# Do you recognise your cat?



## snowy (Aug 23, 2012)

We have 2 strays near home that looks exactly like ET. Of course I know they are not ET cos firstly, ET can't be that brave to stay out in the open like that, secondly, ET can't possible have left home and thirdly, I look up close, that 2 kitties have very deep yellow eye, forthly, ET has 6 black spots on his body, while one have 4 and the other I didn't manage to see clearly.

Just out of curiosity, would you be able to recognise your own cat, if placed together with another similar ones, especially those of you with a single colored cat, black or white cat, with no distinct body pattern. What would you look out for?


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## Lotu (Apr 26, 2013)

Interesting...I was just talking about this with my husband. Our black kitten had 3 other black siblings. The first foster home (with them until 8 or 9 weeks old) said that she couldn't really tell them apart and maybe just didn't have a need to tell them apart. Then they went to another foster home for a couple weeks. I wondered if our kitten (now 4 1/2 months old were put with the other 3--who would be relatively the same size) would we be able to pick her out? I want to say "yes", but would not want to put it to the test. In baby pictures of them, we can not tell which of the litter is her. Of the 4 black kittens in the litter, 2 were boys and 2 were girls. I think one boy had ghost tabby markings and one girl (our Delta) and one boy had more stray white furs and one girl did...but I'm not completely sure. I would hope that if all put together our kitten would show some kind of affection toward us more than the others. If only pictures, I'm guessing I would not be able to tell her apart. She does have a few white hairs on her neck-so that could help if none of the others did.


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## NebraskaCat (Jan 15, 2013)

I think I'm so familiar with all the details of my cats features and movements, that I'd be able to pick them out of a line-up even without getting to interact with them.

But boy, we have a couple pairs of cats at the shelter that I really have trouble with. One pair are two female tiny adult black cats - it's almost impossible for me to tell them. And the other is a pair of patch tabbies, also female. The people that work with them several times a week say they can tell them apart, especially the tabbies. But I'm only onsite at the shelter once a week and may not be in those particular rooms very long. Someone ended up putting a collar on one of the black cats so apparently I wasn't the only one.

I think that with all black cats, the best indicators are head shape and the shape/length of the tail and also the shape of the body if you're looking straight down at a standing cat. I don't rely on eye color between yellow, green/yellow, and green because those (like humans) seem to fluctuate.


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## Justteri1000 (May 27, 2013)

It would all be about their face, their eyes, little nuances. There have been many pictures that I have seen on these forums that are spitting images of Pooter, except for.......and it is usually something about the eyes.


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## Arkona (May 7, 2012)

If I'm driving by and I see a cat on the street that looks like my cat (black, long fur) I might think at first glance that it's my cat, usually because I am paranoid and my first thought is the worst (she got away!!!), but if the cat doesn't disappear right away I'm usually able to see the differences even from afar (this one looks bigger/fatter), though I suppose if the cat was REALLY similar I might need a closer look.

I'd be able to recognize my cat in any situation where I am close enough to the cat/s in question. Like, you could probably put all the long-haired black cats in my county in one room and I'd be able to pick out mine. 

I think every adult cat has a unique combination of features, colors, sizes, etc, plus personalities and quirks and such that makes each cat a completely unique individual. With some cats it's hard to tell them apart at first (tabbies and black cats are notorious for that), but once you spend enough time with them you start noticing the differences.

When I volunteer at the shelter, there are a couple of gazebos that have tons of tabbies, or tons of black cats all in the same room. Those gazebos are very hard to work with at first, especially for me because I photograph the cats so it's very important for me to identify each one properly. But once I've been there a few times, and for long enough, I learn who's who. And if I work with any single cat long enough and get attached to it, I can recognize it right away even if it gets moved around into a different room or into a cubby in the shelter.

With kittens though, it's a different story!!! The younger they are, the more similar they look. If there is no special marking, it's impossible for me to tell them apart, because their features haven't developed yet!


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## Jakiepoo (Jan 5, 2013)

It's pretty easy to tell with my boy as far as physical features go. He's got his blaze, which I don't see very often, and a black spot on his tummy, and one of his paws have a little swirl where the black and white touch. Not to mention the way the white stops on his chest gives him the weirdest face shape you can see here:










That actually gives him more of a neck than you can usually see, but it gives you the general idea! He just reminds me of an owl...

If you gave me two identical cats in appearence, I like to think I'd be able to pick one from the other once you got them moving around and interacting. Jake's run is the most awkward cat run I've ever seen. It's a loud gallop, and he holds his tail in a strange way. If I still wasn't sure, I'd just throw down my brown blanket and see what happens, Jake loves my brown blanket... In an awkward way :/


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## 3gatos (Nov 28, 2012)

Yes I would. However one day after leaving for work I almost hit a cat that looked like my kitten until I looked closer, he didnt have any of the white paws that my kitten has. I collected myself and kept going to work.


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## cat face (Apr 4, 2013)

I believe I would. Naturally the one that would be the most challenging would be B.B. since she is a solid black. But even so, I think there are enough small features on her that I would recognize.
Although saying that, from a distance, I would have a very difficult time.


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

I might not readily recognize their physical markings, although all my cats are pretty unique, but their meows, their emotional attributes, their eating habits, their nuances would be all it took for me to confirm or deny they were my cat.


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## Goldtanker (Jan 9, 2011)

Midnight, the wild cat, has so many scars and marks from his encounters with hostile creatures over the years, I could easily pick him out of a line-up.


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## yingying (Jul 19, 2011)

I can for sure. Both my cats have very unique features (unique pawpad pattern, white tail tip, small golden patch on top of head, etc.) that cannot be mistaken from another cat


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

I doubt I would recognize Book unless I could get my hands on him and cop a feel. He's basic black without a speck or mark on him.

MowMow has some unique marks on his coat that I worship often enough that if I got within a few feet I'd be able to recognize.


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## JungliBillis (Mar 20, 2013)

Aloo has unique enough markings as a torbie and a scar from an old wound. As for Billi, it'd be a bit harder since he is black, but he has a tiny strands of white hair on his belly as well as two black circle patches on the inside roof of his mouth.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

JungliBillis said:


> as well as two black circle patches on the inside roof of his mouth.


Exactly. Book has a unique pattern of dark black and lighter black swirls on the skin in his ears. I'd have to get close enough to look inside his ears to be sure it was him.


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## sweetcuddles (Jun 30, 2013)

My cat Cuddles has 4 distinctive features. 1) he looks like a female, 2) his ears are close together, 3) he has a black spot on his left front paw, and 4) he has a low meow.

He is also microchipped and I know the number by heart.

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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

It really depends on the situation, none of which I've been in. If you mean like from 30 feet away when there's multiple other cats that may look like mine... maybe not, I don't think there's anything wrong with that! If they're sitting all together I would be able to tell the cats apart if I was close enough.

Blacky in particular looks somewhat common... a few times in the past I've wandered the cat sanctuary picking out the cats that look similar to her, I think there were upwards of twenty in a casual perusal. However, her face shape is distinguishable from just about all of them, or her length of fur is a little longer/shorter/denser. That isn't even getting into the coat color, where I know she has two white lockets on her chest, also her coat is a crazy nest of strange kinky fur on her tummy, and her coat looks very red in the sun.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

We have 5 permanent cats here, three of which are solid black. I can tell their meows apart and their eyes are different colors. They're slightly different sizes and their coats all have different textures. Plus they have very different personalities. Do I still mix them up sometimes? Heck yeah. They all wear different colored collars to make my life easier.  I'd like to think I could easily pick them out of a lineup (and I probably could, if I could interact with each kitty), but I know better.


I still mix my fosters up sometimes too. I don't get to know them nearly as well as I do my permanent kitties. My "K" batch right now has 3 blacks (who have minor differences and I can tell them apart okay) and two grays. The only difference with the grays is "one is darker" so it depends on the lighting and when the lighting shifts, I have a hard time knowing who's who. My "L" batch right now has two long-haired black kitties and the only difference for the moment is "one is bigger." I've had others in the past where the only difference was male vs. female, and I had to literally spin them around and check to be sure I had the right kitten.


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## snowy (Aug 23, 2012)

I am wondering again, but I guess nobody will be bothered. We human have our finger print and scanning of our eye as identification, what about pets? cats and dogs. There must be something unique about each pet, their paw? eye? or what? Ohh...I know, its a question I'm not sure anybody have an answer.

I used to feed 2 black strays, father and son, I can tell them apart, cos father is fatter with a bigger head and son is slimmer and smaller in size, one look younger while the other, at a glance, most people know that is an old cat, less agile, infact a little clumsy, lol. But when the son went missing, everywhere I see black cat, they seemed to look like him, so I really can't tell the diff.


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## sweetcuddles (Jun 30, 2013)

Most cats will have distinctive features, like my cat Cuddles that is still missing after about 2 years. I can pick him out because of those features. Every cat, even black ones, look different. It is hard to tell black, orange, and white cats apart because they all look the same. But I think distinctive markings are what helps a person tell one cat from another.

When Kitty had her kittens, there were two that looked identical, but I could tell them apart. One was darker than the other. BTW Kitty had 6 kittens. Cuddles is one of her kittens. Kitty is fixed and so are they. Also Cuddles is microchipped.

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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Cleo recently sprouted one long, WHITE whisker among all the black ones on her cute little face.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

That's the cat equivalent of a grey streak in the hair... probably from that horrible child she had to live with.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

or the bratz :grin:


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## Cara (Jul 5, 2013)

Dobby has a wee bit if gray under his chin and of course his radar dish ears. Lol


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## AmberH (Jul 20, 2011)

I definitely think I could. I have a Siamese cross and a while back I could have sworn she was across the street. All I saw was a seal pointed cat running. I got all paranoid and ran to find my girl real quick. Thankfully she was still home and it wasn't her running the neighborhood.


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## tezster (Jun 4, 2013)

I'm pretty sure I would recognize my cats 

Unique fur markings aside (both my cats are mostly black), if you consider the differences in body shape/size, their movement, vocalizations, personality, it all adds up to characterize very distinct animals. Newton has a more pronounced, elongated like a mini panther, whereas his mom Newt has a more round face/head.


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## gizmothecat (Jun 26, 2013)

Marshall has a scar on his nose also his eyes are colored in layers green then yellow then pupil

Gizmo has this birthmark:


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

This is when I had trouble recognizing which cat was which, when I first got them. 
I ended up ordering kitten collars off of Etsy so we could tell them apart. 
Esp volunteers who helped me medicate them each day! 
They each had medical needs and I had a white board with their collar color to designate what meds they got when!


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## cat owner again (Dec 14, 2012)

OK that batch of kittens would be a challenge! Collars were smart.


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## amy22 (Jul 5, 2013)

snowy said:


> I am wondering again, but I guess nobody will be bothered. We human have our finger print and scanning of our eye as identification, what about pets? cats and dogs. There must be something unique about each pet, their paw? eye? or what? Ohh...I know, its a question I'm not sure anybody have an answer.
> 
> QUOTE]
> 
> I vaguely remember reading in an unofficial source that their noseprints are unique. I don't know about the legitimacy of it and its not exactly practical. You can't exactly get a cat to volunteer for nose prints without potentially losing your own nose (or eye, or hand)...


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## krazykiwi (Oct 21, 2012)

I'd recognise Sune by his cute broken blaze and the four white stockings, and as soon as he opened his mouth there is no mistaking that yowl. I've known siamese that couldn't hold a candle to the wailing noise he can put out. Luckily he mostly trills like a pigeon, or everyone in the house would be deaf already.

Sepideh is pure white, but I think i'd still recognise her in a lineup of identical cats. She'd be the one facing the wrong way. And probably doing airplane ears and big big eyes at a random spot on the wall that nobody else can see.


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## Lucas718 (Feb 19, 2012)

Gazoo is very easy to recognize. There aren't many other orange cats with one blue eye and one orange eye.


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## Cara (Jul 5, 2013)

Well now that I've added Mime to the family, yes I would recognize him in an instant. He has pretty distinct markings. 


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## snowy (Aug 23, 2012)

amy22 said:


> I vaguely remember reading in an unofficial source that their noseprints are unique. I don't know about the legitimacy of it and its not exactly practical. You can't exactly get a cat to volunteer for nose prints without potentially losing your own nose (or eye, or hand)...


Thanks, thats interesting, I'll go look up for more infor. Wondering how to get that nose print, but doubt if anyone would bother or dare do it, lol, esp when searching for their missing cat, since most would recognise their own kitty.


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## Hinterlander (Jul 19, 2013)

I hope I could recognize them by their personalities. They are not so different from other cats of the same race and color. It's really fun to watch videos on youtube of my cats that are not my cats xD 

Though I'm sure I'd know if for some reason someone switched. The simplest thing could give it away, like right now while I am writing this both cats are near by demanding affection, I don't think at cat that would not know me would do that (like when I adopted them)

If only by features though, they are cookie cutter kitties, made to look like others. Even the things I find peculiar aren't so much for their races...


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## Andrilla1 (Jul 29, 2013)

There are some cats that are just so hard to tell apart. When Mama kitty had her three kittens, Solo and Duo looked exactly alike. They had exactly the same markings, and we would always see one of them, plus the grey one feeding. At one point, we were worried that only one of them might be eating, and we tried to put a collar on one, but Mama Kitty did not approve and pulled it off! Thankfully, both of them were eating and it didn't become an issue. As they developed, Solo's nose turned brown, and Duo's remained pink. To this day, my dad still calls him Pinkey. Solo then went off to live with my grandparents and got fat, and Duo stayed with us and was always super skinny up until a year or so ago when he started to bulk up. Now he's a very solid cat with a lot of muscle.

One family I work with took in 3 kittens, they are all grown now, but I still can't tell the two black ones apart!


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## LumLumPop (Aug 3, 2013)

Well all of our cats have patterns 3 tabbies one calico and a purebred snowshoe(beautiful cat) but my grandpa has a black cat. We can tell him apart because of several undesired features he has(at least that's what a friend who breeds animals said) his back legs are bowed,he has an overbite and his tail tip is crooked. Also he has the ugliest meow in the world so he's pretty easy to distinguish.


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## gizmothecat (Jun 26, 2013)

Gizmo...yes (she has a heart on her paw) Marshall I'm not too sure about. He is a medium haired black beauty) in the sun...that black hair has A LOT of chocolate brown, his eyes are rimmed yellow first then green, I know his meow and his tail is a lil shorter. I might know him....if I could feel the tail


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## dt8thd (Jan 7, 2013)

krazykiwi said:


> Sepideh is pure white, but I think i'd still recognise her in a lineup of identical cats. She'd be the one facing the wrong way. And probably doing airplane ears and big big eyes at a random spot on the wall that nobody else can see.


Lol, I love airplane ears! We call also call it "triangle head" around my house because their heads are like perfect equallateral triangles when they hold their ears in that position.

I think I'd recognize any of my cats by their appearance alone, provided I could get close enough. Dante would probably be the most difficult to ID, since he's a dark gray tabby and doesn't really have any unique identifying marks; but he's a big cat and would be even if he lost weight, and that combined with his shape and facial features would likely give him away. And, of course, I'd know right away when he started chirping.


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## bkitty (Aug 17, 2009)

I have to admit I did confuse a local feral with PuddyWow. In my defense it was a couple days after we had moved into the neighborhood. I mistook him (call him PuddyClone) thinking PuddyWow had escaped the house and spent three hours chasing him thru alleys and backyards. I finally caught up to him and to my shame was so mean as to grab him by the scruff and base of the tail dragging him out from under a junkheap. Then it dawned on me this was an unaltered male. Oops. After 3 years he still refuses to let me within 50 feet of him.


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## Dr. Penguin (Jul 8, 2013)

My Watson isn't solid or completely tabby like a lot of the other confusing cats. He's a tabby with whites, so that's a bit easier to distinguish. Nevertheless, I have seen a lot of animals very close to his unique pattern, but I know the following features distinguish him from others who are similar:
-Left forepaw has a large splotch of black fur
-Left hindquarter has a bit of fuzzy white breaking through his tabby pattern there
-Under his chin, a patch of gray mixed with white. You can't see this unless you turn his head the right way
-Most of his nose is black, except for two tips on either side
-"Cowlick" patch of black on his head that sticks out among the rest of the tabby pattern
-Really fuzzy white neck
-Brown/ginger bits on his tummy flanking the tabby pattern near the hindquarters

Seems like a lot, but I've always been paranoid he'd run away and someone would keep him if I wasn't able to ID him properly.


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## wolfheartmoon (Aug 3, 2013)

I'd look at her weird little eyes. She's got a small sliver of pure green in one eye.


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## cat owner again (Dec 14, 2012)

Since this thread, I decided to catalogue my cat's small traits. She has a pretty close twin just across the street!


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## librarychick (May 25, 2008)

I wouldn't be concerned about this at all. Someone could paint all my kitties black and I'd still be able to find my kitties in a room of other identically painted ones.

It's their personalities I'd be looking for anyways.

Jitzu would be bossing everyone around and looking in charge.

Torri would be cowering in a corner yelling at the other cats.

Doran would be trying to make friends, even if the other cats wanted nothing to do with him. Then he'd go mark the corners. *sigh*

Muffin would be all over any person in the room, doing ridiculous rolls on their feet or reaching up for 'hugs', or (if there was no people) lying right on top of any toys.


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## dt8thd (Jan 7, 2013)

bkitty said:


> I have to admit I did confuse a local feral with PuddyWow. In my defense it was a couple days after we had moved into the neighborhood. I mistook him (call him PuddyClone) thinking PuddyWow had escaped the house and spent three hours chasing him thru alleys and backyards. I finally caught up to him and to my shame was so mean as to grab him by the scruff and base of the tail dragging him out from under a junkheap. Then it dawned on me this was an unaltered male. Oops. After 3 years he still refuses to let me within 50 feet of him.


Lol! My mom did something similar once. It happened when we were looking after our nextdoor neighbour's cats, one of which was a big, black DSH named Bat Man. My mother had come back from looking after the neighbour's cats a few hours prior, and she was going about her day, tidying up in the livingroom. As she was doing this, she happened to glance out the front window and clearly saw a big black DSH standing on the front lawn of the house directly across the street from ours. There were no other big black cats it could be other than Bat Man, so thinking she had let the neighbour's cat escape, she ran out of the house, crossed the street, grabbed the cat off the lawn, carried him over to our neighbour's house, unlocked the door, and deposited the cat inside... right next to _Bat Man_, who was standing there in the front hallway, frozen, because some strange cat had just randomly landed right in front of him.  Turns out the people across the street, whose lawn the cat had been stolen off of, had just got a new kitty.


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## snowy (Aug 23, 2012)

dt8thd - this is just too funny, I can't stop laughing. I can imagine how your mum must have panic and then go abduct another family's kitty, lol.. and the reaction from Bat Man.


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

librarychick there is a book called Why Paint Cats? have you seen it? Here are a few images from it.


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## heston (Nov 17, 2011)

Yes I would recognize Autumn even with another tortie. She has a very distinctive diamond shape on the top of her head and the same color streak down her nose. You may see it in the avatar I have here.

This is a better picture:


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## JungliBillis (Mar 20, 2013)

Hahahahaha those mistaken identity stories are so funny! Those poor cats just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. 

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## Catmamma (Apr 18, 2011)

Dt8thd, how did your mom tell them apart to return the new black cat and keep Bat Man? (Very funny story.)


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## amy22 (Jul 5, 2013)

If Freja was in a room with other torties/calicos; I could probably pick her out, she has enough distinctive marks:
-She's cross-eyed
-Her inner lips are black
-Her footpads are super cute, black just at the very tips of the toes

If she was in a room with identical cats, I'd rely on her behavior and wave Da Bird; she makes the funniest noises


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## kittiesmom (Aug 27, 2013)

:heart I think I would know my Tilly, I think from this photo you can see why.


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## 21inCostaRica (Aug 18, 2013)

I read somewhere that shepherds can tell their sheep apart, even if they look like clones to us.
I would recognize all my cats easily, but I´ve just rescued two tabby sisters and they have the same expression and markings, so at the beginning I couldn´t tell them apart unless they were together. One of them is going lighter though, and at night I know it´s her because she has a huge belly.


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