cat breeds

how is it that with dogs, you can tell what dog breeds are in a mixed breed from the shelter, but with cats it's impossible?

I think it is more difficult to impossible in kitty world since only 1% of all cats are pure breed ... thus making the likelyhood of getting evan a cross much lower than in dog world where I think45% of all dogs are purebreed... Also cats domiant and ressesive traits are much different... A cat can look siamese and have none in them just a gene or two that made the points "_

I think its mainly because there are more purebred dogs than there are cats, and more distinct and thus recognizable breeds of dog. Breeding cats in the US isn't as popular, for whatever reasons, as breeding dogs, and so we have more "purebred" dogs.
Also, there's such variation between different breeds of dogs--think of the differences between chihuahuas and great danes, for example, so its easier to recognize specific breed traits in dogs than in cats, where many breeds are very similar in size and shape. The only breed trait I can really easily recognize in a "mixed breed" or DSH/DLH breed of cat is the Persian "flat-faced" tendency, which you do see every now and then in a "shelter" kitty.
Though my two kits are both shelter kits and true DSHs, I see physical differences in the two of them which point, I think, to evidence of different breeds somewhere in the distant past of their genetic history.

Without a pedigree to prove beyond doubt that ANY animal is a certain breed, it is impossible to say for a certainty whether or not that animal IS in fact that specific breed. This goes for dogs, cats, and purple-spotted giraffes. *smile* Just because an animal ~looks~ like a certain breed does not mean that it is that breed. You must have an accurate pedigree to prove it.

thank you people