The Smelker Seven

We Really Lucked Out!!

Seven and a half years ago I decided that I wanted a kitten, so I went over to the Dearborn Animal Shelter, checked out about 20 kittens and came home with Serena. I picked her because she was fluffy and had an interesting coloration. At our first vet visit he commented that he thought she was almost pure Maine Coon Cat, a popular breed of cat that is known to be affectionate, friendly, placid, outgoing and an all-round good cat. Serena has proven to be just that.

Then a month ago we came home with Drake, thinking he was going to grow into a large ginger tom. Both Terry and I were interested to note that he was not so much striped as 'dotted', almost as though he was a wild cat, like an Ocelot. Yesterday I took him to the vet for his first round of shots, and my vet commented on the spots and said, "He looks like an Ocicat." Turns out the Ocicat resembles the Ocelot, but there is no 'wild' DNA in the Ocicat's gene pool. The species is actually a mixture of Siamese and Abyssinian cats, and is a new and still-rare breed of cat which has spots resembling a 'wild' cat and the temperament of a domestic animal, named for its resemblance to the ocelot.

I checked out a website that had photos of pure-bred Ocicat kittens. Here is one of their photos:


And here is one of Drake, taken just yesterday. Tell me that is not nearly a pure-bred??


The cool thing about this breed (and Drake must be at least half Ocicat) is that according to breeders they can be trained like dogs, and like dogs, they like to hang out with their people and are extremely social animals. I can't believe that we lucked out like this - two almost pure-bred cats for the fraction of the cost of buying one through a breeder!

Labels: Drake, Serena

posted by The Smelker Seven @ 9:20 PM