The photograph is all about texture, pattern and colour. The texture and patterns of the paving stones contrast nicely with the coat texture and patterns.
This stray cat is a spotted tabby and white. She looks very healthy but probably isn't. Stray cats get very serious illnesses such as FIV and FIP, both killers. See Cat Health Problems.
This cat though could (I feel) do well in the Household Pet division (moggie division) of a cat show because of the fabulous coat.
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The photo was taken in Oeiras Garden in Portugal. It seems to me that probably the most common of all cat coat types particularly in the Mediterranean countries is the tabby and white. The Mediterranean basin (the area around the Mediterranean sea) is where the wild cat was domesticated and that includes in Cyprus and Egypt. In Egypt the African wild cat was domesticated. The European wild cat was domesticated in Cyprus as I understand it. So this cat, which lives in the Mediterranean basin has some 10,000 years later a bit of wild cat in her including the genes that created the coat - the wildcat has a tabby coat. You can see more spotted tabby and white cats here and Turkish Van type cats (in Cyprus) here: Birth of a New Cat Breed.
Since writing this post I have written a page about the cats of Morocco discussing what makes the cats of North Africa the type (shape, colour and pattern) that they are. They will be the same or similar to those of Portugal.
I also reproduce the photo below in large format as the one top right is located on Flickr. The photographer may remove it from Flickr in which case it will be removed from this page as well!
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| Beautiful Stray Cat - Photo by * starrynight1 |
Another thing that is noticeable about this cat and which makes it and her is that she appears to have been pregnant before. This, though, is a wild guess - I could well be wrong. She could be a male cat!
Another thing is that the tip of one of her ears has not been clipped signifying that she has been trapped, neutered and returned. I say this because the photographer has photographed several cats in this park an one, a jet black one, has had his ear clipped.
Often stray cats (particularly true feral cats) can look very dirty and thin. That is not the case with this cat. I get the feeling that she is well fed by visitors to the park. Here is a classic tabby cat from the same park:
2 comments:
We adopted a stray kitten the end of October. Abandoned by his mother, this little white fur ball tugged at my heart!
The vet has labeled him a flame point siamese. He's beautiful! And loves attention!
Enjoyed your photos!
Well done. I always like to hear stories of feral or stray cats being adapted or saved. It is something positive. And a flame point Siamese. They are special.
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