Kitten's breed and vet's diagnosis....

She's a domestic, no particular breed. Hard to tell from the photos if she's a long hair or just a fluffier, thicker coated shorthair.

She's pretty! I agree that she's a domestic, no particular breed. If she doesn't have long hair on her tail by now, she won't ever have long hair. . .her fur does look "plusher" than an average shorthair, though.

Be sure to have her spayed soon (if she's not already)! A cat in heat is no fun to live with.

There is one simple gene for long hair / short hair, but there are lots of other genes (polygenes) affecting coat texture.  So, shorthair cats go from Orientals and Siamese that have very short fine close-lying fur to British Shorthair that have a longer crisp coat that should show 'breaks' to the many non-pedigree cats with all sorts of different coat textures and lengths.

 

Agree that with no long hair on her tail by now, she is genetically short hair.  And also agree it's high time to get her neutered.

 

She does look to have a lovely shiny coat, but a Bombay is a black Asian - a Brown burmese without the burmese pattern - and the coat should be quite short.  The origin of all Asians was an accidental cross between a Persian and a Burmese, but the short-hair Asians should be just like a Burmese except they come in just about any colour (except cinamon / fawn), any pattern except siamese pattern, and white markings are not allowed.  The description of the coat from the GCCF Burmese standard - Asians will be the same:

 

"Short, fine, satin-like in texture, lying close to the body. The glossy coat is a distinctive feature of Burmese and is indicative of good health."

She is genetically shorthair, but shorthair comes in a variety of lengths - so does longhair.  And whilst she is a gorgeous cat with a slight resemblence to a Bombay, she is not a Bombay.

Highly unlikely she's a Bombay mix, there just aren't many Bombay breeders.

 

OS has explained well the shorthair/longhair types.

If you got her from a friend I doubt she's spayed. . .not very many people spay/neuter kittens before finding them homes. Shelters do it all the time but it would be very rare for an average owner to do it. Did she have a shaved tummy and a visible scar when you got her? If not, she's not spayed (because the earliest vets can do it is 7 weeks and if you got her at 3 months you'd still be able to see the shaved fur and incision). Don't want you to have any surprises!

Usually a medium-haired cat will have a floofy tail like a longhair but shorter hair on the body. I think your girl is all shorthair but with plush fur, not slick fur. If that makes any sense!

Most cats don't have any breed in them at all. Cats aren't like dogs (even the muttliest mutt has some breeds in him). Purebred cats are only about 1% of the cat population. Purebreds were cats with distinctive features taken from the general cat population and selectively bred for generations, until they breed true enough to be called a purebred. But if your cat had kittens probably none of them would look like her, she wouldn't "breed true".

I don't think your friend would lie, but if you got her only 2 weeks (at the most) after she was spayed you really should have been able to see the fresh incision. And it's so rare for people to get kittens spayed/neutered before adoption, especially when they were so young (a lot of vets don't like to do it that young anyway). I'd just hate for your kitty to accidentally get pregnant because of a misunderstanding. Maybe ask your friend which vet did the spay and see if the vet can give you paperwork proving it? If she isn't spayed you should know soon enough. . .she's right at the age when she'll go into heat if she isn't. If she starts meowing a lot, rolling around flirtatiously, and trying to get outside I guess you'll know!

Oh, wow, is her fur longer than 2 inches? It doesn't really look like that in the pics but it is hard to tell from pictures. I guess I would call that medium-length fur, then.

She may not necessarily have a noticetable incision scar.  When I had Morgan La Fay spayed, she came home with 1 stitch.  They do it differently nowadays in a lot of places.  They make a pinsized hole and stretch it.  Then close it with one stitch.  There is no scarring.  However, they still shave them.  And it takes longer than 2 weeks for it to grow back.  You'd notice.  Not calling your friend a liar just take her to a vet and have him do an xray.  It's the only way to know for sure.  Or you can ask her which vet she used and confirm it.  You don't have to tell her that part just say that your vet needs her records.  Which is true so you're not lying to her.

You say you got her at 9 weeks.  If she hadalready  been spayed the incision and shave would have been obvious, either on her midline underneath or (the usual place in the UK) on her flank.  How old is she now?

 

BTW hope your friend has had her cat spayed now.

She definitely looks like a shorthair...

I think usually when people say "medium hair" they really mean a longhaired cat that just doesn't have as long hair as some of the longhaired breeds. Usually these cats have shortish hair on the body but a fluffy tail like this:

 

 

 

 

You can also have shorthaired cats who are very "plush" with very thick fur, but still short hair.
For example I thought my cat  Church might be a longhair when he was a kitten because he was really fluffy:

 

 

 

As he got older though, his fur didn't grow long so it was obviously he wasn't a longhair. However his fur became VERY thick and soft. His fur is so thick you can't part it and see the skin, and it feels soft and fluffy like a rabbit or something. If you put your hand on him and then lift it away, you will still see the impression of your hand in his fur.

 

As an adult:

 

There is an Image and Video Tutorial at the top of the Fur PIctures forum.

I have a siamese snowshoe minx according to my veterinarian and I would consider her to be medium haired - but wow she sheds so much of her hair.  Is there anything that I can do to reduce her shedding.  Its almost impossible to keep her hair off of my clothes.   Thanks in advance.

I would take the vet's idea of what she might be with a very big pince of salt - most vets have very little idea about different breeds of cats.  Sounds like she is a siamese patter can with white, which happens when someone doesn't get a male siamese neutered young enough and he starts impregnating the local females.  Some siamese patter cats will pop up when his grandchildren are produced, and if the cats he bred with had white bits so might they.

 

Lots of grooming is the main thing you can do, to get the shed fur out.  You might need to use a slicker or similar to really get through her coat.  Google 'slicker brush for cats' and you will see what I mean.

Very much agreed. One of the vets I visited seriously asked me if Tomu (my Scottish Fold with folded ears) is an European Shorthair, she also though Kuura (black silver shaded British Shorthair) is a Burmese. Several vets have also though that Utu (British Longhair) is Persian, but the breed at least does have a slight resemblance to a very poor pet quality Persians or a Persian mix moggie...

 

Unless the vet is a cat breeder or goes to shows, do not trust their ability to guess what breed a cat is.

 

 

The OP's black kitty looks like a shorthair to me. One good indicator is ear tufts. Pretty much all longhairs have long ear tufts that clearly grow out of the ears. (Same thing with toe tufts, and they really need to be long).

Here's a comparison to clarify:

Utu (looking very cheerful...) with long ear tufts

 

Kuura showing his short ear tufts (ear tips also not groomed for show purposes here)