Let’s talk Cats! Reading assignment: Encyclopedia of Cat Breeds, pp 32-37

BENGAL TIGER

CHEETAH

AFRICAN SERVAL

SERVAL BENGAL

BAST: EGYPTIAN GODDESS Protector of cats, women and children. The Bast Cat was the goddess of sun but was also associated with the moon because it reflected the sun’s light. She is also known as the goddess of love, fertility, birth, music and dance

MUMMIFIED CAT Have been radiographed by researchers * Many were found to be ~ 2 years old *Necks that were broken may have been a sacrifice to cat goddess * It was also said that upon the natural death of a cat, the Egyptian people mourned heavily and even shaved their eyebrows as a sign of grief!

EGYPTIAN MAU The only naturally spotted domestic cat. The spots are not just on the coat, a shaved mau also has spots on the skin

During the middle ages religious fervor discouraged the practice of paganism. Cats were thought to be evil and were tortured and killed. The reduction of cats during the ’s was partly responsible for the spread of the bubonic plague as rodents spread the black death.

Feline Conformation Most breeds fall into two categories: Cobby (Persian and British Shorthair) Foreign/Extreme (Siamese)

Cobby Body type

Extreme Body type

There is a third body type that is recognized for those cats between a Cobby and a foreign/extreme: *The Moderate type (Moderates include most tabbies, Havana Brown and American Curl)

The Moderate Body type American Curl cats

Manx: This cat is classified according to tail length: rumpy: no tail rumpy riser: stub stumpy: partial tail longy: complete or near complete tail

Rumpy Manx

Rumpy Riser

Stumpy Manx

Longy Manx

The Feline Tabby Coat Patterns There are four primary coat patterns that encompass MOST tabby cats.  Classic or Blotched Tabby  Agouti/Abyssinian Tabby  Spotted Tabby  Mackerel Tabby

Classic, or Blotched tabby

Abyssinian/Agouti tabby

SPOTTED TABBY

Mackerel Tabby

“Cooper” is my mackerel tabby!

So we’ve talked Tabby, what about the solid colored cats? Cats with ONLY one color fur are called: Self or Solid If a cat is black over most of its’ body but has a patch of white on its’ chest, it would be considered: Self or solid black with white

Self or Solid Black with white

Self or Solid cats

Self or solid black

Self or solid blue

Self or solid white

Cat colors are all variations of two primary colors: Red and Black **White is actually a masking of other colors! (It keeps all other colors from coming through!)

The most common feline coat colors are: Black Blue Red Cream Other colors are dilutions/combinations of these colors

Pointed Color Patterns In the Siamese color patterns, the body of the cat has little color, But the “points” of the body appear darker.  Feet, Face, Tail, and Ears are referred to as the “points”  Even at these “points”, the colors are diminished so black appears as a dark brown, commonly called “seal”

Red pointed Cream pointed

Seal point

Blue point

Lynx Point Lynx Point cats have bands that resemble Mackerel Tabby stripes. Because they’re points, the stripes only appear on the head, legs and tail, just like the other point colors