Firstly I would like to intruduce myself quickly. My name is Jason and I'm 17 years old. Anyways, I have question about my cat I've been dying to know for years; his breed. I have had my cat for 5 years now. I always wanted a cat as a child but never brought it up with my parents. Shortly after I turned 12 I told my dad I wanted a cat. He had mentioned that there were a lot of wild cats around his home and that if I liked, he would bring one home for me. Now a days I like the idea of big cats, and someday I hope to be a proud owner of a Lynx. But back when I was 12, as any other child would have wanted, I ask for a kitten. So, thats what he brought home
But boy is he a big cat now
I was fully aware of the responsabilites of owning a cat and being that it was not only a cat, but a wild one, I was quick to pressuring my dad to take him to the vet ASAP for a checkup and shots. We had this done about 3 days after my dad first brought him home and have been doing so regularly. Anyways, to get the point, I know that my cat is "domestic"...I've had about a million people tell me so. But I know that all (or atleast I think I know) domestic cats have some sort of breed to them. For example a tabby cat is a domestic cat. My cat doesn't really have any distintive features to him. No spots...no stripes...not even the vet was able to tell us what sort of breed he was. For the most part my cat is a solid colour. Like I said, no patterns or spots or stripes...but from area to area his body varies from light to dark grey...atleast his upper body that is. All of his paws however are white, as if he is wearing socks...aswell as the lower half of his head and his underside. But aside from that, just grey. He is pretty large as far as "domestic" or "house cats" go. I look at other owners of cats that I know and compare my cat to theirs and he seems to be bigger than all of them...in both height and length. That's what drives me to believe that he is infact wild and not domestic (if there even is a difference). Another thing that makes me get on my toes is his behavior. When the vet assesed him for the first time, he ha dsaid he was roughly 5-6 weeks old. Now I don't know at what age a wild cat finaly leaves it's mothers breasts and starts being its own "person" but from the way my cat acted, it didn't seem at all like he had any past hunting experience. He would always be hinding under furniture or burrying his head in to things as if he thought it made him invisible. But as he got older he showed very predatorial like behavior. I mean I know by instinct, all cats are like that, but compared to the average house cat or domestic cat, my cat goes a little over board with it. When I play with him, my arms and hands are subject to frequent biting and he will do things like lock his pawns around my arms/wrists then furiously kick at them, like hes really going at it....behavior you see in more larger felines like lions and tigers...not house cats. Now don't get me wrong here. He's not like violent or anything and he never attacks people...hes very sociable even with strangers and he loves cuddling and affection. He's an attention ..... But ya, when he plays with me, he gets really agressive. He's never hurt me seriously but he does leave cuts and such...minor stuff that can be treated with soap and water, but regardless, he doesn't play nicely, doing things like pawing at you or simply nawing at you rather than biting you. Being that I always thought him to be wild cat and that aside from me he never played with anyone else like this, I thought it to be ok to leave this rough nature of him unruled. He's been like this since he was a kitten after all. Another thing I took in to account was maybe he plays so rough because I'm so much larger than him, so he feels the need to put out more aggression than normal. But then again, I don't think that my size is intimidating to him at all because he has the .... to take me on in the first place. Another funny thing is that unlike so many house cats, he does not cower before the presence of a dog and start to meow and hiss.Instead, he puts on the same agressive attitude he has when he plays with me and goes after them! Several times he has chased away dogs from our front lawn that were in many cases twice as big as him. So I guess my ultimate question is, is my cat domestic, or wild? Is there even a difference? And either way, what breed/type of cat is he? I have included some pictures of my cat below, some of just him and some with me. And for the record, his name is Yoshi
And also, if some regional information would help in the identification of my cat, I live in the province of Alberta, Canada.
First picture that was every taken of my cat. Approx 6-7 weeks of age at the time of the photo.
A picture of him rough housing with one of my plushies, similiar in the manner in which he plays with me. about 1-2 months of age in this photo.
A picture of him lounging on the carpet under a chair with a ball of yarn. Date taken was the same as the above photo.
A picture of him locking his paws around a small toy mouse. Also similiar in manner to how he locks his paws around my arms/wrists when he plays with me.
A face shot. Also noteably more recent photo. Around 4 years of age in this picture.
Also taken at the same time, much closer look at his eyes.
Picture of him where he had easily had his attention redirected at something else and wanted to escape from my lap.
A picture of him in his almost ALWAYS sleeping/sitting positon. Notice how he lounges around more like a lion or a tiger, rather than sitting on his belly with all his legs tucked underneath him. He really does ALWAYS sit like this
And beholding, the biting and the paw lock I've been raving about! xD lol
And lastly, some VERY recent pictures of him, at his current age 5 years. Took this photos about 3 months ago or so. Never once caught any moments of him grooming himself before but finaly I had a camera on me at the time so I got some photos
This has to be my favorite picture of him
And lastly, a nice long stretch after all that hard work, LOL
Some additional photos of him (I wasn't able to include all the ones I wanted to show you due to the 15 picture limit) can be found on my photobucket here http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a43/trljason/ click on the album called "my cat"
First picture that was every taken of my cat. Approx 6-7 weeks of age at the time of the photo.
A picture of him rough housing with one of my plushies, similiar in the manner in which he plays with me. about 1-2 months of age in this photo.
A picture of him lounging on the carpet under a chair with a ball of yarn. Date taken was the same as the above photo.
A picture of him locking his paws around a small toy mouse. Also similiar in manner to how he locks his paws around my arms/wrists when he plays with me.
A face shot. Also noteably more recent photo. Around 4 years of age in this picture.
Also taken at the same time, much closer look at his eyes.
Picture of him where he had easily had his attention redirected at something else and wanted to escape from my lap.
A picture of him in his almost ALWAYS sleeping/sitting positon. Notice how he lounges around more like a lion or a tiger, rather than sitting on his belly with all his legs tucked underneath him. He really does ALWAYS sit like this
And beholding, the biting and the paw lock I've been raving about! xD lol
And lastly, some VERY recent pictures of him, at his current age 5 years. Took this photos about 3 months ago or so. Never once caught any moments of him grooming himself before but finaly I had a camera on me at the time so I got some photos
This has to be my favorite picture of him
And lastly, a nice long stretch after all that hard work, LOL
Some additional photos of him (I wasn't able to include all the ones I wanted to show you due to the 15 picture limit) can be found on my photobucket here http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a43/trljason/ click on the album called "my cat"
