Ocicat

The Ocicat is an all-domestic breed of domestic cat which resembles a wild cat but has no (recent) wild DNA in its gene pool. It has a spotted tabby coat, and is named for its resemblance to the ocelot. The breed was established by crossbreeding the Siamese and Abyssinian, and later on American Shorthair would be added.

==History== ===Origin=== The Ocicat was created spontaneously by Virginia Daly (Dalai) of Berkley, Michigan, US, who in 1964 attempted to breed a cat with the mixed features of the typical reddish-brown ticked tabby agouti pattern of a black Abyssinian and the oriental-built with colourpoint pattern of the Siamese. Daly bred a black ('ruddy') ticked tabby Abyssinian male, carrying cinnamon, named Dalai Deta Tim of Selene to a female black ('seal') point Siamese named Dalai Tomboy Patter. The first generation of kittens appeared Abyssinian-like, and a female named Dalai She was kept. Dalai She was later bred to a chocolate point Siamese tom named Whitehead Elegante Sun. The resulting litter had the desired mixed Abyssinian-Siamese-style kittens. She continued breeding them but this time one of the kittens had cinnamon-coloured spots on an ivory background. Virginia's daughter said he looked like an ocelot and wished to name him 'ocicat', instead he was named Tonga and was sold off to a medical student for with an agreement to neuter him. Daly corresponded with geneticist Dr. Clyde Keeler of Georgia University, who attempted to create a spotted cat similar to extinct Egyptian ones. As Tonga looked similar to the cat, Keeler suggested that Daly breed Tonga back with his mother. Given that Tonga was neutered, she bred his parents together again and this produced a black ('tawny') spotted male named Dalai Dotson. Daly refocused her breeding programme towards the recreation of this spotted tabby wild-appearing cat. A further step involved incorporating the American Shorthair to enhance body structure, bone density, and to introduce the breed’s silver colouring gene.