Purebred Heinz 57

I was waiting for something to dry and/or was procrastinating while reading an article about The 20 Best Cat Breeds for Getting Along With Dogs. No, we're not getting a dog. It was just an article I saw and I was more interested in looking at the pictures of the beautiful cats. When all of a sudden I scrolled through the article and saw

photo taken from the 20 Best Cat Breeds article

this guy! He's fluffier, but he looks like

Quill!

The purebred is called a Turkish Van (pronounced Von) and is characterized by a white body with color only on the head and tail.  From Wikipedia, "Breed standards allow for one or more body spots as long as there is no more  than 20% colour and the cat does not give the appearance of a bicolour. A few random spots are acceptable, but they should not detract from the pattern. The rest of the cat is white. Although red tabby and white is the classic van colour, the color on a Van's head and tail can be one of the following: red, cream, black, blue, red tabby, cream tabby, brown tabby, blue tabby, tortoiseshell, dilute tortoiseshell (also known as blue-cream), brown-patched tabby, blue-patched tabby,"

Though on his adoption papers, Quill is listed as orange and white, his coloring is more rust or ruddy and his patches look a bit like tabby markings. He has patches on the left side of his body and only one small patch on his right flank.

He also has the ringed tail that is characteristic of the Van. 

Their coat is describes as silky as there is no undercoat. Quill's fur feels like cashmere or rabbit fur. Some of the characteristics of the Turkish Van they are affectionate, but don't like to be held. They are energetic and like to play. They are big cats with males weighing 10 - 20 lbs. Quill has been growing, and he looks like he'll be a big boy.

They also like water and sometimes called the "swimming cats". There was a caution about not leaving them unsupervised as they will play in the bathroom. You may recall shortly after we got the kitties, Quill got into the bathroom, turned the tap on in the sink, the sink overflowed, flooded the bathroom, and the water seeped into the basement. If we are not home, we close the bathroom door.

The tail is described as bushy. Quill's tail is pencil thin, but that may be due to the Turkish Van is slow to mature taking 3 to 5 years to reach full maturity. A couple of months ago, something spooked both kitties, and they blew their fur up to uber puffy. Quill's tail blew out like a bottle brush!

The Turkish Van is not a lap cat. Quill doesn't like to be picked up and cuddled though occasionally he'll want to be held as he gets a little jealous because Calli loves to be held and cuddled. Quill is happier lying next to which makes him a great companion when watching television in the bedroom.

So while most of Quill's heritage is plain old, DSH (Domestic Short Hair), it's cool to note that he might have a bit of Turkish Van.