Origin
United States
Lifespan
12–18 years
Weight
3–7 kg
Group
Shorthair
Personality
Colors & Patterns
Tawny · Chocolate · Cinnamon · Blue · Lavender · Fawn · Silver · Chocolate Silver
Ocicat
About This Breed
The Ocicat is an all-domestic breed of cat which resembles a wild cat but has no wild DNA in its gene pool. The breed is named for its resemblance to the ocelot. It was established from Siamese and Abyssinian stock, and later American Shorthairs were added to the mixture. Ocicats are wild looking but temperamentally domestic. They are confident, affectionate, and sociable cats that get along well with children and dogs.
Characteristics
Scores describe general breed tendencies, not an individual animal. A higher score means more of the named trait or need; it does not always mean better.
Life with a Ocicat
Origin
| Origin | United States |
| Group | Shorthair |
For the breed’s history, see the reference sources and Wikipedia link below.
Size and coat
| Weight | 3–7 kg |
| Lifespan | 12–18 years |
| Colors & Patterns | Tawny · Chocolate · Cinnamon · Blue · Lavender · Fawn · Silver · Chocolate Silver |
These are approximate adult ranges. Individual animals may be smaller or larger.
Temperament
| Personality | Active · Social · Playful · Intelligent · Loyal |
Usually active. Make time for play, exercise, and activities that keep it interested.
Often seeks company and attention. Allow time together and help it get used to short periods alone.
Coat care
Usually needs relatively little coat care. Brush as needed for its coat and shedding.
Usually sheds relatively little. Low shedding does not mean an animal cannot cause allergies.
Living together
Often adjusts to changes fairly well, though a gradual introduction still helps.
Often gets along with children, but an adult should still supervise their time together.
Often gets along with other pets. Introduce them gradually rather than assuming they will be friends.
Health and lifespan
A lifespan range is not a prediction for an individual animal. Breed scores cannot diagnose illness or replace a veterinary assessment.
Offer places to climb, hide, scratch, and rest. Try different toys to see what your cat enjoys.
More from breed and care sources
Excerpts from the linked sources. Read the original for full details.
About the Breed
One look at those sensational spots and people ask, “Is this one of the new “wild” breeds?” Ocicats aren’t all that new and they’re anything BUT wild! Selectively bred from three of the cat fancy’s most popular breeds, this 100% domestic hybrid was designed to emulate the spotted wildcats of Central and South America. With an Ocicat in your home, you get the exotic look of a wild jungle cat plus a playful, independent spirit and an affectionate, devoted nature. These confident, extroverted cats will walk into your life and proceed to take it over. You’ll be so charmed by their antics that you won’t mind a bit.
Breed History
The first Ocicat, Tonga, born in 1964, resulted from an attempt to cross an Abyssinian with a Siamese to produce “Aby-pointed” Siamese. Instead, the breeding produced a spotted kitten who reminded the breeder’s daughter of an ocelot. . . hence the name, “Ocicat.” Although Tonga was neutered and placed in a pet home, his picture appeared in a Detroit newspaper and was seen by geneticist Dr. Clyde Keeler, who expressed an interest in producing domestic cats that mimicked some of the vanishing wild species. This led to a repeat of the Tonga breeding and prompted other breeders to try the same “recipe;” introducing an American Shorthair into the mix to broaden the new breed’s genetic base. The Ocicat was first accepted for CFA registration in 1966, but developing consistent structure and type took some time, and it was not advanced to championship status until 1987.
Character & Temperament
Often described as having a dog-like personality, Ocicats are dedicated to their owners but are neither clingy nor demanding. Natural extroverts, they welcome strangers (probably in hope of finding new playmates) and respond well to training. Many will fetch, walk on a leash, learn to respond to voice commands and easily adapt to your household rules; they also make excellent travelers. They do best in households that include other animals or someone who works from home, because they are not happy being left to themselves for long periods of time. Alert, agile and athletic, Ocicats are energetic but not overly active. Compared to most longhaired breeds, they may appear rambunctious, but their base activity level is lower than that of an Abyssinian or Siamese. They value human interaction but do not crave it constantly; your Ocicat is likely to vocalize in order to occasionally attract attention from you but will not be annoying about it. Overall, they make superb companions who fit well into almost any type of household.
Physical Appearance
Strong, medium to large cats, Ocis are so muscular that they feel heavy for their size, even the females. The spots are thumb-print shaped, large, and contrast dramatically with the lighter background of the coat. Show-quality cats have a bulls-eye pattern on each side, with a spot encircled by other spots. Other large spots appear on the shoulders, hindquarters, and down the legs. This striking pattern occurs in 12 different colors, ranging from tawny, chocolate and cinnamon (the most common) to dilute and silver versions such as lavender silver and fawn silver. The head is a modified wedge with a broad, well-defined muzzle that has a suggestion of squareness, contributing to the breed’s wild look.
Grooming
Ocicats are not heavy shedders and require only minimal grooming. Some owners like to use a rubber brush on the coat to occasionally remove dead hair and control shedding, but if your cat is a very light shedder, you can simply use a chamois. Wiping down the coat with a chamois removes loose hair, lightly cleans the coat and adds luster, and it can be used as often as needed. Ocicats should not need bathing unless they are going to be shown.
Life at home
Because they come from three different breeds, Ocicats have genetic diversity and hybrid vigor. Breeders generally share genetic testing information to help maintain the healthiest possible breeding population. However, some health issues found in their parent breeds may still occur in Ocicats, so ask your breeder about any history of these conditions in the line. One is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the most common feline heart condition, another is amyloidosis, which can affect the kidneys or the liver. A third heritable condition, progressive retinal atrophy, which causes blindness, is now a minor concern since it can be managed through genetic testing.
Breed Overview
Sometimes the best things in life happen by pure accident—as was the case with the creation of the spotted Ocicat. As the story goes, breeder Virginia Daly set out to breed a Siamese cat with the distinctive ticked coloring of an Abyssinian. After several breeding attempts, she was surprised to find a male kitten among the litter with eye-catching but unforeseen coloring, not unlike that of a wild ocelot. He had ivory fur adorned with golden spots. This unexpected gem would be the first Ocicat kitten.
Care Guide
Ocicats are medium to medium-large cats, weighing 6–15 pounds and measuring 9–11 inches at the shoulder. They’re confident cats that are highly devoted to their humans, so much so that the Ocicat and Classic Society call them “dogs in cats’ fur.” But unlike dogs, these cats love to climb, often peering down on their humans from their favorite vantage points, whether it be a cat shelf, tall cat tree, or atop furniture.