# Can Anyone Tell Me What He Is Mixed With?



## Lilyinspring (Mar 27, 2010)

I have a 2 year old cat and i need some help determining what he is mixed with
when everyone sees him they call him a siamese but i'm not sure he is mixed with siamese
i'm thinking maybe birman?
http://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt26 ... /MyCat.jpg
sorry had to post a link to the picture it was far to
big to post it in the topic


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

I think Birman would be the closest breed. Birmans are colorpoints with long fur and white feet, or 'gloves'. 
Genetically, your cat has the homozygous pair of pointed genes that cause his 'meezer' (cscs) markings. (_Siamese -> 'mese -> 'meezer'_) He has no agouti gene (aa), making him solid and not lynx-point. He has the recessive pair of long hair genes (ll). He has a variation of White Spotting giving him his minimal white markings.

Here is something interesting I found about Birman genetics: http://home.earthlink.net/~featherland/off/white.html


> The opposite direction is taken by Birman breeders. They have selectively bred their cats for many generations to influence the way that the piebald gene is expressed. Through careful selection of breeding stock they can produce cats with white limited only to the four paws with a level of consistency that is quite amazing. There has been theorized a "gloving" gene, but the hybridization of Birmans with other cats (both intentional and accidental) demonstrates that gloving is definitely caused by a dominant gene, not a recessive one, and pattern can be lost very easily, reintroducing a whole spectrum of distribution of white. This seems to indicate that variability in expression reoccurs once the Birmans are hybridized with other cats, a result of polygenic factors being "bred out", whereas a major gene would be conserved in these populations. However, when Birmans were bred to a flame point Himalayan to introduce the red factor into some lines, the gloving was reinstated within a few generations. It can not be ruled out at this point that "gloving" may be a unique allele of the piebald gene, although it seems unlikely based on these observations, in my opinion.


Here is a reply I posted for someone else who asked the same question. It discusses how the cat breeds developed and how all of these various genes have become scattered all through the world. 
Generally, there is no way of knowing what, if any definite breed, 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-type cats 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-type 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-type breeds 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 based on its' phenotypical appearance, there is no way to determine exactly which, if any, breeds influenced them with complete accuracy. With Siamese-type points and Persian smush-faces, it is *easy* to see what breed influenced them, both recent and long-ago, 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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## Lilyinspring (Mar 27, 2010)

Thank you so much Heidi!


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

You are welcome.  _I sometimes feel like I give too much information._  I hope you found it fun to learn about your beautiful kitty's genetics and breed history.


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## Fran (Jan 9, 2008)

By the way, your kitty is gorgeous, and welcome to the Forum, too! 

 Fran


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Welcome!

He looks like a gorgeous Birman mix, maybe with Ragdoll or Snowshoe or something like that.

What's his name? 

More pictures, please.


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