question about cat with a super shiny coat?

[screennametaken]

So I adopted a 5 year old cat from a shelter where she was given up because she didn't do well sharing attention with other cats at her last home. I took her home and she's been so friendly and affectionate and has puppy energy even though she's a cat! I've put her on a diet to help her shed a couple pounds to get her down to her recommended weight. I have no idea what her background is but I just mailed in a DNA test to learn more about her health risks and I think they will also tell me about her background?

The question: Is her very shiny coat a result of some genetic thing from a distant relative or is this just what a super healthy coat should look like? I tried to get some photos. I've had cats before with healthy, shiny coats but hers is almost beyond that. It's super hard to take photos of cuz it kind of shines white and you can't really even see her patterns when she's in the sun. She's also ridiculously soft and doesn't shed much. I've never had a cat that is this soft and I love that she doesn't really shed because all of my previous cats shed like crazy so it's a nice change haha!

The DNA test is going to take 6-8 weeks to process and I'm just curious about this in the mean time because I wanted to get her on better food (I continued feeding her purina simply as the shelter told me her last owners fed her that) but if her coat is an indicator of health or that the food is a good match I would just keep her on the same dry food. She gets wet food as well and if her diet from outward appearances seems to be working I don't wanna switch it up too much!

Other info: I'm not sure if it helps (incase the shiny coat might be related to a genetic thing/is not just dietary) but her eyes are golden/green depending on the light. Her fur is reddish brown with stripes and each piece of fur is like banded/striped as well. The bottoms of her paws are pitch black fur/pads, she is very curious, observant and intelligent and loves to play but I'm needing to relearn how to play with her cuz she figures out the game and then gets bored. For example she won't respond to laser pointer after she figured it out and actively seems annoyed when I try to get her interested in it haha.

Other random things: She's more talkative than any cat I've had and tends to vocalize more with cute little chirps and trills than anything else. She makes air biscuits a ton (never had a cat that makes air biscuits so I'm excited) and she also does this weird tail vibration type wag when she's excited or happy which I've never had a cat that does that so intensely as a happy thing? She's extremely social and independent and likes to follow me around and will sometimes herd me to the thing she wants.

I don't know about cat breeds and I'm not sure if this info helpful in determining if her coat could be a genetic thing or luck with her current diet? If the shine is a genetic thing is there a word for this type of coat texture to describe it better than super shiny? I appreciate any help anyways and I apologize if this is a stupid question haha.

Here are a few pics!

 

[amethyst]

A shiny coat can be an indicator of a good diet since coats of healthy cats tend to be shiny. However it really only means the food has the right amount of ingredients, like fish oils for example, and to help produce a shiny coat, you need to look at overall body condition. Also some cats a good about grooming to keep the coat clean and/or enjoy being regularly brushed, both help spread the natural oils to keep the fur nice. Just like humans hair though some cats just naturally have better fur then others regardless of diet, do to genetics with different coat types.
Satin Coat
Coat is soft, thick and glossy.
Silky Coat
Coat is medium to long, soft, silky and fine.
Full Coat
Coat is resilient, textured and dense. Often crimped or bent coats that can feel hard to the touch.
Suede Coat
Coat is very soft and short with almost a down-like feel.

I would also keep in mind, the DNA tests can be useful to see genetic health, but unlike dogs most cats are just random bred domestics, not any specific breed or mix. When it comes to breeds those tests can accurately tell you what region(s) it's ancestry is from ( Western (from Europe and the Americas), Eastern (from Asia), Persian (Persian and related cats), and Exotic (hybrids and Egyptian Mau )), but can't actually tell you 100% what breed(s) it is, just what ones it's genetic traits are most similar to. Similarly some of those tests will even tell you how genetically similar it is to a wild cat species, but that doesn't mean your cat is say part tiger for example.

Not all cats like laser pointers, but also a lot of cats get frustrated if you don't finish the play with something they can actually catch. You need to end the play with an actual toy and maybe even a treat so they get the satisfaction of actually catching "prey" otherwise it's just an annoying tease and quickly becomes no fun.

The vibrating tail means the cat is happy and excited to see you (or sometimes a treat/food or toy you have).

 

[screennametaken]

That helped so much! I googled the different coat types and I think she has a satin coat? I also feel a little more confident switching her to some better food now. Thank you!

I'm definitely excited to see more on her health. She's already had some dental issues and a friend who got a DNA test for their cat said it was useful to see where issues might come up so she could ask the vet about those things during check ups. Thank you again!

 

[StefanZ]

Excellent answer above. Exemplary and educative.

that said, her coloring isnt the usual mill product. so she may have an Ancestor after all.

 

[screennametaken]

Excellent answer above. Exemplary and educative.

that said, her coloring isnt the usual mill product. so she may have an Ancestor after all.

Yesss! I think the one thing that I love about her is she looks like 2 different cats depending on how the light hits her? People keep asking me about why her fur does that/what's that called when fur does that and I just have to be like idk she's cute and a mutt haha. It's definitely confused at least 2 people I've sent pics to because they thought I got a grey cat and I had to explain her coat is hard to photograph/changes a bit depending on the lighting. You can kinda see the more accurate colorings of her fur in the photo of her sitting up facing camera. In the sun/bright light she's very brightly cinnamon colored. In indirect light she looks pretty grey (usually more than in the photo even in person) with just a little cinnamon on her face in different spots.

I'm definitely happy I adopted her as it's super fun having a cat that's so different personality wise than cats I've had before. I like a challenge and she's definitely challenging at times haha!

 

[screennametaken]

I got her test DNA results back! She's pretty equally norwegian forest cat, siberian, maine coon and domestic shorthair which wasn't at all what I was expected haha! It's wild she has short fur even with all the relatives that probably had longer fur. I will say I'm glad I got the test because they did confirm some stuff about her dental health that I'm going to bring her in for before her annual vet visit.

 

[Ella Spell]

What company did the DNA test?

I didn't know they were available.

Was it expensive?

 

[screennametaken]

It wasn't that bad! I paid about $120 and used basepaws. I found it useful. It took about 7 weeks from when I mailed it in, until I got the results back.

 

[Ella Spell]

Thanks! I was just reading about them but it says they don't tell you the breed, just the location of ancestors?
Yours specifically said NFC, Siberian and Maine Coon?

That's the kind of stuff I'd like to know.

My super-long black and gold satin-coat girl's mother was a short-hair domestic orange tabby. All eight of her littermates were short haired orange tabby boys. Then she was the runt with enough fur to look NFC / MC or even Ragdoll. She was the only girl, the only black one, and the only long-haired. She was considerably smaller. It's possible that the mother cat mated with two boys (apparently that's a thing), or else I assume the dad was black. Boys wouldn't get the dad's colour genes. I mostly want to know if she has any NFC or MC in her, just out of curiosity, but the tests keep saying they won't find that. Yours did, though. Hmmm. I wonder how far back it is for your cat? Do they indicate that?

 

[screennametaken]

So how it appears to work off my results is it gives you a list of breeds/cat types on the results that your cat is most genetically similar to. It also tells you the part of the world they are from.

I think if you wanted to do a test just for breeds there might actually be better tests for that than basepaws? On the site it lists all the breeds they currently will label but they do mention they plan on adding more over time.

I'm not sure how far back it goes but it did mention less than .96% Persian so I'm assuming it picks up on things in some recent lineage though I would honestly email them to check.

What is cool is they break down risks of different genetic things and if she is a carrier for certain genetic issues and it lists out physical traits and the likelihood she carries those traits/posseses them. That was actually super accurate. They gave me her blood type as well.

I am actually going to take the result of the dental screen to the vet with me because it details out the types of bacteria in her mouth and it mentioned she's at high risk for some type of tooth reabsorption/may already actively have periodontal disease. When I adopted her in January they told me she was at risk of developing it/has minor adjacent issues and I could wait to bring her to a vet for her annual to address that (as they had just given her a full check up) but now I'm going to go sooner. As a preventative measure I've been using an addictive in her water the shelter recommended to her water to help her teeth stay healthy and giving her dental treats/brushing her teeth but I am definitely happy I did the test because it seemed to find issues with her teeth that I wasn't aware of and I want to see if there are other things I can do to help with that after seeing a vet.

 

[Ella Spell]

Thanks so much!

May I ask what you're adding to the water?

 

[StefanZ]

I got her test DNA results back! She's pretty equally norwegian forest cat, siberian, maine coon and domestic shorthair which wasn't at all what I was expected haha! It's wild she has short fur even with all the relatives that probably had longer fur.

Long fur is recessive gene, short fur is dominant. So as soon she has any short haired ancestor, the probability will become high she will have a short fur. Even if she has lotsa of long haired ancestors.

Even if there ARE combos with two shorthaired parents whom gets long haired childs; but the opposite is easier to get.

 

[screennametaken]

Thanks so much!

May I ask what you're adding to the water?

I'm adding oxyfresh dental care water additive!