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Posted: 29-09-2013 22:17 Post subject: ZebraCat [Photos]

Just into the new year fortean daughter and i spent a great week in a log cabin with stables on offas dyke ... while there on one of our walks we spotted what at first looked like a fox with zebra colouring crossing the lane ahead of us ... a zebrafox ! it darted off into a hedge pretty quick but we were able to keep it somewhat in eyeshot for a spell and although it was at some distance and obscured by foliage it seemed to actually be a big domestic cat with black and white colouring ... less interesting at a distance than it had first seemed and 2 photos were indistinct and mundane otherwise i might have posted back then

so in the interim daughter is now regularly attending these stables as she goes through a horse phase ... and yesterday on my trip up to the place in the car i got a clear view of the zebracat once more on the same stretch of lane ... and i have to say i have never seen a cat like it unfortunately however it evaded my camera phone ... it was a big full-grown feller with thick even vertical stripes across the body and rear ... i have googled and the ones ive seen at a glance look like photoshops ...

i know there are a few cat people on here ... anyone have an insight into whether this was a real live zebracat ... or in fact just a cat

Posted: 30-09-2013 16:11 Post subject:

Tasmanian Cat, perhaps? A new strain?

Posted: 30-09-2013 19:28 Post subject:

Are the white parts pure, bright white or just lighter? Silver tabbies can have quite a stark contrast between the black striped and the silver grey background. Mammal's colour producing cells spread from the spine in the embryo so anomalies like chimeras and somatic blips can present as bands of different colour around the body.

Posted: 30-09-2013 19:29 Post subject:

think vertical even widths of pure white and black black

Posted: 30-09-2013 19:30 Post subject:

i will dig out my two photos from early in the year although they were unimpressive

Posted: 30-09-2013 19:36 Post subject:

Perhaps it was a Maine Coon or a Norwegian Forest cat. Both are very large domestic cats and are found in a range of colours.

Posted: 30-09-2013 19:45 Post subject:

Would be interesting to see pics, it does sound like a chimera (a black cat and a white cat welded together) or a somatic blip (i.e. some sections of the spine did not release pigment cells, or released pigment cells that don't work, during development).

Posted: 30-09-2013 20:32 Post subject:

found then ... from 3/1/2013 just uploading not particularly impressive but you can certainly see the zebracab effect on the third

Posted: 30-09-2013 20:34 Post subject:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d8/HdaMassa/zebracat/2013-01-03_13-17-11_896_zpsd202d43a.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d8/HdaMassa/zebracat/2013-01-03_13-17-16_946_zpsc99bf39b.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d8/HdaMassa/zebracat/2013-01-03_13-17-20_747_zps652fc147.jpg

Posted: 30-09-2013 20:46 Post subject:

Can't see anything in pic number 2.

Posted: 30-09-2013 20:59 Post subject:

me neither i am guessing he was behind the shrubbery ...

Posted: 30-09-2013 21:33 Post subject:

Posted: 30-09-2013 21:53 Post subject:

Looks like a house cat. We have one that looks similar. We call him Lefty.

Posted: 01-10-2013 10:19 Post subject:

Posted: 01-10-2013 20:27 Post subject:

I know the photos aren't that clear, but he looks to me like a large black and white BSH tomcat with freakish markings.
All domestic cats have tabby just below the surface, and in the fur of black, grey, blacknwhite and greynwhites you can see tabby ghost prints in the right light. I have seen a grey and white before with a stripey effect, simlar but not as striking as this one seems to be. I also had a black and white cat myself with a large, near perfect black circle on a white background on her back. I currently have a tabby and white with a completely white underside except for a near perfect tabby circle slightly to the left of centre on his chest.
In the infinate genetic variables of colour markings, a zebra cat is indeed perfectly possible, but pretty spectacular all the same. I'd love to see more pics if you manage to get some Smile