As a veterinarian who specializes in cats, I frequently come across cats and kittens in need of a good home. Fortunately, my hospital is located in a fairly residential part of Manhattan, and our clients, friends, and neighbors have adopted over 100 of our kitties in the past three years. For years, I resisted (with [...]
Cat breeding is not as easy as just letting cats mate. Breeding is not just about choosing cats to produce adorable kittens to earn money. To breed cats is not the same as to produce them. Breeding encompasses that stage. Breeding cats involves scientific and systematic concepts. Producing cats involves only common sense. Breeding cats [...]
The Savannah Cats and Bengal Cats may be late arrivals on the domestic cat scene, but they both bring distinct personalities and unique genetic traits to the table. The popularity of the breeds is growing testimony to their compelling personalities and domestic adaptability. When distinguishing between the two cats, think of their ancestral lineage. The [...]
Black and white kittens are one of the bicolor category in the cat world. The mystery behind those furs are not restricted to a specific breed of cats. Instead, these colors can be found in many different types of pure-bred and mixed bred. Tuxedo cats have captured the imagination of artists, musicians, and poets. As [...]
Domestic cats are low-maintenance pets that have specific benefits over dogs. They don’t require much exercise, they don’t need obedience training, and they have a convenient litter box to go to the bathroom. In fact, it is often said that dogs have masters while cats have servants. Nevertheless, the breed of cat you choose will [...]
MINK COLOURS, VAN, VAN BI-COLOUR, HARLEQUIN, SEYCHELLES GROUP, MITTED & RAGDOLL COLOUR PATTERNS and FUTURE COLOUR POSSIBILITIES MINK COLOURS (TONKINESE) : Minks are pointed cats with much darker bodies and less (although still apparent) contrast between body colour and point colour. Mink is a halfway-house between solid colour (Burmese) and colourpoint (Siamese). In [...]
COLOURPOINTS COLOURPOINTS: Often called the Siamese pattern or Himalayan pattern (after Himalayan rabbits). As well as the colourpointed coat, they have blue eyes. Pointed cats are slow to develop their full body and point colour and kittens/young cats have paler points or markings Older cats have darker body colour. Temperature affects the point colour [...]
CHINCHILLA (SHELL), TIPPED (SHORTHAIR TIPPED), SHADED, AND SMOKE COLOUR GROUP AND MORE CHINCHILLA (SHELL), TIPPED (SHORTHAIR TIPPED), SHADED, AND SMOKE COLOUR GROUP : Chinchilla (shell) is the lightest tipping; hair tip is coloured and hair shaft is silver, giving a sparkling appearance. Shaded is next degree; colour extends further along the hair shaft, darkest [...]
BREED-SPECIFIC TABBY/SPOTTED TERMS AND BROKEN COLOURS – TORTOISESHELLS, BICOLOURS & TRICOLOURS BREED-SPECIFIC TABBY/SPOTTED TERMS: As well as the various permutations of tabby/silver tabby/golden tabby, spotted/silver spotted/golden spotted there are some terms specific to the modified tabby markings and specific colourways of certain breeds. These are really just more descriptive alternatives to the more common terms [...]
TICKED TORTOISESHELLS: Because agouti is a type of tabby, those colours can combine with the tortoiseshell markings to give ticked tortoiseshells. Some of these can be difficult to distinguish because ticking obscures the colours. The ticked colours and ticked tortie colours can be patched with white to give ticked bicolours, but this is presently only [...]
TICKED/AGOUTI COLOURS Genetically, ticking is a tabby pattern, but visually it looks very different. Each individual hair has several bands of colour which affects the apparent colour of the cat. Some colours are linked to the cat’s sex (important to breeders/exhibitors). Black (Experimental colour) The black fur has a distinct “shimmer” due to barely visible [...]
TABBY PATTERNS Red, Fawn and Cream are not true self colours as there will always be faint tabby markings. Breeders work to dissipate the tabby markings and give impression of an unpatterned, self-coloured cat. The usual tabby patterns are Classic (Blotched) Tabby, Mackeral (Striped) Tabby, Spotted Tabby, Ticked Tabby (with some striping) and Ticked/Agouti (with [...]
SELF/SOLID COLOURS Colours have different names in different countries and in different breeds. Different breeds/countries may use the same name for different colours! This section describes the basic colours in as non-specific a way as possible. Albino White due to lack of pigmentation i.e. white with blue eyes; the most extreme form of albino is [...]
Some breeds are based a particular colour or pattern while others exclude certain colours. Some colours occur through careful selective breeding, others appear spontaneously due to a mutation or recessive (hidden) genes coming together. There are hundreds of possible colour/pattern permutations; some are not allowed in pedigree cats, but are seen in random-bred (moggy) cats [...]
Spring 1982: In the barn of a cherry orchard, in an isolated gorge along the Columbia River at the end of the Oregon Trail, a new breed was born. A common brown tabby barn cat named Speedy gave birth to a litter of 6 kittens. Linda Koehl, the orchard owner said the only female was [...]
Hair types: Born Bald {BB} – Born bald, total hairlessness, rubber feel -Show coat Flocks {BF}- Feels soft to the touch, full hairlessness by 2 yrs of age- Show coat Velour {BV}- Velour = crush velvet hair coat, residue remaining on face, legs and tail called points. Some may go full hairlessness by 2 yrs [...]
The Donskoy & Peterbald – “Russian hairless cat” History and General Characteristic In 1987 a female brush coated kitten was found in a small town called Rostov-on-Don in Russia. She was the foundation female of the two Russian Hairless breeds known as the Donskoy/Don Sphyxn/Don hairless and the Petersburg Sphynx/Peterbald. A blue tortie kitten named [...]
Cats eyes have often been used in horror films. But as a pet owner, you will know that the cats stare is really the complete opposite of what is portrayed in films. That is why cat eye care, is so very important for you to know. How do cats say I love you? well this [...]
When it comes to cats, many cat-lovers will do just about anything to please their feline companions. However, one of the most perplexing aspects of owning a cat is the attempt to try to decipher its various body movements and meows. After all, like a baby, a cat’s meow can mean just about anything — [...]
THE “BAD” FORM OF POLYDACTYLY Most expressions of polydactyly are not a handicap to the cat (such as the polydactyl kitten pictured here). The exception is the gene which causes a whole spectrum of effects ranging from extra toes through to radial hypolasia/radial agenesis (the “thalidomide” or “twisty” mutation). This is the gene which causes [...]
In the New Scientist of 12 May, 2001, it was asserted by Chris Hayes that “five is the magic number” of digits. This was based on the assumption that the genetic mutation that produces the extra toes is also responsible for deformities and that possession of more than five digits is a “counter-survival trait”. His [...]
CURL-EARED CATS The first recognised curl-eared breed was the American Curl. The ears are curled or swept back on themselves and feel rigid to the touch. The originate from a stray kitten, Shulamith, in 1981. Shulamith was a black longhair female with strangely curled ears. She went on to produce kittens, some of which also [...]
Cats generally have prick (upright ears) which are triangular in shape. The size, set and exact shape varies from the small ears of Persian cats to the “bat-like” flared ears of some Siamese cats. Some breeds require the base to be more widely flared than others. Some breeds have ears placed close together high on [...]
Curly coated cats have appeared Europe and America from time to time. Some have been bred, some were considered curiosities and have been lost. Several have proved to have the same type of mutation, others look similar but are genetically different. Curly coated cats are known as Rexes after the Rex type of rabbit. This [...]
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