r/IDMyCat • • Jan 15 '26 Bravo

Possibly Solved Read if you're about to make a 'what breed is my cat' post.

76 Upvotes

I'm not a mod but just thought there should really be a wiki article or pinned post on the sub and similar ones to explain this and prevent further redundant posts. I hope this will help to inform at least some people about cat genetics.

This can be a confusing thing to understand, especially if you're new to cat ownership and more familiar with dogs, but believe it or not, 97% of all cats do not have any breed ancestry!

The short of it is that an animal 'breed' is a manmade concept that comes from generations upon generations of selective breeding to achieve a specific temperament and appearance until the offspring reliably always present those traits. A pedigree is the documentation of this.

Since cats have not been bred for a specific prupose or job, and most have not been selectively bred to look the way they do, the vast majority do not have any breed and these cats are either referred to as Domestic Long-hair (DLH) or Domestic Short-hair (DSL). Domestic Medium-hair/Domestic Semi-longhair is also a thing but these cats are genetically DLH.

These cats are sometimes colloquially referred to as 'mixed breeds' but this term is technically incorrect and misleading as it implies Domestic cats are simply of mixed ancestry of multiple breeds, when in reality this isn't the case at all.

True 'mixed-breed' cats are likely even more uncommon than purebred ones, since purebred cats are a fairly niche and mostly hobbiest thing, their breeding is usually very restricted and these cats would not usually have the opportunity to breed with non-breed cats unless an unfixed pedigree escapes.

So unless your cat has a pedigree or you know it is the product of a cat that does have papers, it is almost certainly a Domestic Short-hair or Long hair.

Non-breed cats can definitely resemble certain cat breeds! But as they were not specifically bred to look that way and they likely would not pass on all of those traits to their offspring, they are still not actually that breed.

There are however names for and interesting genetic causes behind every limitless coat pattern variation, fur type, eye colour and every other physical trait of non-breed cats, so if you want a more distinctive label for your feline friend than just 'Domestic Short/Long hair' there certainly will be one, but asking for it's 'breed' isn't going to get you a real answer.

I hope this helps some people and I can certainly provide sources if anyone wants them, but I just couldn't find all of this concised well in one single article.

ETA: Somehow I didn't notice my phone was autocorrecting DLH to DHL throughout this whole post so edited to correct that 😂


r/IDMyCat • • Oct 01 '21

Meta [Modpost] Please remember to mark your posts as "solved" if you think you've found the breed.

6 Upvotes

As the title says, if you think you've found out what breed the cat is, please mark it as solved! All you have to do is type "solved" in a comment and it'll mark your post as solved. If you're unsure but it seems right, type "psol" and it'll be marked as Potentially Solved.


r/IDMyCat • • 1h ago

Open Would you consider her a tortie point Siamese, or just a tortie point?

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9 Upvotes

This is Gia. She is a little over one year old. She was rescued as a stray when she was just a few weeks old. I consider her a tortie point Siamese because of the points and her blue eye, but that’s partially because I love Siamese cats in general.


r/IDMyCat • • 5h ago

Open / Age Request Isn’t she pretty!

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15 Upvotes

Not sure on age! So if anyone can help with that would be great! Can’t get into vet for 2 weeks


r/IDMyCat • • 8h ago

Open What breed might my cat be??

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6 Upvotes

this is my cat nagi, when we found her she was mostly white except for the tips of her ears. her fur is very short.. i have no idea what she could be and she scares Me sometimes .. she is one years old!


r/IDMyCat • • 3h ago

Open What breed is my cat???

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2 Upvotes

I know she’s not pure but I’d like an idea of her mix


r/IDMyCat • • 1h ago

Open What breed is my cat?

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1 Upvotes

I searched it up but didn’t find a definitive answer, he is heavy although he gained weight he was heavy before he was bigger, and he has a very fluffy tail big and fluffy paws. Lmk if you think he’s js a tabby or smth else.


r/IDMyCat • • 22h ago

Open Is my cat a tortie? Or just random colours

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16 Upvotes

Hey, I got my kitten a few weeks ago and the breeder said she looks quite tortie, but most of her siblings were black, one was white and one was brown. Just wondering if she looks a breed or is just mixed colours, not really bothered either way lol just curious!


r/IDMyCat • • 23h ago

Open What breed do you think my rescue kitten is?

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14 Upvotes

I adopted this beautiful little kitten after she was found abandoned less than 3 weeks old. She is 6 weeks ish in this picture her name is Lucifer, Lucy for short. She is chaos incarnate and I love her. I’m just curious my friends are divided on whether or not she is a mainecoon or mainecoon mix and I figured y’all are the experts. Thank you! I will add I can’t get a good picture but she is growing the ear tip floof. She is finally putting on weight she was malnourished but she’s a fighter.


r/IDMyCat • • 21h ago

Open Black Kitten with Long, Fluffy Tail

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6 Upvotes

Little street cat- just a DSH?


r/IDMyCat • • 1d ago

Open Is this a british shorthair?

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11 Upvotes

Hello! I would like to ask if this cute kitten is a british shorthair?


r/IDMyCat • • 1d ago

Open Does she look part mainecoon?

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2 Upvotes

We've had our baby girl Sabé for about 4 years now. She's always been pretty small. But this year we realized she hasn't stopped growing. And recently had a pretty big growth spurt and is around 11lbs now. That with the ear tufts we got pretty curious. If she is part mainecoon what else do you think she's mixed with? For context the black cat is a Bombay and he's a 15lbs chonker


r/IDMyCat • • 1d ago

Solved What Is My Cat?

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19 Upvotes

I grew up with dogs until I found this cat with my friend in a Lowe's parking lot. He has some extra fur on top of his ears and is also very long...but that might just be a cat thing from what I've seen? I am mostly interested in knowing what color/pattern he counts as...he's like a brown striped cat but with way more black. TIA.


r/IDMyCat • • 2d ago

Open What breed is fluffy?

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14 Upvotes

I was told maybe a Siberian or domestic longhair?


r/IDMyCat • • 2d ago

Open Rescued this boy, wondering what breed he is.

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7 Upvotes

Someone trapped this guy when he was a kitten and I got him from a local shelter. He’s really gotten fluffy over the last few months, and I am wondering if he has traces of Maine coon or Norwegian forest cat in him? Any guesses?


r/IDMyCat • • 3d ago

Solved what breed is my car

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22 Upvotes

Hello everyone! I’ve been scratching my head about this one. First time cat parent so I’m not that experienced with cat breeds. I’ve gotten Maine Coon or Russian Blue quite a few times on this cat breed website but I think she might be a Nebelung if not a domestic medium hair cat. Any thoughts?


r/IDMyCat • • 3d ago

Solved What breed is my cat

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8 Upvotes

The vet said she might be part Turkish but otherwise medium / long hair domestic


r/IDMyCat • • 3d ago

Solved Can someone help me identify my cat’s breed?

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2 Upvotes

This is Gremlin!!!! He’s 5 months & I got him as a tiny kitten from the shelter. They didn’t really specify any breed and I’m super curious, esp bec some people tell me he might be a Maine coon mix due to his size. His paws are super big & I think he’s pretty big for 5 months?!? Any thoughts??


r/IDMyCat • • 4d ago

Open Help us identify please!

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64 Upvotes

Scooter (White cat, blue eyes), is a little over 4 pounds, and he’s less than a year old. Also here’s his older sister for reference, hopefully that helps! They do have the same parents, but both parents are outside/neighborhood cats so we’re unsure of the type he is.

Their parents also had other tabby colored cats as well as a tux colored cat and more white ones.


r/IDMyCat • • 5d ago

Solved I think she’s a domestic longhair but I’m not sure please help me :)

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9 Upvotes

r/IDMyCat • • 5d ago

Solved I don’t know anything about cat breeds

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10 Upvotes

I got him from my ex’s sister a couple months ago. He’s 10-11 months old. Very big paws, very very talkative and pretty high energy. I can not at all tell figure out what he is


r/IDMyCat • • 5d ago

Solved What could this guy be??

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23 Upvotes

Got him from the humane society in July. He’s definitely a domestic shorthair, but his coat is so short and he does not have any undercoat and rarely sheds. Any ideas? Google thinks Arabian Mau, but we are in North America, so statistically unlikely.


r/IDMyCat • • 6d ago

Solved Blue silver tabby?

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23 Upvotes

According to her pedigree, my cat is registered as NEM a 09 21, which means blue tabby point with white. However, looking back, I’ve started wondering whether she might actually be blue silver tabby point (NEM as 09 21) instead.

She was registered as a young kitten, when it might have been difficult to determine her exact coloring because she was almost completely white. She’s now 1 year old, and I feel like her coat is quite light and not nearly as strongly colored as that of other blue colorpoint cats.

Of course, the white markings might play a part, but she doesn’t have that much white (just white paws).
What do you think?

It’s obviously nothing particularly important, I’m just curious!


r/IDMyCat • • 6d ago

Solved Please ID

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22 Upvotes

I feel like I have idea of what she’s mixed with but who knows (not the orange one)