What breed would my kitten resemble?

[angelface0145]

The mother is a Silver Tabby, and he was born full white, but now at almost 4 weeks he has blackish gray paws and hind legs. Blackish gray ears and some on his face. He reminds me of a Siamese with longer hair. He is adorable either way. Also his tail is a blackish gray

 

[angelface0145]

8443939.jpg

• angelface0145
• Jun 3, 2013

This is a picture of him after his mommy gave him a good cleaning, he is still sleepy

The mother is a Silver Tabby, and he was born full white, but now at almost 4 weeks he has blackish gray paws and hind legs. Blackish gray ears and some on his face. He reminds me of a Siamese with longer hair. He is adorable either way. Also his tail is a blackish gray

 

[maewkaew]

He is an adorable kitten.    His color is called seal point.  

If I had to pick a breed he resembles ( not saying he IS the breed),  he looks sorta vaguely Ragdoll -like.   but clearly his mom is not a Ragdoll and he may not even turn out semi-longhair.   It can be hard to tell in kittens. 

I don't think he is likely to have any large amount of Siamese ancestry,  though  with mixes it can be hard to tell.  He does sort of look a little bit like the older type SIamese but with a different type of coat  . both a bit longer and also looks like a thicker double coat.   He might also have heavier boning  than most true Siamese of any type.    

The gene that causes this "colorpoint"/ "pointed"  pattern originally came from Southeast Asia  and over the past 100+ years it has gotten widely spread through the cat populations in other parts of the world due to Siamese cats being imported to other countries,  and mating with the local cats,  so the gene got spread around and then passed down over many many generations ( a  kitten has to get it from both parents, but they may have just 1 copy so they don't show it themselves, but can pass it on to a kitten. .   

  What that means is that today  there are lots of pointed "domestics" -- cats of no particular breed -- that don't have any recent  ancestry of Siamese or any breed.     Probably a lot of that mixing happened in the mid 20th century when Siamese were at their most popular , and fewer people got cats altered, and more people let even pedigreed cats roam,  and now there are lots of pointed cats running around that are less than 0.00001% Siamese.

The pointed pattern also got in other breeds via various ways .   so it's possible he might have got it passed down via one of those other breeds that themselves originally got it from Siamese long ago.   ( For example Himalayan Persians or Ragdolls .) 

  

A little biology curiosity :  All pointed cats are born white, since their color is based on body temperature, with the darkest color restricted to the coolest parts of the body.  WHen they are born they just came from inside their mom where it was very warm so they are totally white.   then they gradually get their point color in,  and the body gradually turns a paler version of the point color.