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Cats/Bengal/Tabby/Siamese/ Mix?

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Expert: - 3/8/2009


Question

Sweetpea1
Hi Norman.
A little back history: Many years ago while visiting friends for the Christmas Holidays, my friends mother told me about a cat that had been hanging around for a few weeks. Well the night before Christmas Eve, her daughter left the door open and said cat just walked right in and made herself at home. It was obvious from the start she was used to humans and food/litter-she was very clean and friendly but starving at the time. My friend couldn't keep the cat due to family allergies, but she knew I already had a cat and asked if I could take her in. She was named Sweetpea (due to her Sweet nature and 'motherly care of her humans). Sweetpea was a small cat, Tabby-ish in appearance, with gold-cream underbelly, and instead of a clear "M" shape on her forehead, she had a Diamond like shape, with broken
M' right below it. Her paws were extremely small and 'dainty', petite almost in relation to the rest of her. And her ears were large, I nicknamed her my 'batgirl'. About a week before her scheduled spaying, she got out, and a few days later after searching and her returning a friend suggested I postpone the spaying in case she was pregnant. (Previous attempts were made to see if she would breed with a nieghbors cat (All black with yellow eyes-we thought they'd be beautiful kitten), but they were unsucsessful. (She nearly ate the male:) The Vet at the time hypothosised that she was a Siamese/Tabby mix. ( I am including a pic of Sweetpea, she averaged around 5 or 6 pounds). I lost Sweetpea earlier last year (Car-she got out again). I had had her for roughly 5 years. After she got out it turned out that yes she was 'with kittens' and later had a large litter.  I am including some pics of two of the kittens, the first born of the litter and by far the largest-Musket (he was triple duclawed-at the time of the photo I am including he was roughly 4 months old, and had more rosetts that his brother-the youngest-Apollo-whom I still have who, in apearance took more so after thier mother Sweetpea.) Apollo, unlike his mother, has a cream/goldish color to his chest which then turns to white at his lower belly. one of his hind paws is white with a small perfect black dot on a toe. The pads of his paws are black, some of his claws are black and some clear. he has a black spot on the inside of his mouth (roof), and even has whiskers coming out from his front legs! (where the joints are. his ears big like his mothers, his head is more triagular in basic shape and his hair is three-toned (three levels of color on every hair). He has bulked out more this past year but has always been huge but lean and Long. I haven't been able to figure out who the father (stud?) of Apollo and Musket are (what possible breed) due to all the outdoor cats in our nieghborhood at that time were small like Sweetpea and most were fixed. Apollo was the size of a typical one year old cat at age 4 months (The vet and his staff nicknamed him the Monster:). His brother Musket is twice his size. Apollo is now just over 4 years old and wieghs roughly about 9 or 10 pounds.
I'm sorry I just went through this long story and never asked my question.:
In your opinion, do you have any hypothesis on what mix of breed(s) my cat Apollo may be?

Answer
Renee,

I have looked at both pictures pretty carefully, and, although I cannot rule out that there is any Bengal in there, in neither picture would you need Bengal to get the patterns seen in the pictures.  I would not call either pattern "rosettes".  It looks like you have a mackerel tabby pattern in both cases where there is some breaking up of the stripes more towards spots. Both the mackerel tabby pattern and the tendency to break into spots are in the feral population and are very normal patterns in domestic short hairs.

Most cats do have "whiskers" behind their legs at the joint as you are seeing.  They help the cat navigate backwards in a tight space.

Your cats are, indeed, beautiful, but not really exotic, just excellent examples of the mackerel tabby patterns.

Best regards... Norm.  

Norman Auspitz

Expertise

I can answer most non-veterinary questions about cats. My particular expertise is pedigree cats, breeding and showing. However, I am versed in feline behavior, cat breeds and their characteristics, general feline husbandry, and the like.

Experience

I judged for the Canadian Cat Association from 1975 until 1982. I am currently an approved allbreed judge for the Cat Fanciers'' Association (the world''s largets cat registry), and have been judging for them since 1991. I have been breeding pedigreed cats since 1971 and have been exhibiting pedigreed cats in shows since 1970. I obtained my first pedigreed cat in 1970 and have never looked back. In 1971, I obtained my first Abyssinian which has become my primary breed. In addition, I have bred Manx and Persians. Currently, besides the Abyssinians, I am also breeding Maine Coons.


Organizations
Cat Fanciers'' Association, inc. (CFA) and the Manx, Maine Coon, and Abyssinian breed councils. I am currently Abyssinian breed council secretary.

Publications
Cat Fancy Magazine, The Abyssinian Chapter in The Cat Fanciers'' Association Complete Cat Book, and Articles for various editions of The Cat Fanciers'' Association Yearbook

Education/Credentials
I received a B.S. from Drexel University in 1968, a M.Math from University of Waterloo, in 1970, a Ph.D. from University of Waterloo in 1975, and a MBA from McMaster University in 1980. I received my approved allbreed judging status in the Cat Fanciers'' Association in 1999.

Awards and Honors
We have produced a number of Cat Fanciers'' Association (CFA) National winning Abyssinian and Maine Coons. We have produced a number of Abyssinian and Maine Coon Distinguished Merit females (an award for a top producing cat), including the first Distinguished Merit Abyssinian in the red (sorrel) color. I am the CFA Abyssinian breed council secretary and belong and/or hold office in a number of cat clubs. I am also a member of the CFA Judges Association.

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