my cats breed?

[tucker714]

I have been researching what my cats ancestral breed might be and just wanted some more advice/opinions. She is almost a year old and weighs 8-ish pounds. She is mostly white with large grey patches that have smaller and darker grey spots inside them. Her tail, head and ears are grey and her face (below the eyes) is white. She has no markings on her stomach or front legs/paws, however her back legs do have some of the spotting on them. Her paw pads are pink and grey, none of which are just one color. She has beautiful green eyes and a black and pink nose. She is long and lanky and usually instead of meowing she makes what I call "the pigeon" kind of a mix between a purr and a meow.

I would love to hear what you think she might be!
 

 

[jcat]

She's a domestic shorthair, as are about 95% of all cats in North America. That's not a recognized "breed" like Persian, Angora, Siamese, etc., and they're thought to have descended from the African wildcat, Felis silvestris lybica. They don't have a pedigree and come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, colors and coat patterns.

 

[mrblanche]

Of course, at the DNA level, she's a Little African Wildcat, as are all domestic cats.

 

[ritz]

@jcat:  you brought up something I've been wondering about.  I take care of a feral/stray/dumped cat colony; since November 2010 I've TNRd around 30 cats.  Around 10 stayed around to dine at "my restaurant" (the dumpster in front of my condo building).

100% of them are DSH, no long haired.  About 80% are male.

BUT a new cat has recently shown up, and I think she/he is longer haired than the others.  And based purely on pictures on the internet, I'm guessing she has some Maine Coon in her.  Are all MC, long haired?  I hope to trap her tonight and get her/him spayed/neutered.  And I'll get a better look at her/him.

Thanks.

 

[jcat]

I know little about breeding, but afaik all Maine Coons are medium-to-longhaired (medium if you compare them to Persians, with a bit of a ruff around the neck), but all domestic longhaired cats certainly aren't Maine Coons. It's apalling how many cats, including purebreds, are being abandoned nowadays, so I suppose it's possible that she's (part) Maine Coon.

 

[tucker714]

Thanks for your reply!

 

[ritz]

I volunteer for Rude Ranch, a cattery near Annapolis, MD.  (Shamless plug--recently on "Must Love Cats".)  They have a pure bred Himalayan, from a hoarder situation.  Tested postive for FELK; super sweet.  Yeah, it's a sham.

Ritz (my cat) is a DSH, but her two brothers are, we think part Maine Coon, certainly medium to long hair. 

 

[Willowy]

Maine Coons were developed from a natural "type"--the big, strong, shaggy-haired farm mousers of the American northeast. So it's not unusual to find a domestic longhair that appears to be a Maine Coon.

 

[ritz]

My eyes deceived me:  the 'maine coon' turned out to be a big boy, short haired, long whiskers, brownish in color.  At the vets now getting neutered.  Named him Hercules (cause I'm going to Greece on vacation the end of September so all of the cats I TNR this year will be named after Greece.)

 

[tarasgirl06]

She's genetically strong, because she's "multiCATural" --- and she's very beautiful!  ***"RESCUED" is our favorite "breed"***

 

[catspaw66]

She is a beautiful lady.  What is her name?

 

[orientalslave]

She's genetically strong, because she's "multiCATural" --- and she's very beautiful!  ***"RESCUED" is our favorite "breed"***

She might be, but there are plenty of inbreed colonies of feral cats.  However I guess they are examples of Darwinism in action...

 

[northernglow]

Ritz (my cat) is a DSH, but her two brothers are, we think part Maine Coon, certainly medium to long hair. 

Now I'm confused. How can her brothers be part Maine Coons without her being one too? Unless they are from a different litter of course (half brothers).. 

 

[tarasgirl06]

When a girl cat is in heat, she will entertain multiple boyfriends and she can become pregnant by more than one in a day!  This is why a family ('litter') of kittens will often look very different one from another. 

 

[ritz]

@NorthernGlow:  A female cat can be impregnanted by two different males.
Yeah, it isn't pleasant being a female sometimes......

 

[northernglow]

I'm well aware of that, it's just very uncommon. Or should I say it's rare that the kittens survive from multiple sires, as some of them are often premature and kittens don't handle that well at all. In most cases only one sire's kittens survive. They don't mate with a queen right after one another you know.. If they are outdoor cats they'll likely have serious territory battles in between, a male won't just let another male to breed with "his" females. If they are indoor cats and know each other, then it's more likely that they would even 'share' a female.

On this site it seems to be oddly common for a cat to be 'part this or part that' or have siblings that are 'part x' when the others in the same litter aren't....  One colorpoint or longhair kitten in a litter doesn't automatically mean that his/her father is a Siamese/Persian/Coon/whatever and the others have different father 'cause they don't share the same appearance. If we'd be talking about some impossible color in a litter instead, I'd be more willingly believe it. Just saying and wondering..

 

[clynn11]

Actually NorthernGlow, it's really common. You are probably thinking about two completely separate litters carried at once- which can sometimes very rarely happen when a female gets pregnant and then ovulates again about 7-10 days after she's already conceived. There have been cases of cats having one litter and then another a week later, and also cases of one or two kittens being underdeveloped in a litter of the rest that are fully grown because of this.

However, cats are induced ovulators and usually take 2-5 matings to start ovulating, by this time it is common for there to be sperm from many different males inside her that can fertilize the eggs- and YES many males mate with one female over the course of her ovulating you can usually see a feral female surrounded by a circle of males when she comes into heat- I've witnessed this. This is what accounts for some of the different looking littermates, although obviously some do have the same father.

I believe on the segment 'Cats: In the Womb' on National Geographic it stated that 80% of domestic cat litters have more than one father for the littermates.

 

[missymotus]

Agree with NG, different colored kittens are easily explained with genetics, what colours the parents are and what they carry

 

[missymotus]

Would also like to see the DNA tests showing 80% of moggie litters have multiple fathers as I do not believe its anywhere near that common

 

[northernglow]

Actually NorthernGlow, it's really common. You are probably thinking about two completely separate litters carried at once- which can sometimes very rarely happen when a female gets pregnant and then ovulates again about 7-10 days after she's already conceived. There have been cases of cats having one litter and then another a week later, and also cases of one or two kittens being underdeveloped in a litter of the rest that are fully grown because of this.

Even a single day's age difference can be enough for a kitten to not make it. That's why breeders keep (or should keep) their breeding couple together for as short time as possible. I've noticed the practice varies in different countries, but here the max. time is often 48h (shorter if successful looking matings have been witnessed, and closer to that 48h if the cats are first timers etc).

Personally I've never seen or heard from anyone I know of a litter with several sires and kittens born alive.

Maybe you have more experience and/or knowledge on the breeding/genetic field than I do, I've only been doing this for few years, so I could of course be wrong.