.

This is my guess too. I think he'll grow up to be a fine handsome tabby, but for now his coat is wrecked from malnutrition and exposure.

 

[Elphaba09]

This is my guess too. I think he'll grow up to be a fine handsome tabby, but for now his coat is wrecked from malnutrition and exposure.

I agree that he is going to be a handsome tabby, but since many breeds can have a tabby pattern, I am interested in what breed of tabby he is.

I did a search this morning for Abyssian Maine Coon mix kittens, and the ones I found do look a lot like Silas and our vet is leaning towards saying he is partly Maine Coon. (I am sure he has a variety in him!)

I have six American domestic shorthair cats (one grey, two calicos, one tuxedo, and two classic tabbies), a medium haired American domestic/ Persian mix, and a muted tortie American domestic shorthair/ Siamese mix. Silas just does not look like them. I have had my two tabby ADS since they were about eight weeks old. They two were exposed to the elements and starving. (Silas was both of those things, and he was burned by someone.)

The main things I notice are his large ears and delicate face. My ADS tabbies had rounder faces with shorter, wider set ears when they were kittens. Their features would not have been described as delicate.

I plan on posting a new--hopefully better!--picture of him in a few weeks.

 

[Willowy]

There's a lot of variety in the domestic population, and among cats in general, purebreds are fairly rare. I wouldn't rule anything out. He's a real cutie!