# What breed is my cat?



## Ramza (Mar 9, 2010)

I was thinking he is a Norwegian Forest but I honestly don't know. Here are three pictures and a video. The video is dark though, sorry

http://img535.imageshack.us/i/sdc11048e.jpg/
http://img10.imageshack.us/i/sdc11045l.jpg/
http://img535.imageshack.us/i/sdc11043.jpg/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK2rpqdWz4A


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## Dave_ph (Jul 7, 2009)

It doesn't have blue eyes so it may not be a Ragdoll.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

I didn't watch the video. Are you sure that cat is a male? It looks like a calico and that (_99.99% of the time_) means it is female. Do you live in Norway or nearby? If not, then I would have to say that kitty is not an NFC. NFC's are expensive and rare outside of their native country. If you are not in Norway, then I do not see anyone allowing an NFC access outdoors to breed willy-nilly with the local population.

Genetically, if this cat is a calico/tortoiseshell, I can tell you some specific information about her:
She carries both Red and Black on her XX genes. 
She carries a moderate expression of White Spotting. 
She carries at least one agouti gene (Aa or AA) that allows her tabby pattern to be visibly expressed. 
She carries the recessive pair of Longhair (ll) genes in order to express her long hair coat.

Here is something I wrote up about cat breeds:

There is absolutely no way of knowing what, if any definite breed, most stray cats are. 

The thing about cat genetics, is all of the genes for every characteristic are "out there" in various combinations. In the early years, geographical isolation kept many cat 'breeds' pure or limited in color and body conformation expression. As people became more mobile and traveled the world, all it took was for someone to become enamored of a cat (_bird, dog, horse, livestock..._), bring a few specimens back home with them and begin breeding them together to create a breed. Many other general breeds were simply people collecting cats with similar characteristics and selectively breeding and culling until they had a breeding population that bred true every time.

Examples of this would be ‘color breeds’ like the Siamese cat and the 'blue' cats; Russian Blue, Chartreaux, Korat and British Shorthair. All of these breeds were deliberately bred to *keep* particular traits, which in turn *eliminated* 'wild-card' traits until the cats always bred true because certain genetics were bred out of the population.
All Siamese cats are homozygous (_matched gene pair_) for the recessive (_needs 2 copies to express_) pointed gene. The Meezers AND the Blue cats have also been selectively bred to eliminate the agouti gene. Agouti is the gene responsible for making a cat's tabby pattern be readily visible. All cats carry a version of the tabby gene (_Classic - blotched, Abyssinian - ticked and Mackerel - striped, broken striped and spotted_) but without the agouti gene, they will present as a solid colored cat. Additionally, in the case of the 'blues', they have been selectively bred to be homozygous for the recessive "dense" gene, which dilutes black coats to blue.
Some people began to breed agouti back into the Siamese breed to create “Lynx Point”, with tabby markings on their points. A new breed category was created to classify them, called “Colorpoint”; which includes Lynx, the Reds, Tortoiseshells and their dilute versions.

Tortoiseshell is remarkable because the cat carries both black (O) and red (o) on her pair of XX genes. Females are XX and can carry a color on each X gene. Males are XY and only carry color on the X gene. This is why male calicos are rare because they would have to be a genetic oddity with XXY. Tortie/Torbie cats with White Spotting are commonly called “calico”, especially if their markings have definite patches of black, red and white. When the black and red are ‘marbled together’, that is called Tortoiseshell.
Torties do not carry agouti. Torties who do are called Torbies. Tortoiseshell + Tabby = Torbie. Agouti only affects *black* hair and has no effect on red hair. All red cats will show the countershading of their tabby pattern. Black-based cats can also show countershading, but it is sometimes difficult to see. 

So, while there are things I *can* tell about a cat's genetic make-up, there is no way to determine what, if any, breeds influenced them. With Siamese points and Persian smush-faces, it is *easy* to see what breed influenced them, but in general it is impossible to tell because all of these genes that influence color, markings, characteristics and body type are out there in many, _many_, combinations. Dogs are a little easier to distinguish contributing breeds in a mutt, but cats haven't changed body-types (_body, muzzle, ears, et cetera..._) as distinctly as dogs have.

heidi =^..^=


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## Ramza (Mar 9, 2010)

Thanks for the info friend. Our cat came from a well off family in "some part of europe", afaik. He was given to us from a friend of a friend as they were leaving their country and no longer could keep him. I live in Ireland. 

I googled pictures of the Calico and, even though I'm not trying at all to contradict you, it looks nothing like mine. Yes I am sure he is male as he has been neutered and the vet also told us he is male.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Well, he could be an NFC, but without registration papers there really is no way to know for certain. There is nothing wrong with saying he resembles or looks like any particular cat breed, you just don't know for sure.
Don't worry about contradicting me, I'm sure it was a combination of a fuzzy photo and the way colors are presented on my computer that made him look like a Calico to me. He must have a lot of brown/yellow banding that shows through his tabby markings on his sides and it just looked 'red' on my computer. 
_I don't mind being corrected or admitting I made a mistake._ :wink:


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

He looks an awful lot like my Cali, big ruff, long hair. Of course, he's bigger and even fluffier.

Gorgeous kitty!


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## Ramza (Mar 9, 2010)

Thanks for the nice replies! Is there any way of finding out his breed, by means of vet or something? I'm really curious to find out


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Dogs have a genetic test available to help determine contributing breeds of their heritage, unfortunately I do not believe there is any feline genetic test developed that can say with certainty a cat is definitely any one particular breed.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

If you could send him to San Diego, I could get that information for you. It may take 5-10 years though.  

Send him quickly!


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## KittyMonster (Nov 8, 2009)

Ramza said:


> Thanks for the nice replies! Is there any way of finding out his breed, by means of vet or something? I'm really curious to find out


Sorry, but your cat could have 2 purebred parents, 1 purebred parent, a purebred grandparent of have "mutt" heritage since the dawn of time. There is no way to know without breeding history. Simply put, your cat is gorgeous and breedless. 

Whatever the case may be, he clearly has good genes as he is quite the looker!


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## cliffordcatt (Mar 16, 2010)

To me he looks almost exactly like a purebred cat I had, she was a registered Turkish Angora

she had similar markings but they were brown tabby.

Usually they have small frames, large ears, and very fluffy tails.
They are also extremely friendly and almost dog like.


But of course with no papers you cannot say!

hope i helped


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