Black Cats Only

psychomama

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I have a black cat named Psycho who was born feral . He is now an indoor only kitty who I have trained to walk on a leash. It can be done but takes time and patience.
 
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segelkatt

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This is the same cat? From all black to a weird colored cat with a black head? She also has really long hair now which she does not have on the pic when she is all black.  I've seen black cats that turned brown in the summer from laying around in the sun a lot but this is the weirdest thing I've ever seen. What does the vet say to this? Is it diet or some new kind of cat? Are you sure you are not putting us on , maybe you photoshopped her?
 

mservant

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@Norachan  I adore Carpet (and her name) but can't see her ever having a bad hair day!  She is too lovely for that.  I wonder if this is what ticked tabby looks like as very very long fur?   Her siblings are all gorgeous too and similar in colouring other than head.   I think Carpet looks a little like a feline version of a Pekinese dog.  I can just imagine her all foofed up and a little bow in her fur.  
 

Norachan

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Thank you @MServant  I really don't know how you'd describe her colouring. She doesn't have any tabby markings like her sisters do, she needs a colour category all of her own.

There is a bit of a Pekinese look to her. When she's very happy she bares her teeth and snorts at you. I always tell her she's a Chinese Demon Kitty. 
 
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segelkatt

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She does look lovely, that fur is amazing. Maybe you should breed her although I don't know with what kind of a cat (Persian, Maine Coon?) and see what comes out. Two of her sisters look like Maine Coons (that mama cat has been around!) and Carpet's fur appears to be even longer. But that black head is what really makes her different. Other odd-looking cats have been the beginning of a new breed, why not yours?
 

mservant

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@Norachan  I don't know about daemon but I can see Carpet as one of those Chinese dragons like you see in theatre.  
   I can also imagine her after a bath and fur all blow dried and fluffed up, pretending to be a Pekinese shimmying along with her fur all shiny.   
      She could definitely be the foundation for a new breed. Just imagine how long it would take getting her all prep'd up for a show!   Non of the low key quick wipe over with a damp cloth and straight in the pen that Mouse gets - she'd need preening for DAYS!  
 

Norachan

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 I don't know who her father was, but this was her mother Kumori.


 Kumori was so sweet. I managed to get her TNR'd and I was going to bring her with us when we moved, but she disappeared a few days before we left. The families who feed the remaining feral cats in our old neighbourhood say they haven't seen her since. I'm still kicking myself for not picking her up and moving her sooner.

 


Carpet and all of her sisters have been spayed, so I'll guess we'l never know what her kittens would have looked like. I quite like the idea of breeding the world's first Chinese demon kitties, but with all these homeless bob-tail cats to take care of it's probably not a good idea.
 
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segelkatt

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Too bad you could not get her bred before she was spayed but then again, as you said, there are too many other kitties around. Her mom and grandparents are all beautiful cats so you can only wonder where she got her looks from. Be sure to keep us up to date on her color changes. As you know the Siamese trait changes the looks of the cat as it goes from tiny kitten to teenage kitten (white to points), so maybe this is an extreme case, but actually in reverse as she went from a dark body to a lighter color body, had a dark face that she kept.

Regarding her color: maybe it's just the picture (or my monitor) but that fur does not just look like shades of brown/tan but there seems to be GREEN in it and grey and red, not in patches but just all over more like streaks. Does her hair mat like a Persian's or stay untangled like Maine Coons or Birman's? You say most of the cats there have the Japanese bob tail gene.  But Carpet appears to have a regular length tail and bushy too. No?

If the mama cat shows up in your old neighborhood have you asked the old neighbors to try to catch her and then call you? I would also look out for other weird looking cats that have the coloring of Carpet and see if you can catch one and breed it. I know it's expensive and takes several generations with strange results in between to come up with a new breed that looks like Carpet, and who knows if it would change color with the seasons like Carpet has until now (she might stay like this forever and never get all black again) which would really be something. A cat that changes color with the seasons: people would go crazy trying to have one.

Imagine that:   you have an all-black cat and somebody comes to visit 6 months later and thinks you have a new cat, but 6 months after that it's black again and your friend is starting to wonder about you and your "new" cat and what happened to the "other" cat, not knowing that it is still the same cat. Of course they would never believe that you have a cat that changes color. But once you have convinced them that this is real and not a fake everybody will want to have one.

I just can't stop looking at the picture of Carpet. I hope she has a long life with you, she is just so unique looking. You are keeping her inside so she won't get lost, aren't you? I would think the newspapers would also have a field day with her. Maybe you can have her featured in CatFancy  (now "Catster") magazine.  We cat people love to look at cats of all kinds. 
 

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Thanks for the nice comments @segelkatt  
 

Carpet and all of her sisters (and her cousins and any other feral cat that I could persuade to come with me) are safe now. We moved up into the mountains last summer so now they have a big enclosure in the forest to play in. There are some photos of it here.

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/276982/moving-house-taking-the-colony-with-me-any-advice-please

It was too stressful trying to take care of a colony where we used to live. Even though it was a very quiet, rural area cats would disappear and I just couldn't cope with the worry and the heartbreak. Now, hopefully, they're all going to have long and happy lives.

She gets groomed most days. Her fur is very silky so she doesn't get that many tangles. It's tough in the autumn when she comes home full of grass seeds, but apart from that she's very low maintenance. I've got lots of photos of her when she was a kitten, I'll try and find them so you can see how her colour changes. She seems to be black with rusty streaks in the summer and black with pale grey streaks in the winter. Maybe she's trying to blend in with all the snow? 


The neighbours keep me updated on what's going on with the ferals that were too wild to catch again after they'd been TNR'd. They know I'm looking for Kumori and they've promised to call me if she shows up. It would be so nice to see her again, I really feel bad about not bringing her with us.
 

mservant

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@Norachan   It looks to me as if Carpet's long hair may have had something to do with the genes from Kumori as her fur does look beautifully thick and long.  I guess if there were another long fur gene and of ticked colouring or point  - though how her colour changes the oposite way from cool to warm seems funny - could result in her beautiful long fur.  Unique and very, very special.
 

mnm

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ummm that's crazy ...oops was commenting on the color changing kitty with the brown body and black head :)
 
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