Beautiful stray!

LeiLana80

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So, a teeny bit of a back story first :)
HI! New to the forums here... but not new to cats <3 I grew up with multiple cats throughout the years. When I moved out and got married, I was catless for about 8 years (wow!) and it was very lonely ;) .
But now our kids are a little older, and they were ready for pets. So early last year we adopted a wonderfully sweet black male; two months later, an orange and white male tabby. Fast forward to this last Thanksgiving, I came home with a male black/brown/white tabby kitten after he claimed me at a routine pet store visit (oops ;) ). Then a a few weeks ago, during yet another regular pet store visit, we came home with a *beautiful* medium haired male (he looks like he could be part Somali).

Well, here's where it gets interesting. Literally a day after we got the last one, we heard "meows" coming from under our van in the middle of the night. We called... out walks this beautiful long haired white cat. She was very hungry and cold (it was in the 20's) and wanted us to help her- I picked her right up and took her inside.
(Side note: she was not microchipped; I checked and posted on the local lost pets pages; no hits. We conclude she was a mooching stray because she was in such yucky shape when we found her.)

After a vet trip, a bath, and two weeks of nutrition, she has perked up. Gained a decent amount of weight. Loves to play. Eats like a PIG (seriously!).
We are curious if she is early pregnant... or just a hungry piggy.
The vet said that if she was, it was very very early on (like the first week or so). She's so darn fluffy I can't physically tell anything by looking at her belly, other than that she is heaver when we pick her up (rounder tummy). We have had her for 16 days now. I try to look at her nipples, but her fur is still very knotted and messy... I could only find one before she got mad (she is not the most easy going cat, that's for sure). So far, she has not been in heat.

So... here she is, and a picture of the only nipple I could find in those 5 seconds. lol
What do you guys think?
(I know only time will tell ;)  Just very curious over here!!!)




 

1CatOverTheLine

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Welcome to TCS.  Best guess: no, based more on colouration, however.  She's just incredible.  You're not in New Mexico by any chance, are you - or just east of Dallas?

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LeiLana80

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Nope, not even close! Other side of the US :)
Yes, I couldn't believe my eyes when she walked out to us!

All her skin is quite pink, and I swear her nipples are very slightly bigger than they were before (but I only get short glimpses!). The first few days we had her, she would randomly gag at the smell/sound of her food; but then a few hours later, go right back and eat the same food like crazy. So she definitely had waves of random nausea for about a week. Very strange.

I have never dealt with an unspayed female before; this is all new cat territory for me. Ours have always been fixed immediately (or before we adopted them).

Just a side note: we WILL be getting her spayed, no worries there! However, we are waiting to see if she is currently pregnant. My mom (who I inherited my love of cats from) asked me to wait; if she is pregnant, my mom wants the kittens. :) We have it all covered, within the family!
 

1CatOverTheLine

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Nope, not even close! Other side of the US :)
Yes, I couldn't believe my eyes when she walked out to us!

All her skin is quite pink, and I swear her nipples are very slightly bigger than they were before (but I only get short glimpses!). The first few days we had her, she would randomly gag at the smell/sound of her food; but then a few hours later, go right back and eat the same food like crazy. So she definitely had waves of random nausea for about a week. Very strange.

I have never dealt with an unspayed female before; this is all new cat territory for me. Ours have always been fixed immediately (or before we adopted them).

Just a side note: we WILL be getting her spayed, no worries there! However, we are waiting to see if she is currently pregnant. My mom (who I inherited my love of cats from) asked me to wait; if she is pregnant, my mom wants the kittens. :) We have it all covered, within the family!
If she is pregnant, and was mated in Breed, I sure that hope Mom has a big swimming pool.

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LeiLana80

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When we bathed her, we couldn't figure out why she stayed calm and still......
 

1CatOverTheLine

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When we bathed her, we couldn't figure out why she stayed calm and still......
Was she actually so dirty that you couldn't tell she was a Van at first?  Poor thing.  I wonder if Catherine Claucherty would recognise her, assuming she came from TatVan originally?  What a stunner, too.  I've always loved Turkish Vans, and the cameos are just incredible.

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LeiLana80

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We just weren't quite aware of the breed at first! So after a day or so (after she had stabilized a bit) we were researching a bit, and boy, were we surprised!
She was really dirty! We could see her markings- we just didn't know how lucky we were! lol
I wonder if she's a mix, though, as her tail isn't striped (but maybe that is not a defining factor?). She also has a bit of that cream/orange color on some of her legs, very very faintly.
I tried to look to see if there were breeders in the area, but the closest one was in Texas? But I don't know anything about where to look, honestly.
(We are in the Indiana/Ohio area ;) )
 

1CatOverTheLine

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We just weren't quite aware of the breed at first! So after a day or so (after she had stabilized a bit) we were researching a bit, and boy, were we surprised!
She was really dirty! We could see her markings- we just didn't know how lucky we were! lol
I wonder if she's a mix, though, as her tail isn't striped (but maybe that is not a defining factor?). She also has a bit of that cream/orange color on some of her legs, very very faintly.
I tried to look to see if there were breeders in the area, but the closest one was in Texas? But I don't know anything about where to look, honestly.
(We are in the Indiana/Ohio area ;) )
Catherine Claucherty's in Battle Creek, Michigan.  Your little girl - whose name you've not yet told us - is cameo rather than red Tabby.  Now and then you'll see a Van that carries the gene for dilution:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilution_gene

You're very fortunate to have found her - and of course, she's fortunate as well.  I'm jealous; the last two "good cats" that were dropped off at my place were a Norwegian Forest Cat who eats almost non-stop, and the evil delightful Snowshoe in my avatar.

;)

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LeiLana80

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No name yet! It's a teeny bit of a dispute... ;)
Technically my husband discovered her on that very cold night, and he wanted to name her Frosty. I jokingly suggested Frostina, since she was a girl (I thought for sure she was microchipped and wouldn't be staying with us). Well, he liked it and insists that it remains.
I think she deserves a much more regal name! But I haven't been able to pick one yet.
 

1CatOverTheLine

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No name yet! It's a teeny bit of a dispute... ;)
Technically my husband discovered her on that very cold night, and he wanted to name her Frosty. I jokingly suggested Frostina, since she was a girl (I thought for sure she was microchipped and wouldn't be staying with us). Well, he liked it and insists that it remains.
I think she deserves a much more regal name! But I haven't been able to pick one yet.
I think "Frostina" is perfect (Cameos were once referred to as Frosted Vans), and when you write her song (I'm assuming that all your cats have their own songs), look at all the lovely rhymes you'll have - Athena, euglena, marina, Fontina, Palestrina, Novena, ballerina, concertina, javelina (you already referred to her as a piggy), ocarina, Argentina - hey - "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" - you could use the tune and the song would almost write itself!

Don't Cry for Me oh ♫ Fronstina.... ♫

<exit, stage left>

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LeiLana80

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Oh, neat! I had no idea!
I also had no idea that anyone else makes up and sings songs to their cats!
I thought my family was just weird
 

howmany

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She is very pretty but can't think that she's a pure breed cat with no mico chip...
Random genes are funny ! I had a nor. forest cat lookalike whose mom I know was a short haired tabby( no bi colour) semi feral barn cat. Will your mom still want the kittens if the are plain old bi colour taddy cats of mid length fur?What if there are 6 or 9 of them ???
 

howmany

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Don't mean to be a downer, and am guilty of not spaying my cat as soon as she got pregnant ( was not supposed to 6 years old child let her out) but ended up with 4 kittens I kept . Now ten months old .
 

abyeb

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Turkish Vans often like swimming! Has your kitty showed any interest in turning on/off the faucets or playing in the water bowl? If you haven't given her a tub of water to play with yet, try it! She might love it. Of course, all cats are individuals, so this Turkish Van purr-sonality trait might now be found in your kitty.

There's also a Turkish Van breeder in West Virginia, just FYI. I'll do a little research and see if I can find some in your area. It's possible that a whole male escaped and mated with a feral female, so your kitty might have inherited the Sv gene that way.

It's rare, but not unheard of for people to find purebred cats on the street. This happened on the Cats 101 episode of Havana Brown. I'll attach a link:

You certainly are very lucky to have found this lovely kitty, I look forward to seeing more pictures of her on TCS!
 

abyeb

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Here's the scoop:

I was incorrect about there being a breeder in West Virginia. I remember hearing about this breeder before, but I forgot that that was a Turkish ANGORA breeder.

There is a Turkish Van breeder in Texas, as 1CatOverTheLine mentioned, but there are also two in Michigan.
 

howmany

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1CatOverTheLine 1CatOverTheLine I ment by random that genes are passed if (both parents aren't pure breeds) a cat gets half of a gene set from both parents some of which are recessive, and delute calico from one parent with long hair from one with mostly white bi- colour could end up looking like a van.
I did say she was pretty, but I am one of those cat people who get annoyed with short hair grey cat with stock build being a Russian blue. Instead of a dsh grey[emoji]128527[/emoji]
Because they are lucky to have found lovely cat with a bit of an attitude anyhow... and her them and was honestly worried that her mom won't want the kittens if they don't look like mom and are say black bi colour short hairs.
PS I had a swimming cat all black short hair that she was.
 

1CatOverTheLine

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@1CatOverTheLineI ment by random that genes are passed if (both parents aren't pure breeds) a cat gets half of a gene set from both parents some of which are recessive, and delute calico from one parent with long hair from one with mostly white bi- colour could end up looking like a van.
I did say she was pretty, but I am one of those cat people who get annoyed with short hair grey cat with stock build being a Russian blue. Instead of a dsh grey[emoji]128527[/emoji]
Because they are lucky to have found lovely cat with a bit of an attitude anyhow... and her them and was honestly worried that her mom won't want the kittens if they don't look like mom and are say black bi colour short hairs.
PS I had a swimming cat all black short hair that she was.
Sv is a Semi-Dominant.  Respectfully, I'd suggest reading the 2012 study done by The Lyons’ Feline Genetics Laboratory at the University of California, Davis, School of  Veterinary Medicine, "Genetics of Turkish Cats Populations and Breeds," especially as regards the bundling of the alleles modifying C/c and codominance in the Sv Phenotype.

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abyeb

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Sv is a Semi-Dominant.  Respectfully, I'd suggest reading the 2012 study done by The Lyons’ Feline Genetics Laboratory at the University of California, Davis, School of  Veterinary Medicine, "Genetics of Turkish Cats Populations and Breeds," especially as regards the bundling of the alleles modifying C/c and codominance in the Sv Phenotype.

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There was also an interesting documentary about Turkish Vans and Angoras that I saw on YouTube. I'll try to link to it. But basically, it does confirm that Sv is semi-dominant, some Turkish Vans born in Turkey are pure white, no van markings.

The Angora documentary that also talks about Vans:
The Turkish Van documentary:
It is interesting especially for American viewers, where the Turkish Van and Turkish Angora are so rare here, but in Turkey they just roam the streets.
 
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LeiLana80

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Wow, thanks for all the discussion and information! I find all of this very interesting! And boy, you guys know your stuff... I love it!

So while she hasn't shown much of an interest in water, as I stated earlier, her bath was suspiciously quiet and tame (especially compared to some of the others! haha). We just thought she was so sick she wasn't fighting it.

My mother will take any kitty, no matter how they look
. She has a 19 year old female tortie who has bad arthritis and cataracts who has slowed down tremendously in the last few years. No new cats will be incoming until she passes, so as to not stress her out. We don't think she has much longer; so we are keeping her comfortable.
She also has a 10 year old grey/white tabby, who is so happy and easy going, she could bring a circus in and he'd be pleased
.

So even if the cats come out as the most common tabby, she's fine with that! She just wants her next set of cats to be siblings.
My father is fine with whatever my mother wants
haha!
 
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