Cats

[dragoon1234]

My family are breeders, and I've a sidelines in genetics obsession anyway I know rather a lot about feline genetics.

 

That said, from a genetics point of view, I would advise people again ever getting a Scottish Fold. The gene that causes the ears to fold also causes cartilage problems in the cat. There's a reason the breed isn't recognised and can't be registered in the UK.

Nice. I think i heard about the Scottish fold somewhere.

[Tiki G]

That's because the orange gene is X-linked. Unless they've got other genetics issues (like being XXY) a male cat can only ever carry one O gene, which makes him orange.

 

The calico pattern is caused by having one O and one o gene. Because it's incompletely dominant the O gene gets switched on in some parts of the cat, and not in others, causing the mosaic effect.

 

oo - no orange

Oo - calico

OO - orange female

 

To be orange a female basicaly has to get it from *both* parents. A male cat can *only* get orange as a colour form his mother.

 

Incidently the O gene ovverides whatever other colour is there. Doesn't matter what the rest of the genetics are, if the O gene is present that cat will show orange. The shade does change depending on what the base colours were, though, which is why you get 'red' 'cream' and 'apricot' as recognised colours.

Yeah I knew all that, just didn't feel like typing it out.

 

 

Oh, has anyone ever watch Big Cat Diaries? I love that show. Used to watch it every day until I got a job.

 

I can't really decide which big cat is my favorite, I love all kinds of cats.

But if I had to pick, I would have to pick Leopards. Mostly because of their personality.

[dangershy]

I LOVE CATS. I love leopards,cheetahs, and jaguars. I plan to have cats when I get older but I'm afraid I'll be a hoarder. *shot* I plan to get a Savannah kitty. <3

 

 

 

 

 

They're huge, but just plain adorable.

That's my cat!!!!

[dragoon1234]

OOH! I like that cat.

[grishiu]

From what I've heard from my sister, she babysits a couple of kids with a cat. The cat jumps on people's shoulders when they walk by! I hope that I get a cat as cool as that someday I'd really like one to lie on my shoulders and stuff when I'm walking around X3

[LADYDRAGONSKEEPER]

I was talking about my cats at work today and heard this rather odd story.

 

One of my co-workers aunt was visiting and sitting on the porch. They had a very stranger friendly cat that jumped in her lap. She began petting it then all of a sudden threw it down the steps and starting yelling it was going to bite her. They told her didn't do anything and she insisted it growled at her. This aunt had always had dogs and literally knew nothing of cats. It took them forever to convinse her what purring was.

 

The cat was fine I asked.

[Syaoransbear]

Ugh, Lewis peed again. At least this time it didn't smell like horrible death, or maybe that only happens when it dries.

 

Anyways I was petting him, and then I went and sat in a chair while I waited for the car to warm up. He came over and started scratching at the carpet close to the chair, then he started sitting weird. I realized he was squatting, so I poked him and said, "hey, hey, what are you doing" because I thought he was pooping then I heard the noise of him peeing on the carpet. What the heeeeelllllllll.

[LADYDRAGONSKEEPER]

My family are breeders, and I've a sidelines in genetics obsession anyway I know rather a lot about feline genetics.

Anyone know anything about the siamese color gene. Coloring not breed. I'm pretty sure it's called (seal, choclate, etc) point coloring.

 

When I was little we had a black cat that our neighbors abbandoned when they moved because she was pregnant. She had several kittens and one that looked siamese.

 

Now several years later a guy I work with lives in what could be called a cat dump area. One day a black tom and pregnant black queen were dumped. He couldn't get near them but they came to eat and eventually the queen brought her babies along. Two blackies like her and dad and one siamese (all polydactyl I might add). He managed to catch the kittens (He says they trust so much easier than the adults) and eventually the tom. The queen didn't trust him enough to get her in the house until she was pregnant again. This time she had two blackies a black and white and a polydactyl siamese.

 

He thought the ugly duckling siamese thing was neat and see if it would happen a third time but decided to spay mom instead. Because, sadly he once again has ANOTHER dumped litter to find a home for. But we were talking and wondered how common this black moms and one little siamese kitten a litter was.

[Tiki G]

From what I've heard from my sister, she babysits a couple of kids with a cat. The cat jumps on people's shoulders when they walk by! I hope that I get a cat as cool as that someday I'd really like one to lie on my shoulders and stuff when I'm walking around X3

I had a cat that did that. He could actually jump from the floor up to your shoulder. And he would sit there all day while you walked around like a big fuzzy parrot . He was incredibly awesome!

 

And we also fostered these 3 kittens who loved to sleep on your shoulders. I would have all 3 of the wrapped all around my neck while I sat at my computer. They were adorable.

 

 

@Syaoransbear: Is he neutered? If not, getting him fixed should help that.

If he is, then try changing the type of litter you have. Some cats will refuse to use certain types of litter. We had to try 3 different kinds for my cat until we finally found one she liked.

Scoop-able wheat litter is the best IMO. You can just scoop it daily and only have to change the whole thing once a week. Plus it adsorbs a lot of the odor so it barely smells at all. And a lot of cats prefer it over clay litter.

[rubyshoes]

I love cats. I had a silver persian for about 18 years until I had to have him put to sleep due to intestinal and kidney cancer and a nasal tumor. He had a crook in the end of his tail due to inbreeding.

 

I also had a flame point himilayan which I had for 14 or so years. He had to be put to sleep because of intestinal cancer.

 

I haven't had a cat in the last few years though since I lost those two.

[7Deadly$ins]

Anyone know anything about the siamese color gene. Coloring not breed. I'm pretty sure it's called (seal, choclate, etc) point coloring.

 

When I was little we had a black cat that our neighbors abbandoned when they moved because she was pregnant. She had several kittens and one that looked siamese.

 

Now several years later a guy I work with lives in what could be called a cat dump area. One day a black tom and pregnant black queen were dumped. He couldn't get near them but they came to eat and eventually the queen brought her babies along. Two blackies like her and dad and one siamese (all polydactyl I might add). He managed to catch the kittens (He says they trust so much easier than the adults) and eventually the tom. The queen didn't trust him enough to get her in the house until she was pregnant again. This time she had two blackies a black and white and a polydactyl siamese.

 

He thought the ugly duckling siamese thing was neat and see if it would happen a third time but decided to spay mom instead. Because, sadly he once again has ANOTHER dumped litter to find a home for. But we were talking and wondered how common this black moms and one little siamese kitten a litter was.

Well, the tom was probably Siamese, then.

[TikindiDragon]

Anyone know anything about the siamese color gene.  Coloring not breed. I'm pretty sure it's called (seal, choclate, etc) point coloring.

 

When I was little we had a black cat that our neighbors abbandoned when they moved because she was pregnant.  She had several kittens and one that looked siamese.

 

Now several years later a guy I work with lives in what could be called a cat dump area.  One day a black tom and pregnant black queen were dumped.  He couldn't get near them but they came to eat and eventually the queen brought her babies along.  Two blackies like her and dad and one siamese (all polydactyl I might add).  He managed to catch the kittens (He says they trust so much easier than the adults) and eventually the tom.  The queen didn't trust him enough to get her in the house until she was pregnant again.  This time she had two blackies a black and white and a polydactyl siamese. 

 

He thought the ugly duckling siamese thing was neat and see if it would happen a third time but decided to spay mom instead.  Because, sadly he once again has ANOTHER dumped litter to find a home for.  But we were talking and wondered how common this black moms and  one little siamese kitten a litter was.

There's two sets of genes going on to answer the question you are asking. The siamese *pattern*, where the colour is restricted to the points, is caused by a recessive variation on the white gene. It's labled cs. A cat with only one copy of the gene will look like a normally patterned cat, a cat with two will have the siamese pattern. That means that the siamese colour has to be coming from *both* parents. So both the queen *and* whichever tom had been seeing to her must have had a siamese gene in there.

 

The colour of the points is completely seperate from the pattern. The seal colour is actualy caused by precisely the same genes that make a cat black, the chocolate colour by the genes that would make a cat brown, and the blue colour by the genes that would make a cat grey. The siamese patterning causes the colours to wash out slighty, which is why the points are the seal colour and not fully black.

 

Black (seal) is caused by the dominant B gene. One copy of that, and the cat will be black (or seal) as long as there is nothing else going on. b, the recessive gene at that locus, would cause a cat to be brown (chocolate) if they get two copies (so bb). Doesn't sound like either parent has dilute going on, so I won't bore you with the details about blues & lilacs. Or, for that matter, the more complicated genetics behind cinnamon or caramel.

 

Edit: for clarity.

Edited January 30, 2011 by TikindiDragon

[Lil-Stinkpot]

Anyone know anything about the siamese color gene. Coloring not breed. I'm pretty sure it's called (seal, choclate, etc) point coloring.

 

When I was little we had a black cat that our neighbors abbandoned when they moved because she was pregnant. She had several kittens and one that looked siamese.

 

Now several years later a guy I work with lives in what could be called a cat dump area. One day a black tom and pregnant black queen were dumped. He couldn't get near them but they came to eat and eventually the queen brought her babies along. Two blackies like her and dad and one siamese (all polydactyl I might add). He managed to catch the kittens (He says they trust so much easier than the adults) and eventually the tom. The queen didn't trust him enough to get her in the house until she was pregnant again. This time she had two blackies a black and white and a polydactyl siamese.

 

He thought the ugly duckling siamese thing was neat and see if it would happen a third time but decided to spay mom instead. Because, sadly he once again has ANOTHER dumped litter to find a home for. But we were talking and wondered how common this black moms and one little siamese kitten a litter was.

And adding to the confusion, cats can have multis toms per litter. If it's in an uncontrolled environment, as all feral cats are, you can conceivably have as many different dads as there are kittens. In real life, I think I've seen up to three in one, once, back when I did kitty rescue.

[arabian sparkle]

Me?I love cats!We have two moggies.We are also planning on getting a birman!

 

I also love snow lepoards,and golden bengal tigers!

[Tiki G]

Was browsing through this (awesome) site and found this (awesome) quiz.

 

 

Is your cat plotting to kill you?

 

 

Apparently there is an 83% chance that my cat is plotting to kill me...

[Catspwndogs29]

Was browsing through this (awesome) site and found this (awesome) quiz.

 

 

Is your cat plotting to kill you?

 

 

Apparently there is an 83% chance that my cat is plotting to kill me...

...there's a 96% chance that my cat is plotting to kill me. o^o

[Cavedragon49990]

D'aww! =3 I just might have to steal Gidgit, and Butter also.

*facepalm*

 

Oh, wow. I wasn't the only one thinking Gigdit looked cute.

 

 

I forgot to say I love Russian Blue cats, the kittens look cuuuuute.

 

~Cavey

[Stunningfire]

*facepalm*

 

Oh, wow. I wasn't the only one thinking Gigdit looked cute.

Gidgit is adorable. X3

[LADYDRAGONSKEEPER]

Does anyone have a cat that doesn't like tuna. Mewlie won't touch it. I give it to her and she bawls her little white and tabby head off at me wanting canned food while Mitzu eats all the tuna by himself.

 

Mewlie- "Mommy, I don't want this. It don't have a picture of a cat on the can. I want some fish flavored fancy feast."

 

Mitzu- "Fine with me, I get it all."

[Googleplaxin]

My cats eat everything.

Every.

Bloody.

Thing.

 

They ate a whole bowl of dried rice, and have eaten apples, vegetables, stir fry....anything. If its left out of the cupboard or fridge, it'll end up in a Bengal belly.

Not to mention how many things they have broken. The Wii, countless plates, bowls and cooking dishes, plus on three separate occasions they have almost burnt the house down.

 

My cats are awesome, but crazy. Most of the time they run around like lemurs on crack, and we're in the process of building a massive cat run for them. (My cats are indoor cats. I don't like the idea of cats being outside. They cause too much damage, plus theres the whole getting hit by a car/getting into fights/ etc etc)

 

I am not really a cat person, but I love my Bengals to pieces. I think it's because they have a very big personality, and are quite dog-like in some ways. Gecko, for example, plays fetch, comes on command and goes on a lead and harness. Beetle however, is your usual antisocial, food obsessed cat. Though he has his crazy moments...and a massive cat flying at your head in a random hyper moment is fairly scary.

Edited February 5, 2011 by Googleplaxin

[LADYDRAGONSKEEPER]

I've heard Bengal and savannah owners complain a lot about the voracious appetites. Makes me wonder if it's serval and leopard cat ancestry.

 

"ME WILD CAT, ME EAT LOTS."

 

 

[7Deadly$ins]

Both the breeds are more active than most cats, it makes since that they'd get more hungry.

[Googleplaxin]

My big boy, Beetle, eats like no other animal i've ever owned. He'll eat and eat and eat. He also likes to take food and stash it in places, like under the couch cushions...not too fun when its part of your steak which he stole 2 nights ago.

[LADYDRAGONSKEEPER]

My big boy, Beetle, eats like no other animal i've ever owned. He'll eat and eat and eat. He also likes to take food and stash it in places, like under the couch cushions...not too fun when its part of your steak which he stole 2 nights ago.

Big boy sounds like he's part ferret.

[7Deadly$ins]

Lots of Bengals have a "secret stash" of food and toys they think no one knows about.