My cat is a domestic shorthair. How can I accurately tell her breed?

She’s beautiful! This is called a Domestic Shorthair. It is not a registered cat breed but a description of a type of mixed breed cat. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you get answers to your veterinary questions.

It’s hard to identify most cats breeds based up looks alone and many breeds carry the same traits. If your kitten was found as a stray, she is likely a mixed breed. She has medium length hair and we would call her a Domestic Medium Hair. Many breeds have medium length hair such as the Turkish Angora. If you have many pure bred cats in your area, it’s possible that she is a mix of long haired breed (such as a Persian) and a short haired breed (of which there are many). Regardless, she is beautiful. I hope this is helpful and please feel free to post any additional questions!

Aurora is most likely a domestic shorthair which is the vast majority of cats within the United States especially if she came from a shelter or a non-purebred breeder. Russian Blues are a pure bred, solid gray colored cat but are uncommon. They do look similar to a solid gray domestic short hair. I hope this answers your question.

Cute cat! It would be hard to tell just by looks what breed she is, however I see some possible oriental background with the longer face, perhaps mixed with a domestic shorthair. The best way to find out breed is through a genetic breed test, which usually only requires a cheek swab that is then sent to a lab. It might be worth doing if you're curious about her breed!

Hello. The best anyone can do is call your cat a Domestic Shorthair. Perhaps in the future, we will have the ability to distinguish breeds through DNA , like we can do with dogs now. But, the entire cat genome for every breed has not been established yet. You might check this out, where they can identify by broad geographic breed group where your cat best fits ( https://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/services/cat/ancestry ). Thanks for using PetCoach.

Melo would be what we call a domestic short hair. Unless he came with papers, this is likely the most you will know. Your veterinarian may be able to submit a blood sample or cheek swab for DNA testing, however it may not provide much more information.

WIthout a picture it is hard to say, but it sounds like it could be an American Shorthair. Cat breeds are much more difficult to decipher than dog breeds unless they are very obvious, such as a Sphynx or Siamese. If you are really curious and want to know for sure, there are companies that provide DNA testing. This will give you more information on your cat's lineage.