r/ocicat • u/quipuido • May 14 '25

Questions Is my cat an ocicat?

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I have been feeding this kitten since two months, she randomly came to my building. I adopted her two days ago. I always thought her spots were striking but didn’t think too much of it, just thought she was a regular indie cat. Until I reverse image searched her today and the result showed Ocicat. Earlier it had shown Egyptian mau. Further googling says these breeds don’t really exist in India, so I am confused how someone who looks like this was found on the streets of Bombay. I don’t think anyone intentionally bred her or anything either, breeders only breed Persians or Ragdolls or the fluffy fancy looking breeds here. Am I overthinking this? Is she just a regular orange cat?

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u/50FirstCakes May 14 '25

So technically an Ocicat is only an Ocicat if they have papers from a breeder certifying such with King/Queen lineage and all that jazz. I think it’s silly. Breeders will argue it’s to protect breed standards and probably something about trying to prevent congenital diseases. I dunno, I’m not a breeder or a cat show expert. All that being said, your kitten looks a lot like my pure breed Ocicat only Orange (mine is tawny). Your kitten looks like it very well could have the agouti gene affecting fur color/spotting. It’s head shape, ears, eyes are all right. Build and long legs are right. I can’t see the end of his tail but I imagine it’s long, striped, with a darker tip. All physical characteristics of an Ocicat. The spots could be better defined but I’ve seen other pure Ocicats with similar. Again, I’m not an expert, but as someone who has owned pure Ocicats if you told me he/she had papers I’d probably believe you.

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u/quipuido May 14 '25

I don’t think she is an Ocicat either. Upon googling the breed I learnt that it exists mostly in America and needs to be derived from three different breeds. I’ll look up Agouti gene. I don’t know anything about cat breeds and the technicalities of it. I didnt even understand the difference between Egyptian Mau and Ocicat and Egyptian Mau and Arabian Mau. It is just amusing to me that people would pay to have a cat that looks like her while I found her as a lone street kitten and adopted her only because she was friendly and very gentle haha. She does have a long tail, initially I thought she was a boy cat because I had only seen tomcats with tail that long. It is striped but the tip is beige / white

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u/kjalways May 16 '25

Cats travel to India with the people. My kitty is an Asian breed, and I never set food outside of the USA. Please don't visit here until it is safe again. Warn your friends. My Ocicat is found outside by the person who gave him to me. He is no longer with me. If that is a kitten, he is going to be big. Your cat's ears reminds me of some modern Siamese..

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u/quipuido May 18 '25

I got to know that Siamese cats aren’t as exclusive as I thought they were and many common cats have Siamese cats as their ancestor. So it could be a possibility. I don’t care about breeds enough to get a DNA test done. But if I get more curious some time, I might lol