One of the most common questions we receive is: What is Parker/Lily/Jasmine’s breed?  The Cat Fanciers’ Association recognizes 42 different cat breeds. Even though the girls have different coloring and different temperaments, they’re are all considered to be domestic short-haired cats. The term “domestic short hair” refers to a short-haired cat of unknown parentage. With Parker, Lily and Jasmine all being adopted from shelters, the parentage of each cat is unknown to us.

Domestic short haired cats are the most common cat in the United States. Because of their mixed ancestry, they can vary greatly in temperament as you can see with our 3 cats. Though they may have their disagreements from time to time like all siblings, they do all exist peacefully, taking turns to get their loving from CatMom and CatDad. It is also not uncommon to see two of the three snuggled together in a bed, be it Parker and Jasmine or Parker and Lily.

Visibly what differs between the three cats are their coats. Parker and Lily both have the calico pattern/color and Jasmine has the tabby pattern. A calico cat can be an domestic short hair like Parker or Lily but it can also be a number of other breeds like Siberian or Persian. A true calico cat has three different colors on their coat and one of them has to be white. Most calico cats are female because of the genetic markers required to make that pretty tri-color fur. The difference between Parker’s calico coloring and Lily’s calico coloring is that Parker’s calico colors are dilute meaning her calico coloring is less intense than Lily’s coloring. Where Lily’s coat has black, Parker’s coat has grey. Another name for a dilute calico is a pastel calico.

When we adopted Jasmine, her description was listed as a brown tabby. Cats with tabby coats can have stripes, lines, swirls or stripes and spots like Jasmine. There are 4 types of tabby patterns: Mackarel, Classic, Ticked and Spotted. While we haven’t quite figured out which pattern Jasmine falls under, she does have the “M” shape on her forehead that tabbies typically display. Just as there are 4 types of tabby patterns, there are 4 colors for tabbies: brown, blue, red and cream. A cat with black stripes over brown or gray fur is known as a “brown tabby”.

We hope this helps answer the question about Parker, Lily and Jasmine’s breed. As always, if you are looking to add a furry friend to your family, we highly recommend adopting from your local shelter. We’ve seen firsthand with our three cats that shelter cats can be warm, loving and adorable. Thanks!