# What kind of cat do we have?



## ChexWithRaisins (Mar 4, 2009)

We got our wonderful cat, Hobbes, after he was rescued from a hoarder (who had over 100 cats and no means to care for them). He's very cute and does not look like any other cat I've seen, and my wife and I are curious if anyone knows what breed he could be.

He has longish fur, and ear tufts. He has a square face and looks kind of "scrunched" from the side. His nose is short and square. His feet are black with tufts of black fur that stick out from his toes.

Here's a collage of pics. Anyone know what kind of cat he could be?


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## Agrace (Mar 4, 2009)

Is he a norwegian forest cat?

http://epets.co.za/Uploads/CMSImages/No ... %20Cat.jpg


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

With the history you described, the only thing that can be said is that he's an adorable DLH (domestic long hair). Here is a recent post I made about this:




doodlebug said:


> Cats are not like dogs where there is a wide variation between breeds, so it's often fairly easy to distinguish what breeds a mutt may have in them. It's often just subtle differences in head shape or eye set or body style that set cat breeds apart. Yes, there are the obvious coat length differences, cats with pointed coats have a narrower range of possibilities, and cats with smushed in faces that Heidi already mentioned. We can rule out a lot of breeds fairly easily, but saying that a cat is of a particular breed or mix of breeds is darn near impossible.
> 
> The other thing to keep in mind is that TICA & CFA (The primary cat breeding registries in the US) only register what is comparatively a handful of cats each year in comparison to the total number born. A quick search only yielded numbers for 1994 for CFA, which was 75,000. Let's say that it's doubled since then and both registries get the same number. That means that over the last 15 years an average of 225,000 have been registered per year. Assume they live an average of 15 years, that means there are 3.375 million purebred cats out there. Of a total 81M cats in the US in 2007. That's about 4%. The vast majority of those 3M+ cats are not out there mating willy nilly, most have been spayed or neutered according to the breeder's contract. So the chances of a cat of unknown origins having a large percentage of an identifiable breed in them is virtually nil. And that's why the answer whenever someone asks the question "what breed is my cat" the answer is invariably Domestic Short (medium or long) Hair.


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## carolsclan (Jun 28, 2006)

He is a beauty , and most definately a purebreed.... his mom and dad were both cats :lol:


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Wow, he's gorgeous - and look at that tail!


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

As a human I like to know what my heritage is. Why not my cats? It just part of being interested in their background. Your cat is gorgeous. I dont know much about long haired cats but maybe a norwegian forest cat? Cute collage you posted.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

If this cat is in the United States I think the chances of it being a NFC are pretty slim. I would be more inclined to say he has some Maine **** in there...though I don't feel the ruff is as full as a MC's should be.

Beautiful long haired kitty, though! His wide and calm, laidback face reminds me of my Dusty.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Many cat breeds have been created by taking 'foundation' cats that exhibit characteristics that the breeders wanted to enhance. Over many years they have what are now known as purebred cats. The reality is that many purebred cats take their origins from standard DSH, DMH & DLHs. So it's no wonder that many domestics exhibit many of the characteristics of the purebreeds.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Yup. All of the genetics for everything a purebred cat exhibits are still out there, randomly coming together. Breeders bred like-to-like until they had fixed traits that bred true.


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## DesnBaby (Apr 18, 2004)

The only way to know the breed is if you got a certificate from a breeder that would prove the breed. Domestic longhair is most likely. Looks like part Maine **** to me with the ear tips, but probably mixed. Beautiful kitty though.


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## gunterkat (Aug 19, 2006)

He's a gorgeous kitty. Looks like he's got some Maine **** traits, possibly with a little touch of Persian a couple of generations back. His eyes look like he is a smart, laid back kitty. He has a lot going on behind those eyes!  
rcat
I know it's off topic. but, if dog owners get to characterize their mutts as half this and a quarter that, why should we cat owners not get to do the same? *hops off soap box*


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## ChexWithRaisins (Mar 4, 2009)

As the op, I appreciate all of the replies thus far.

We know that he's definitely not a purebreed, but were curious as to what breeds create the characteristics that we see in our boy. We thought maybe maine **** also, but he's a fairly small and nimble cat, and we believed that maine coons tend to be larger (although he's only 1 1/2 years old, so he could still be a kitten in maine **** terms).


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## OctoberinMaine (Sep 12, 2006)

All I know is, he's gorgeous!


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## Jack&Harley (Nov 2, 2008)

It's funny because when we got Jack I was sure I was gonna determine what he was! Then I realized it didnt matter. Although I will say I got a cat breed book for christmas and there is a picture of a doll faced persian from like 1920 at a cat show and it is dead on Jack--which I never would have guessed.

Leslie


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

ChexWithRaisins said:


> We thought maybe maine **** also, but he's a fairly small and nimble cat, and we believed that maine coons tend to be larger (although he's only 1 1/2 years old, so he could still be a kitten in maine **** terms).


Maine **** males tend to be in the 13-18 lb range, with some outliers as high as 24 lbs (this assumes their weight is proportional to their frame). MCs do have the capability to grow until they're 4 years old, but not significantly once they're over a year. Holly had a little growth spurt last summer when she was just about 2, but she added maybe a half inch in height. The only reason I noticed it was because she was just slightly shorter than Kobi and then one day I noticed that she was the same height. If I didn't have such a direct comparison with Kobi I don't think I would have seen the difference. I certainly didn't notice it in comparison with Maggie who is much smaller.

So if your cat is small at 1 1/2, I doubt you're looking at any significant amount of Maine ****. You have a DLH that has some characteristics in common with the foundation cats that were used to create the Maine **** breed.


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