# Meet Kitty! Is she a Russian Blue? Any Help Would Be Appreciated



## NXS (Sep 18, 2010)

I live in a very rural area in Kentucky and there are lots of stray animals running around unfortunately. I could go into detail about how my family has tried to help care for them over the years but I'll save you the sob stories, as I'm sure we're all of the same mentality here in terms of caring for abandoned animals. 

About a year ago, whilst I was cleaning my car, I heard a kitten crying that seemed to be very far off. I looked around the property for a few minutes trying to find the source but was unable. A few days passed and I heard the cries again. This time I had my mother help me and what we ended up finding was an almost starved to death gray colored kitten with beautiful green eyes. Needless to say, we were shocked to find such a small kitten in such horrible condition so we finally managed to lure her in with food and milk. Once we got her cleaned up, fed and back to good health, she quickly warmed up to us and the result is now the newest edition to our family. Everyone, meet Kitty!










I didn't know too much about cat breeds but I was amazed with how intelligent Kitty was. She seemed hesitant to meet strangers but was very loving and playful with the people in the house she come to know. She also happens to be the best hunter I've ever had in my life. Birds, mice, ground moles, etc all meet an untimely demise thanks to Kitty's hunting prowess. My aunt then brought up the point that she believed Kitty was a Russian Blue and that they were a rare breed of cats. At first I was hesitant to believe this, because where we live, if anyone has a rare breed of cat, they certainly aren't letting it run around loose, but after some research, I do believe she IS a Russian Blue... 

Now I don't know a lot about cats, as previously stated, as far as breeds go, but the information I've found has lead me to believe she actually is one. I'd like to get some feedback though, so if any of you could help me identify what kind of cat she is, I'd be greatly appreciative. I'll include a couple more pictures of her so you can get a better look. At the end of the day, I don't care if she is a Russian Blue or not... as she is now the baby of the family and we love her regardless. I'd just like to know one way or another, so again, any feedback would be appreciated.











Ignore the date on the photos... I need to set up my camera again... lol But I'll post more pictures as soon as possible.


----------



## NXS (Sep 18, 2010)

Here's one more photo of her so you can get a look at her body.


----------



## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Kitty is adorable!! You'll never know for sure without papers, but she is a little doll.


----------



## NXS (Sep 18, 2010)

I love her to bits. I don't think there's any way I can get papers for her, though because as stated, she's a stray-turned-lifer lol... But yeah, I agree she's a doll. I will say this though, she does have the lighter colored undercoat and the sleight-gray pads on her feet. She doesn't mind having photos of her taken so I might be able to get some better shots to show the undercoat of fur and her pads.


----------



## faithless (Dec 4, 2009)

She does look russian blue-ish.
My mom also has a once-feral kitty that she suspects could have some russian blood in her. On doing a little research It turns out that russian blues were very popular here in sweden a century ago and possibly quite a few ended up abandoned.


----------



## Susan (Mar 29, 2010)

She is beautiful, but your description of her paw pads suggest she's not a purebred Russian Blue. One distinctive feature of a purebred Blue is that their paw pads are either pinky-purple or mauve in colour, whereas domestic blues have slate-gray paw pads. Still, Kitty might have some Russian Blue background. Your description of her personality (good hunter, close to you and your family, but shy with strangers) is typical of a Russian Blue.


----------



## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

NXS said:


> ... I was hesitant to believe this, because where we live, if anyone has a rare breed of cat, they certainly aren't letting it run around loose, but after some research, I do believe she IS a Russian Blue...
> I'd like to get some feedback though, so if any of you could help me identify what kind of cat she is, I'd be greatly appreciative.


Well, I'm afraid my feedback is going to be more in line with "valuable RB breeding-stock kitties not being allowed to run loose" ... but there is nothing wrong with saying she looks/acts like a RB, and really, she could certainly have some RB strains w/in her background. Who is to say for sure? But w/out documents, IMO, it is best to say 'similar to'.


I've looked through the pics I have online and cannot find any that show Mousie's feet, but hers were the pink/purple/mauve color Susan described but I am certain she could not be RB. I had an entire *family* of cats; The Trio (_Mousie, Toby and Mister_), their father (_The Wanderer_) and two 'cousin' cats (_Blaze and Oscar_) that came out of the same colony/area of cats surrounding some unused rural dairy barns and farmland that showed a familial resemblence. Of these six cats, 2 were b/w, 2 were blue(_gray_)/white and 2 were tabby/white, with one being standard brown/black and the other a blue(_gray_).
I don't have any close-up pics of Mousie's individual coat and paw-pads as my interest in cat coat colors, their genetics properties and digital photo-examples didn't begin until after she had passed away.

Mousie with her brothers, Toby and Mister.









Most of the "family", starting at 12 o'clock (top): Wanderer (blue spotted/white), Mister (black/w), Marmalade (orange, NOT related), Mousie (blue/w), Blaze (b/w) and Toby (tabby/w).








Oscar the barn cat. I could NOT get him integrated w/ the house-kitties so he happily remained a barn / laundry-room cat.









Here is a link about a topic I made discussing this very thing: cat genetics, how cat breeds were developed and how our cats can mimic and/or look *just like* the purebreds.
IMO, if your cat looks like and/or behaves like any specific cat breed ... in the absence of documents proving heritage, I see NO problem with saying 'my cat looks like, is like, or resembles an *_insert breed here_* cat.'
http://www.catforum.com/forum/39-breeding/131864-general-cat-color-genetics.html

Here is another topic about when I went gaa-gaa over the variety of cat genetics out in our world and asked for photo examples:
http://www.catforum.com/forum/36-cat-chat/119430-what-agouti-tabby-looks-like.html

_...I would love it if you wanted to post some pics of your Kitty's undercoat and foot-pads in that topic._
Heidi =^..^=


----------



## NXS (Sep 18, 2010)

Thanks guys! I appreciate all of your comments. It really doesn't matter to me if she's purebred or not, I was just curious. She's a part of the family and we all love her. Such an independent one, she is... lol. Heidi, beautiful cats you have too! Thank you for your feedback!


----------



## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

You know, I went back to look at your kitty's pics, and the 1st and 2nd ones remind me so much of our Mousie-kitty, they made me smile. Your kitty looks like a darling!


----------



## OctoberinMaine (Sep 12, 2006)

Kitty is adorable! I love to hear stories where people find cats, take them in, nurse them to health, and keep them. It makes my day.


----------

