What type of breed is this girl?

New_Pulse

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Hello! Just an update first: I posted a few years back about the premature passing of my cat. In today's news, I've been watching my grandmother's cat due to undisclosed circumstances (there's a chance that I might even keep the cat due to grandmother's old age, but that's not certain).

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This is Jezebel (or Jezzie, or Jizzie, or Toots). She's either 11 or 12 years old. If memory serves me right, she was originally a feral, which is hard to believe, because she's incredibly tame, polite, patient, and oh so LOVING.

For weeks, I've been wondering what kind of cat breed she is. I never was able to identify cat breeds, unlike dog breeds. She's naturally a long-haired cat, but I don't have any photos of her in her naturally long fur, since she's always had her fur cut. I thought maybe she could be a Bombay, or maybe a York Chocolate? She doesn't look like a Chantilly-Tiffany, and she seems too small to be a Maine Coon (she's fat, not big-boned :lol:)

Or to make things even easier, she could be a mix breed! x_x

Maybe someone who's an expert on cats and cat breeds could help solve this enigma?
 

lutece

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She's lovely, and looks so sweet!

Because of her dark points and lighter body color, my guess is that her color is either seal sepia (also known as sable), or seal mink. When her coat grows in longer, how light is her body color?

It's possible that she might have some Burmese and/or Ragdoll ancestry. The sepia allele originally came from the Burmese breed, but is now also found in Ragdolls. Both of those breeds have a rounded appearance to the face and body, which she also has. The sepia allele is rare in the domestic cat population, but rare traits are more likely to pop up in feral colonies when there is inbreeding.

She's not a Chantilly-Tiffany or York Chocolate. These breeds were both extremely rare in the past and are not being bred any more. You will see some people posting online who believe they have Chantilly-Tiffany or York Chocolate cats, but these people are just making guesses based on pictures of other cats they see online.

Cats are not like dogs -- most cats aren't any breed, and most also aren't "mixed breeds," unlike dogs. Most cats are simply domestic cats.
 
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New_Pulse

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Thank you for your reply and explanation :)

From memory, I think her color is mostly black when longer, but I can't be certain. I'll have to ask my grandmother for more information.

Here's an older picture with her fur slightly longer than it is now. Plus she was younger at the time, about 6 years old, maybe.

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lutece

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Hmm, that's interesting! From the latest picture, she looks like a solid black cat... so the light color in the previous pictures might be just light undercoat showing through, rather than sepia. Many longhaired black cats do have a light undercoat.
 
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New_Pulse

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That is true! Another reason why it's hard to know what breed she is!
 

cataholic07

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I'd say she is a domestic long hair potentially smoke black cat. Most cats aren't a particular breed really and since she didnt come from a breeder and was originally a stray cat I'd say more then likely a domestic longhair. :)
 
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New_Pulse

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Quite possible. Maybe a vet could provide some insight, eventually. Thank you for the feedback :)
 

lutece

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Quite possible. Maybe a vet could provide some insight, eventually. Thank you for the feedback :)
Vets do not get any special training in cat breed identification. Since almost all cats are not any particular breed, most vets also don't get practical experience with cat breeds in the course of doing their job. So vets' guesses do not carry any special weight.
 

jen

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Vets don't know that kind of information. They aren't trained in breed identification. One vet at the clinic I work at always asks me what breeds are which lol. Cats just aren't any breeds other than domestic unless they came from a breeder. Even a pointed cat isn't automatically a Siamese. Just doesn't work that way.
 
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