could you please give me an idea as to what breed(s) my cat could be ?

Hi I recently acquired this gorgeous cat  from cats protection league and the estimate him to be aprox 1yr old. I am wondering what breeds he could possibly be as he is very unusual and quite a big size for a year old.

Thankyou for any help you can give me.
View media item 196516

Wow, he is really stunning. 

He most likely is a mixed breed.  I really can't figure out what to call his coat color/pattern.  Red, cream and white bicolor?  A bit of tabby thrown in (I see the typical tabby marking on his forehead).

He's quite large, fluffy and kind of resembles a Maine Coon, although doubtful he is one as purebred breeders are pretty good at keeping theirs from wandering aimlessly.  However, he well could have been a result of a backyard breeder.  

We have several members who are way more qualified than I am in these matters and hopefully one will join in shortly.

Do you know his back story?  How he got to where you adopted him from?  

Regardless of his breed you really stumbled upon an extremely good looking boy.  He's wonderful and looks like quite a character also!  That last photo made me laugh 

Hi Siveyah,

Thankyou so much I think he is lovely. He is the first cat I have had and he does have real character. Sometimes he acts more like a dog. He puts a paw up for treats and he comes for walks with us around the field !

The cats protection told us when we got him that he had been neglected and that neighbours called them  as he had been left out and not fed. So he was taken away. He was described on the adoption form as domestic long hair white with apricot and ginger blotches !  He is estimated  to be about 1yr old . I appreciate any comments or advice anyone can give me as I  think it all helps to understand different  characteristics of different breeds.

Thankyou

LOL one of my cats does that paw thing also.    Funny thing is he is the same color family.  Maybe it's a personality trait!

It could be a colour thing you never know ! Thanks for your help. it would be nice to see if anyone else has ideas as to breeds. I did wonder if there could be some maine coon in him because of his size or possibly Siberian - but i'm no expert.

Caroline Brooks said:

 
It could be a colour thing you never know ! Thanks for your help. it would be nice to see if anyone else has ideas as to breeds. I did wonder if there could be some maine coon in him because of his size or possibly Siberian - but i'm no expert.

Click to expand...

If you live in the USA, Maine Coon ancestry or akinship is much more likely than a Siberian ancestry.

If you were living in Russia, it would be the opposite....  

What Im wondering over, if he may be a point too... with these cream coloured, the point is not always clear cut visible.

I dunno.  I have seen cats who seemed to be points, but werent.

What color are his eyes?  If blue, he is a point.

Hi StefanZ,

I live in the uk so I think that will probably confuse matters further. Fergus ( the Cat ) has orange eyes with a touch of green in them.

Thanks Caroline

Hi Caroline, I'm in the uk too !! I agree with StefanZ about possible breed maybe some Maine coon or Siberian ancestry.
As for colour this is a hard one. He looks like red,cream and white but this is genetically impossible.

Red is a dominant colour and cream is a dilute colour of red. A cat cannot show both a dominant colour and a dilute colour on its coat at the same time. A cat can have both genes but the cat would be and look the dominant colour and only carry the gene for dilute that it could pass on to its off spring. This is because the dominant gene always overrides the dilute gene (basically turns the dilute gene off) So the cat would show the dominant colour only.

So to explain your cats colour. I have two ideas but this is just my opinion

1. He is a red silver and white tabby. But a low expression red silver where only parts show the silver(the cream looking areas on his coat) the rest appears non silver ie red.
I do know of a silver tortie tabby female maine coon that exhibits this. She has definite areas of silver but the majority of her coat appears normal tortie tabby ie non silver.

2. He is one of mother natures unusual combinations that should not happen ie male tortoiseshells. Like a chimera cat which is the essentially the reverse of identical twins. Instead of one fertilised egg splitting into two(identical twins) two fertilised eggs merge together to form one kitten. The cells which come form each egg maintain their own character. So if one egg had the genes for dilute cream and the other egg the genes for dominant red the kitten would then show both coat colours.

Hope this make sense and this is just my opinion :lol3:

Hi Gemsgem,

Thankyou for that information, after reading your post , I did a bit of research myself from what you said and I'm inclined to agree with the fact that I think my cat is a bit of a freak of nature ( in a nice way ) looking at his head his colouring is stripey like a tortoiseshell but being male he shouldnt be. He also doesnt have stripes anywhere else. Also his apricot type main colour with the big ginger blotches but white all the way from under his chin all the way along his body and white on the tip of his bushy tail. Also with his eyes being an orange/green colour that doesn't make sense.

Oh well I have a very unique cat, which I love to bits no matter what.

Thanks

Caroline

Now that is my ideal cat!!! Utterly gorgeous! (I've heard that ginger cats have the most amazing natures!) He looks a real cutie!

Thankyou very much Mazi,

He is lovely and pretty good natured. He can be quite vocal when he wants to be though.

I was walking over the field today and I think he felt obliged to come with me. He meowed all the way and kept stopping and looking at me as if to say how much further to I have to go ? As soon as I said to him " ok thats far enough lets go back", he turned tail and ran as fast as his legs would carry him back to the house ! lol

Oh that is so cute!! I love that! I have a 9 week old kitten and I'd love her to be like that one day! Sooo much character! I really wanted an orange cat for ages but its impossible to find a female one! (-my husband really wanted a girl). I love her but she's still at the 'bonkers' phase!! Though actually as I write this, she is snuggling into my neck!!! Lol so there is hope yet!! But well done you for finding such a delicious cat!

Hi Mazi,

Yours sounds adorable, mine very rarely sits on laps . I think it is from when he was maltreated before we adopted him. I'd love to see a photo.

Caroline

GemsGem said:

Hi Caroline, I'm in the uk too !! I agree with StefanZ about possible breed maybe some Maine coon or Siberian ancestry.
As for colour this is a hard one. He looks like red,cream and white but this is genetically impossible.

Red is a dominant colour and cream is a dilute colour of red. A cat cannot show both a dominant colour and a dilute colour on its coat at the same time. A cat can have both genes but the cat would be and look the dominant colour and only carry the gene for dilute that it could pass on to its off spring. This is because the dominant gene always overrides the dilute gene (basically turns the dilute gene off) So the cat would show the dominant colour only.

So to explain your cats colour. I have two ideas but this is just my opinion

1. He is a red silver and white tabby. But a low expression red silver where only parts show the silver(the cream looking areas on his coat) the rest appears non silver ie red.
I do know of a silver tortie tabby female maine coon that exhibits this. She has definite areas of silver but the majority of her coat appears normal tortie tabby ie non silver.

2. He is one of mother natures unusual combinations that should not happen ie male tortoiseshells. Like a chimera cat which is the essentially the reverse of identical twins. Instead of one fertilised egg splitting into two(identical twins) two fertilised eggs merge together to form one kitten. The cells which come form each egg maintain their own character. So if one egg had the genes for dilute cream and the other egg the genes for dominant red the kitten would then show both coat colours.

Hope this make sense and this is just my opinion

Click to expand...

Do you know somewhere I could learn about the genetics of cat colourings? All very interesting I remember touching on it in our genetics lectures at university but not in any great depth. 

KaTayl88 said:

 
Do you know somewhere I could learn about the genetics of cat colourings? All very interesting I remember touching on it in our genetics lectures at university but not in any great depth. 

Click to expand...

If you look up posts by maewkaew, who is a very knowledgeable member here about cat genetics, her posts are very informative .She does sometimes post links as well.

KaTayl88 said:

Do you know somewhere I could learn about the genetics of cat colourings? All very interesting I remember touching on it in our genetics lectures at university but not in any great depth. 

Click to expand...

To be honest I learnt most of what I know off the Internet