DSH or something else?

About a week ago, this cat showed up at my front door begging for food. There are many feral cats in my area, but this little guy is by no means ferel. He is a big baby. His meow is different than any I have heard. Its more like a cry. All he wants is to be petted until he falls asleep. And when he falls asleep, its almost scary. He goes limp, so limp that if you move him his head rolls around like its going to fall off. And even when he is limp, he never stops purring. He seems to be in very good health. I'm not sure how old he is, but he is not fully mature. He still has that kitten awkwardness. I have been unable to find his owner. The reason I'm posting is that this cat looks and act completely differnt than any cat I have seen locally. His ears seem overly largeand his facial markings and eye color resemble those of supossed bobcat crosses. I think he may have been bottle raised as he has a habbit of bitting when being petted. Its not a playfull bite and its not a mean hatefull bite either. It seems to be more of a comfort thing for him. He just needs to have his mouth around something. We have taken to calling him Spooky.

Yes...He is sticking his tongue out.

Very pretty DSH....

Him going limp. I wonder if he can perhaps have ragdoll in him? The result wouldnt almost surely not be ragdoll masked, and may surely be a tabby...??


Congrats to your new furry friend. Very handsome as already said.


ps. I saw now the addictional pictures. Oh may. Arent we pretty?
Dont be too quick with neutering him. You can perhaps get him judged as novice for the European? If you live in Europe. Otherwise perhaps as the American Short Hair...

Oh may. I love our Russians, but Im almost envious now...

I agree with Stefan, a gorgeous domestic

What a pretty boy! A DSH for sure, but a good looking tabby! Don't worry about the going limp thing...that's a kitten thing.

As far as age, he looks to me around 5 months. Gently pull his top lip back...are there two "canine" or "fang" teeth on each side? If so, he is around 5 months.

Congratulations on your new addition!

Handsome Brown Mackerel Tabby domestic shorthair. I'd guess around 5 months old too - not kitten and not cat looking yet.

If you plan to keep him (even if you don't), take him to the vet and at least get him checked out, neutered and given shots.

Thanks for the replies. If I keep him, he will be neutered. I would like to find a good home for him. He is beautiful and, if someone were interested in him for breeding/show purposes, all the better. But only to aGOOD
home. If he is only 5 months old he is going to be a big boy I think. Our other cat, a seal-point feral rescue, is 7.5 months old and Spooky is almost twice her size. He does have his canine teeth, but beyond that I am not sure how to judge his age. I can post more detailed photos for you guys too look at. Should I start a new thread in a different category?

To be honest, I don't tihnk anybody would be interested in him for breeding or showing. He is just a regular tabby DSH, which is about the most common cat out there. Getting him neutered ASAP would be a very good idea to make sure he doesn't spray, or get too many of his boy hormones racing through him.

Feel free to start a thread in Fur Pics with more pictures of your handsome guy, we'd love to see more of him.

He's not a purebred, so he should not be allowed to be breeding anything. A vet can tell you the age better then we can by looking at the teeth. I was never good at guessing ages by the teeth

If you dont have strong plans on trying to have two cat show judges accepting him as a novice in European SH or American SH (Im not even sure they do it any longer. I think some Indenpendent Clubs still do it, but probably not the big federations); there is no point in keeping him fertile. Thus, neutering soon is proper and best. I agree with every one other.
He will also have easier to find a new owner if he is already neutered.

If you or his new owner want to show him, there are pet classes (ie classes for moggies) at most cat shows. If he has a good psyche as it seems, he should have good chances there.
In the adult class these moggies SHALL be neutered. So one more reason for neutering him.

Originally Posted by yqzxwrt

Thanks for the replies. If I keep him, he will be neutered. I would like to find a good home for him. ?

Click to expand...

Just to clear up the confusion. The local shelter/rescue that I worked with on our other cat has 2 month wait for alterations. As I said, there are ALOT of feral/stray cats in my area. I am in a financial pinch ATM, so an actual vet vist for neutering is out of the question right now. If a good home comes along before the rescue gets to him, then this will be on the new owners. I have no desire to show or breed him.

Just FYI - the purebred American SH cat or Europeon SH cat doesn't allow unknown parents/mixed breeds in the gene pool any more. I believe that was closed to "unknowns" back in the late 70's.

I owned a black & white bicolor (spayed) that many American SH breeders wanted to use her in their breeding program as she was very close to the standard. But I had her neutered at 7 months old and she was shown as a HHP and won tons of awards.

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Just FYI - the purebred American SH cat or Europeon SH cat doesn't allow unknown parents/mixed breeds in the gene pool any more. I believe that was closed to "unknowns" back in the late 70's.

Click to expand...

I wondered about that when StefanZ mentioned it. I didn't think non-pedigreed cats were allowed in shows or for breeding. I know the AKC has an ILP program for dogs that appear to be purebred, but have no papers.....but you have to show proof of altering first. But they'd be allowed to compete in agility and stuff like that.

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Just FYI - the purebred American SH cat or Europeon SH cat doesn't allow unknown parents/mixed breeds in the gene pool any more. I believe that was closed to "unknowns" back in the late 70's.

Click to expand...

In FifÃ[emoji]169[/emoji] they do accept "unknowns" for European Shorthairs if they match the standard enough. We have our feral cats pretty pure without any actual breeds mixed in them, so you can try to show them and register them as a 'novice' European SH if two different judges give their approval. Any sign of hybridizanion is forbidden.
But I think this includes only cats from Europe..not sure though.
(One of my 'mentors' breeds European SHs ).