Is McTabby on the $1 Menu?

Just checking in with an update -- I've spent the past month or so caring for my cat Leo (featured prominently in my current profile photo) who is dealing rather well with a jaw tumor.

Me? I'm dealing the way I usually deal with things -- obsessing, websurfing, and obsessing some more.

In the process, I've learned more about felines than one married person has the right to know. Not only about diseases and disorders, but things...well...somewhat less important. Like the myriad of ways one can describe a cat.

(The following is an excerpt from my Leo-centric blog. Check it out if you like cute photos of fuzzy cats and hearing about feline medication.)

Leo is most definitely a "Maine Coon" type - although he is a pure-bred feral cat. (His mother showed up outside my grandparents house one day in 1993 and promptly gave birth under their shed.)

But what color is he? Should be obvious, but...There are many many insanely (to me) specific names for cat colors, and my guess is that Leo's color might be "Cameo Tabby" which carries the following criteria according to the American Cat Fanciers Association: "The ground color should be pale ivory. Markings are red, diminishing in intensity of color approaching the roots of the hairs. Clarity of markings takes precedence over depth of tipping. Nose leather and paw pads rose. Eyes shades of green, gold or copper. White lip/chin trim allowed."

However, maybe Leo is a McTabby. I say "maybe" because after 30 minutes of web searching, I still don't know the difference between a plain ole Tabby and a McTabby (the McTabby comes with a side of fries?)


How could you not love a cat that would humor you enough to pose with a pack of toy fries? (Although he does look a bit pissed.)

I did find a lovely website that actually had photos of cat colors, although it did not clarify the McTabby issue.

I also learned that Leo's dearly departed brother Zeke was not a mere gray and white cat, he was a "bicolour" cat - with the "mask and mantle" pattern...and the term covering all bicolour cats is "piebald" or "white spotted."


Leo and his brother Zeke circa 1996

But wait -- he wasn't white spotted with grey...because in the cat world, no cat is grey, they are "blue." And some of his grey, er blue, patches had a beige background -- but is beige "buff?" or "dilute red?" Or was his grey not blue, but "dilute black?" But then I find photos that look like Zeke described as "brown mctabby and white..."

And then my head explodes. Perhaps it's time to subscribe to Cat Fancy?