Is this a Turkish Van?

He is rather big, friendly but doesn't like too much lap time. Very vocal! Not too agile. Loves retrieving and hiding sticks, pencils etc. Sometimes eats fabric. Very calm when I pick him up, although he wont stay in arms. Does not like having his picture taken!! eyes are amber.

Beautiful cat!

Where did you get him? He certainly looks like a Turkish Van so he is either pure or perhaps a mix with one.

Rescued him from the street. I don't know much about genetics. Mother white siamese mix, littermates, various: orange tabby, grey tabby and a tricolor. Hes so different than the rest, much bigger. Definitely a mix, but I'm surprised  how much he looks like a van.

Maybe he was adopted by the mother cat??

When I found them they were about 2 months old.

I doesn't matter to me, I am just curious, cat genetics fascinate me! He is such a nice cat.

ann marie said:

 
Rescued him from the street. I don't know much about genetics. Mother white siamese mix, littermates, various: orange tabby, grey tabby and a tricolor. Hes so different than the rest, much bigger. Definitely a mix, but I'm surprised  how much he looks like a van.

Maybe he was adopted by the mother cat??

When I found them they were about 2 months old.

I doesn't matter to me, I am just curious, cat genetics fascinate me! He is such a nice cat.

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It could be an adoption, not common but it certainly happens.  Can they adopt a squirrelbaby or a duckling as we can see on youtube, so they can certainly adopt a motherless kitten...

It could also been two different fathers.    But this with multiple fathers is in part a myth - knowing the cat genetics covers very often for the litters with different kittens.

The breed isnt common, but the pattern isnt unusual.  Its a quite strong pattern. Its not unusual we can observe a stray turkish van patterend mom, whom gets a whole litter of turkish van patterned kittens.  Even if the father looked otherwise.

I strongly suspect its essentially a case of the white spot gene - which is dominant yes.    But in Turkish Vans its purebred, and doubled up too.

OK, lets try and analyse.  Momma was a  point with white.   She thus carried the recesssive point gene doubled up, and also the white spot gene.

She probably carried the red too - they say red is inherited via moms, its in the X-gene.

She must also carried the long hair gene.

Half her kittens are tabbies, so the father was a tabby carrier  and yes, he was a tabby too - because tabby is dominant too.

He waasnt a point, nor  point carrier.   He may have been quite big - as  our kitten got  biggish.

Shall I guess on a Maine Coon-alike tabby?  If more littermates were longhaired, he was longhair, if not he was a shorthaired carrier.

He's definitely a beauty regardless if he is a Turkish Van or not. Probably a mix unless he was adopted. THe breed is rare here in this country,

Van Pattern - yes. Some of the characteristics of the Van you have mentioned he has. Does he Like water? That is one of their traits as well.

He is lucky to have found you.

This is my Van pattern I rescued from our local Animal Services in 2002. She passed away in 2012 at the nice age of 19.5 years of age. She did like being in the water. She was larger then most of my other cats including some of my male cats. Only 2 of my 7 male cats were larger (stocky).

Kuce

Originally Posted by greycat2  

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• greycat2
• Aug 14, 2014

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• greycat2
• Mar 5, 2012

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Beautiful cat!

@GitaBooks. Thank you for the kind comment.

Great info thanks so much.

Wow Kuce was a beautiful cat!  Yes this guy does like water, he is always 'digging' in his water bowl. We live in Spain, but I don't know if the vans are common here or not. I love him no matter, I was just curious as he seems to have the personality traits as well as physical.

AND boy does he shed!!!  its really fine fur and it just floats around the house. my vaccume cleaner just can't keep up!!

@ann marie - Thank you.

She used to do that as well, even dipping her paw into the water. She didn't mind baths either pr going outside in the rain.

Not sure how common the breed is over in Spain. It is great for him that he has a home with someone who loves him, regardless of his breed.

She sheded as well and her fur was as soft as a cashmere rabbit.

greycat2 said:

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• greycat2
• Mar 5, 2012

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Aw, she has the same pattern as my Delilah, except with black in place of orange and vice versa! 



Mine is definitely not a Turkish Van though. She cannot stand water and is hardly athletic (we are working on losing some weight!).

@Molly92. Miss Delilah is sure a beauty. Her and Kuce do look very similar in color pattern and size (structure wise).

Kuce was pretty busy except on the days her arthritis was bothering her bad. Even at the end she was trying to stay busy but was having more bad days then not.

Not to pry but how old is she and her weight? Kuce was 19.5 when she passed and her weight was just over 10 pounds 0 her normal healthy weight was 12 pounds (both her vets thought it was a good weight for her size).

11 to 12 pounds might look good on her. All depends on her body type. She does look to be a larger stocky body type for a lady cat - in a good way but still with her feminine looks.

I haven't shopped at Whole Foods as there isn't one located nearby though I have heard mixed reviews. Not familiar with their pet foods. Poor sweetheart. Good for you trying to get her closer to what she should be and at a slower pace with the vets supervision. She'll thank you for it.

It is hard not to spoil them.

Kuce passed away from cancer that possibly started somewhere and spread to her lungs. She never showed any signs and saw the vet regularly 2 times a year. She started having breathing issues and at first the vet and I thought it was an upper respiratory or her asthma flaring up. Don't want to hijack the thread any further on her health in regards to the cancer.

Keep up the good work with your sweetheart.

Hello! I kno this is an old post but I was doing some googling and came upon this feed!
We have a rescue kitten who looks almost identical to your kitty! Was doing some research on her because she acts so different then a regular cat and feels so soft! I was wondering myself if she could have any Turkish van in her!

Her mother was a snowshoe Siamese mix, so I'm unsure how this kitten came out of her! The mom stopped taking care of her at about a week old and she was in pretty rough shape when I had gotten her!

This is her what her markings look like! She's always trying to hop in the tub with my toddler! They love each other!

Her mother was probably just a color pointed domestic. Color-pointed doesn't automatically make them Siamese mix. Yours is a gorgeous Domestic Longhair. Purebred cats are so very rare, it is highly unlikely any of the cats here are Turkish Van, they just resemble one. Majority of cats running around in the world have no specific breed ancestry at all.