what breed is my new kitten?

[rachtbh]

Hi there,

I recently rescued a little grey kitten and have named him Shadow.  A few comments have been made about how beautiful and unusual he is, and I can't seem to place him in a specific breed.  He seems to be some sort of Russian Blue, but Id like some opinions from people that know about this stuff!

Thanks for your help! I look forward to hearing from you!

Rachel.

 

[orientalslave]

He is a lovely domestic shorthair (moggie) that happens to look a little like a Russian Blue. 

Percentage-wise there are very few pedigree cats (the GCCF registered just under 24,000 in 2010.  There are about 8 million cats in the UK, so if a cat lives 12 years on average then 8,000,000 / 12 are born each year, and 24,000 is 3.6%.

In contrast about 3/4 of the dogs in the UK are pedigrees, though I imagine quite a few are from puppy farms and unregistered.

 

[krazy kat2]

He may not be a Russian Blue, but he is a beautiful little guy.
 

 

[missymotus]

Beautiful blue moggie

 

[pushylady]

He may not be a Russian Blue, but he is a beautiful little guy.

 

Absolutely!

 

[bigperm20]

He looks just like my little RB mix Oksana. I don't know her lineage and of course neither one of our cats are full blooded. I know in my cat's case though she had several of the distinct CFA RB traits. She had short blue fur with silver tips and a thick undercoat. Her fur feels unlike any other cat I've ever owned. She feels like a chinchilla coat- very thick & luxurious. She has mauve colored paw pads. Finally, she has green eyes like a Blue. They are not a dark emerald green like they should be, they are more of a kawasaki racing green. Check out my profile for picture albums.

 

[epona]

He looks as sweet as anything, and Shadow is a great name!

The vast majority of cats aren't any breed at all, and don't have any breed in them - take pride in the fact that he is probably descended from a proud feline lineage that existed long before different breeds of cat came about, or were purposefully bred by us humans to have pointy noses or flat noses or big ears or small ears.

He looks 100% feline to me, and 100% cute, and that's what matters

 

[orientalslave]

PS the 'posh' name for that coat colour is Blue, and in some lights some grey cats really do have quite a strong blue tinge.

+1 Epona.

 

[ericat]

Looks a lot like my russian blue cross that we rescued.  Or rather, like my cat USED to look like.  He's put on a few pounds and is usually covered in sand and grit from rolling on the ground, the odd slug or snail attached to his belly fur.   lol

 

[orientalslave]

'looks like' is the keyword.  The GCCF publish an analysis of cats registered by breed, and Russian Blues are rare - 366 registered in 2010 from a total of 23.930 pedigree cats.  In other words, a rare cat.

http://www.gccfcats.org/pdf/AnalysisOfBreedsRegistered2006_2010.pdf

 

[bigperm20]

Why are there so few Russian Blue Breeders? It's such a beautiful breed with such a great temperament.

 

[missymotus]

Why are there so few Russian Blue Breeders? It's such a beautiful breed with such a great temperament.

No real reasons, plenty of breeds are rare. Mine only has 4 breeders in this country, and they are the best cat ever 

 

[graill]

The eye color and ears are wrong for a Korat, so a mix of a blue and something else, or three (Grin). Pay attention to the eye color in the next 6 months, you should be able to get some more clues when it hits 1 year to 15 months. Still cute.

 

[orientalslave]

There is almost certainly no clue to be had.  Blue is a common colour in non-pedigree cats, the most that can be said is that this lovely kitten looks a little like a particular breed.

 

[missymotus]

Eyes and ears are wrong for a Korat mix, looks more blue with something else, you will be able to to tell at the 15 month stage. The eyes make me lean toward a Blue mix of some type. There is always genetic testing if you want to spend the money.

Blue being a colour and not a breed, means there are no clues toward breed. Waiting until 15 months won't make any difference.

Blue just means the parents are probably either brown or blue, and the browns carry blue (there are more colour options but blue and brown moggies are the more common). Dilutes require both parents to carry or be dilute themselves.

 

[StefanZ]

Blue being a colour and not a breed, means there are no clues toward breed. Waiting until 15 months won't make any difference.

The difference is the eye color goes sometimes deeper as they get adult. So far it was a useful suggestion.

The problem is, cat breeds (nowadays) is not what they do look like, but what their ancestry is.  So without pedigree papers or at least, good and solid proofs, we can perhaps tell what look alike it perhaps is.

NOT what breed it is.

To be complete. In some rare cases really excellent look alikes can be examined and accepted as Novices into said breed.   This happens mostly in "natural breeds" especielly in the beginning.

Some other examples has also happened.   But it is not often, and demands the registry is still open -

So this with Novices is good to  know what it is, but they are rare exceptions.

Even more rare than to find a real pure breed of decent quality home at your backyard or so, and without chip or tattoo...  

 

[graill]

Blue being a colour and not a breed, means there are no clues toward breed. Waiting until 15 months won't make any difference.

Blue just means the parents are probably either brown or blue, and the browns carry blue (there are more colour options but blue and brown moggies are the more common). Dilutes require both parents to carry or be dilute themselves.

@missymotus, i apologize, i had assumed you read the OP's original topic and at least realized we were not on the color select page of the Crayola Crayon website, a common mistake, let me clarify for you.

On a cat site when folks refer to a blue we are referrencing a possible Russian blue mix, not a color, the breed, my fault in assuming you would not realize this. I was adding to the OP's topic, not yours. On a side note your assumption on color is misplaced in you assuming it gives no clue towards breed identification, i guess showing points for color are not important, but then breed, not color, is the topic of discussion.

As for waiting 15 months, why on earth would you dismiss a cat in adolescense verse one as a kitten to help identify physical traits as an identifying tool. Lets review the ears and nose/muzzle area of the kitten in the OP's post. The length of the nose from the leather and the width from the eye lines will show two things, a smooth line/connection or a more lionlike look (eyes seperate and the nose ramp moves up between them), At 15 months to 2 years a person will be better able to tell what might be mixed if they do not test their pet to see what it actually is. The ears also give away a clue, they are a bit too hairy around the ridges and not flared at the base and the snout is wrong for the Korat breed i mentioned, this will become much more pronounced at 15 months to a couple years, something you simply dismissed.

The OP's kitten shows more traits for a Russian Blue (NOT a pure race breed) mix than anything else.  The eye color right now is wrong for both breeds i mentioned, again, eye color will also change in time as the animal matures and may give further assistance to the OP in identifying, breed and possible mixes.

As for tabletop troubleshooting and what type of cat the OP found, i think it is a new friend.

Bonus material!!  Grin.

On a side note, for future reference i am an expert on both Korats (My cat of choice) and Russina Blues, real Russian blues, not the mishmash of cats great britain breeders and breeders in the USA mashed together and nowadays that pass for and are accepted for this NON race breed. If you have not been to Russia you will be at a disadvantage with me in discussing real Blues or Archangels as they should be known but cannot as the pure race is 98% extinct. 

 

[northernglow]

On a side note, for future reference i am an expert on both Korats (My cat of choice) and Russina Blues, real Russian blues, not the mishmash of cats great britain breeders and breeders in the USA mashed together and nowadays that pass for and are accepted for this NON race breed. If you have not been to Russia you will be at a disadvantage with me in discussing real Blues or Archangels as they should be known but cannot as the pure race is 98% extinct. 

I have been to Russia several times (my country shares an eastern border with it), and we have lots of Russian Blues here (popular breed), "Scandinavian type" and the "new version". They do not look anything like the cat in the first post. The whole head looks off to me. And what does Russia as a country have anything to do with this? Russian Blues as the breed it's know today doesn't even originate from Russia. 

When looking at an eye color of a cat that's supposed to have certain shade of green eyes when he grows up, you can tell by 12 weeks if the color will be correct (intensity aside). And if you want to talk about the original RUS, they had intense copper eyes which haven't been accepted for decades anymore.

(And if it has anything to do with anything, my breed choice is British Shorthair and I'm located in Finland).

 

[StefanZ]

And if you want to talk about the original RUS, they had intense copper eyes which haven't been accepted for decades anymore.

Ah, ah! In the pregnant forum we do now have a found stray, with real decent russian head, but sorrowful with intensive coppar eyes  (the medalyong on the breast may be perhaps forgiven, it is a common fault).

So the coppar eyes are not necessary a complete no no, but sooner proof she may be an originale rus-alike way from Archangelsk?

 

[orientalslave]

<snip>

On a cat site when folks refer to a blue we are referrencing a possible Russian blue mix, not a color, the breed, my fault in assuming you would not realize this. I was adding to the OP's topic, not yours.

<snip>

We do?  I don't.  There are self blue cats in many breeds - Persians, RBs, Korats, Burmese, British Shorthair, Orientals are the ones I can think of straight out.  And, of course, there are many many moggies (non pedigrees) that are blue.  A friend has one and in many ways he's a bit like a British Shorthair, but we both know he isn't.  Nor also are all the blue kittens people post photos of here asking if they are an RB.  Some of them look a little like an RB, but that's it.  They are no more RBs than my friends cat is a (very) pet quality British Shorthair.