Turkish van / angora mix ?

This kitten's recently been introduced to a new home, ours. Was advertised as a Turkish van, and it has many van-like characteristics and the coat to boot, but only faint marks on the head and no tail colourings (and it's not the odd-eye variety either). So it's not an official Turkish Van, it has no pedigree books and certainly wasn't bought from a pedigree breeder... yet I wonder if there isn't confusion here with Angora, or this isn't actually an Angora + something else... ie a 'simulation' of a Van ! Wonder what people think. Great cat anyways.

Thanks! Vangora wannabe is a great description I reckon. The distinction between Van and Angora can be overstated, in fact I read quite a convincing article, arguing that originally Van and Angora were the same cat, before breed specifications were established.. here http://www.pictures-of-cats.org/were-the-turkish-angora-and-turkish-van-the-same-cat.html

In this case any confusion on the part of the seller might be quite innocent, as for most people there isn't a great awareness of either cat, and therefore one is barely more well-known, or valuable, than the other. It's funny reading the characteristics for both breeds, as this cat seems to meet both sets of the characteristics. Dog-like? Check. Playful? Yes. Head-butting? Absolutely. So I'm not sure that the distinction is always useful.

In relation to being 'pure' - there's no obvious outside influence... but I guess that's how it works with dominant vs recessive genes and a litter of kittens. The ears are not quite as tall as some pictures of Angoras, and the jaw seems a bit flatter. Maybe in a year or two we'll see how big it gets, and then could say with more certainty what might have happened!

Agreed - I think it's probably unethical, but the cat's great, so it does compensate. The character is quite different to what I've experienced before with animals. We did have a cat in the past which may have had a bit of Van, and that was great despite some flashes of aggression, but this is a real 'follower', the type of cat which clings to your shoulder.

A couple more pictures if I can indulge... if I were to gamble I'd suggest 75% angora and... maybe a black and white cat.

Well, there are no real Turkish Vans here in Hungary, as far as I am aware, absolutely none. But there seem to be a small group of non-registered breeders of Angoras, judging on what I have seen regarding kitten availability, and theres some evidence of people actually bringing Angoras out of Ankara Zoo, along with the associated bureaucracy. However, there's not much of a breeding tradition here or in neighbouring countries as far as I can tell, so I imagine that unless people had somehow established a proper colony, then there'd be 1 or 2 'true' angoras with a lot of mixed offspring, as dealers looking for a fast buck struggle to establish something that looks like an Angora. I'm inclined to think that this cat is either a 1st or 2nd generation offspring of one of these imported cats. The consistency of the coat and the tail would suggest this, anyway. Also, bear in mind it's a 5-month old kitten - have to compare like for like.

Quick search for likely crosses led me here: http://www.freeads.co.uk/uk/buy__sell/pets/cats/turkish_angora/13419243/angoran-persion-cross-available-for-stud/pic/2?rotate=0&count=3 .. this seems as good a theory as any!

Hi - thanks for your replies everyone. I went back to the people who sold the cat and asked them to confirm, and they were quite confident he's a Turkish Van, and to all intents and purposes, that may be good enough for me, in this case. The older he gets, we can see he's a big cat, and meets the general criteria and characteristics. So we're very happy, would be great if he had some proof, but he's a family animal, not a show cat or (now) a breeding stud.