American breeders used the American Shorthair to increase the size and color variety of the Osseous, while Europe began breeding the breed later, using a different breeder, and the first Osseous litter was born in Europe in 1984 afternoon. The spots on the body were carefully bred. Except for the tail tip, the entire coat is striped and has a distinctive spot pattern all over the body. Coat color and eye color vary, but cannot have blue eyes. Another important characteristic is the strong and powerful appearance; newborn kittens have the appearance of a small leopard.
Large and full of weight, the weight of the Ocicat, adult cats reach 5-7 kg. The body shape is similar to the Abyssinian cat, with a slightly longer carcass, a deep chest and a wide cat with hard bones and strong sinew. At the same time full of beautiful taste, which is the biggest charm of the Osseous cat.
In addition, Ocicats are both alert and calm, and their intelligent brains can command them to do the right thing in the right occasion. Their appearance may seem difficult to get close to, but the opposite is true, as Ossy cats are relatively friendly cats and are therefore liked by many people.
- Morphological Characteristics of Ocicat
Many people will mistake an Ocicat for a leopard cat. In fact, the Ocicat does look somewhat like a leopard cat, and even cat owners may be confused by their appearance. But the Ocicat is not just one coat color, brown, chocolate, mauve, blue, etc. may all be found in the variant. To understand the difference between Ocicats and other cats, let’s take a closer look at their morphological features.
Head shape: The skull is like a trimmed wedge along the mouth and nose to the cheeks in a tiny curve into the wedge shape of the head, forming a distinct but gentle bump from the bridge of the nose to the forehead. The beard is not badly bent. The neck should be gracefully arched.
Ears: Sensitive, medium sized and outside the head in order to form an inflection. Assuming a horizontal line between the foreheads, the ears should grow at an angle of 45 degrees (i.e. not too high and not too short). When this is the case, points are awarded for ear hairs that extend vertically from the tip of the ear.
Eyes: Large and almond-shaped. The corners of the eyes are slightly arched toward the ears, and the distance between the eyes should be more than the length of one eye. All colors of eyes are permitted except blue. There is no correlation between eye color and coat color. The darker the color, the better.
Mouth and Nose: The mouth and nose should be wide, slightly square, and have some length when viewed from the side. The jaws should be strong and firm with a complete bite.
Body Type: Medium to large. Based on its size, the Ocicat should have a surprising weight. It is recorded that female cats are generally smaller in size than male cats. The overall structure and characteristics of the cat should be included in the selection considerations, not the size of the body alone.
Torso: Sturdy, somewhat long, plump and deep and muddy but not bulky. Athletic appearance with strong and muscular bones. The ribs leap slightly to present a deep, broad chest, with the back slightly above the rear and the flanks flat. Athletic, strong and not too soft, the Ocicat will be favored. Those with large size or rough fur will not be preferred.
Legs/Feet: The legs should be strong and muscular, medium-length and in proper proportion to their size. The feet should be oval in shape, with five toes on the front paws and four toes on the back paws, also in proper proportion to their legs.
Tail: fairly long, medium thin and slightly tapered, with a dark tip.
Coat: Short, smooth, and satin-like, dense, and sleek.
Spots: All the hairs are tape-striped except the tail end. In these markings, the tips are dark and the bottom end of the coat is lighter.
Color: All colors should be bright and pleasing to the eye. Around the eyes and under the chin is often the lightest coat color. The darkest color is on the tip of the cat’s tail.
After understanding the morphological characteristics of the Ocicat, we can easily distinguish them from other cats. It should be noted that few people in China keep Ocicats as pets, so if you are interested in this kind of cat, you may have to make a big effort to do some homework to avoid being cheated.
- Ocicat personality characteristics
Although they look like wild cats, they are afraid of being alone and love to be with their owners and families with children.
They are not only friendly to their owners, but they will not make unfriendly noises to friends who come to their homes. In addition, Ossi cats love children, so owners do not have to worry about children and cats can not get along peacefully, perhaps they have a much deeper bond than you and the cat. It should be noted that the Ocicat is not friendly to other cats, so when two cats meet, there will be a fight.
The Ocicat is also an active cat and they seem to be very interested in everything. If you look closely, you can find that they want to play with this and touch that at one time. They want their owners to interact with them more. If you don’t have enough time, you may want to prepare more toys for your cat to avoid depression due to loneliness and boredom. Because Ocicats are mobile, it is best for owners to prepare a cat climbing frame for them so that they do not want to climb high and take over your bookcases and other furniture. Owners should also place breakable items in the house to prevent cats from touching them when they are exercising.
Ocicats are very loyal to their owners, they will not leave their owners just because others are nice to them, on the contrary, they will keep a certain distance from others, even if they are friendly to you, it does not mean that they have your place in their hearts.
- Ocicat care knowledge
Ocicats are a new breed bred in artificial way, and how to raise them well seems to depend on people to figure out step by step. In fact, the care of Ozzy cats is the same as most cats, such as not feeding salty food and not bathing too often. In order to help new owners to better raise Ozzy cats, we have summarized the following seven considerations, which owners can refer to in order to make Ozzy cats enjoy their lives better.
I. Brushing teeth
If possible, brush the teeth of Ocicats to reduce the invasion of bacteria caused by inflammation of the gums.
II. Eye care
Often use wet cotton to remove excessive mucus and clean the skin around the eyes.
III. Ear care
Regularly check the inner ear canal.
IV. Joint care
Joint pain is a common problem for senior pets. If he cannot move regularly, gently massage his muscles or move the joints of his limbs when he is resting.
V. Paw care
The cat’s claws are the tools for catching mice, climbing and self-defense. If the owner keeps the cat to catch mice, of course the claws cannot be trimmed. If the owner keeps the cat as a companion animal, the cat’s claws should be trimmed frequently to avoid scratching people and breaking clothes, furniture, floors, etc. The claw trimming should start at a young age, once a month or so. The specific method is as follows: Hold the Ocicat in your arms, grab one of the cat’s feet with your left hand and slightly squeeze it with your thumb, index finger and middle finger to make the claws stick out. Then hold the nail clipper with the right hand and carefully cut the transparent part of the front of the foot claw, and then polish the foot claw with the small file on the nail clipper. When trimming, do not cut too much to avoid hurting the feet of ordinary Ocicats. Then cut and polish the other claws in turn. Bathing can not only keep the cat clean and beautiful, but can also remove some parasites from the body surface, promote blood circulation and metabolism, and play a role in disease prevention and fitness. The habit of bathing is best cultivated from a young age, and the cat will be extremely reluctant to start bathing until after adulthood.
VI. Bathing
Bathing utensils should be prepared before bathing, such as bath tub, bath towel, detergent, comb (preferably sparse at one end and dense at the other), brush, etc. The water temperature should not be too low or too high, so that it is not too hot; the detergent used should not be too irritating, so as not to irritate the skin; the coat should be combed before bathing to prevent tangling; the bathing action should be rapid and finished in a short time as possible; after bathing, the coat should be dried immediately with a bath towel, and when the temperature is low, it is best to cover with a special towel quilt or other warming products to prevent cold.
VII. Combing
The rough tongue surface of the cat has special barbed tongue papillae, which resembles a comb. The parts that cannot be licked, such as the head, shoulders, back and neck are groomed with paws. Even so, it is best to groom the cat once a day. Because cats shed all year round, especially in the spring and autumn hair changing seasons, cats grooming themselves will swallow the hair into the stomach, over time in the stomach to form a hair ball, such as can not be vomited out through the vomit, and can not be discharged in time through the intestines, stagnant in the stomach, will form a hair ball blockage, affecting appetite, and even life-threatening.
When grooming, not only combing with the hair, but also combing against the hair. When grooming the common Ocicat, the hair can be wetted with water and then rubbed to make the coat tree up for easy grooming. If the coat of the cat is tangled or stuck together, use the fingertips to open it, or use a comb with thin teeth and comb slowly and carefully. If the felt has been rolled out, use scissors to cut the felt into thin strips in the direction of hair growth, and then use a comb to comb it out. If the felt is badly rolled out, the coat can be cut to make it grow again.
Of course, there are more than a few aspects of the care of the Ocicat, and some care methods need to be summarized by the breeder in the long-term care process. If you encounter some problems in the process of care, the owner can consult a veterinarian or communicate with owners who have experience in care, so that you can find a solution to the problem most quickly and achieve twice the result with half the effort!
- Key points for feeding Ocicats
As the saying goes, “Good teeth make a good appetite, and a good body makes a good meal.” When it comes to how to make cats have good teeth, the first thing owners may think of is to brush their teeth, but in fact the teeth of cats can be changed by feeding them. When cats are young, owners can give them soft food, but as soon as they are three months old, they should gradually feed them dry food, which can ensure that their teeth are sufficiently rubbed and prevent the appearance of diseases such as dental calculus.
In addition, as the Ocicat is an active cat, the owner should give them a proper snack in addition to the regular meal. The taste of the snacks can be chosen according to the cat’s preference, but the snacks should not be supplied too much, otherwise it may cause the cat to be obese. If the cat is easily hungry due to the amount of exercise, the owner can appropriately increase the supply of regular meals.
We all know that cats do not like to drink much water, but if the cat is dehydrated, it may cause the normal balance of the cat to be disrupted. Some smart owners will feed their cats canned food to help them rehydrate, which is indeed a good method. It should be noted that although the water content of canned food is high, cats will be hungry in a relatively short period of time, so owners should also prepare a little bit of other food for their cats!
Of course, Ocicats also need to supplement the amount of calcium, iron, vitamins and other trace elements, so the owner must ensure that the Ocicat food is nutritionally balanced to avoid malnutrition or micronutrient deficiencies in cats. Once the cat shows any symptoms of malnutrition or micronutrient deficiency, the owner must cooperate with the veterinarian to treat the cat in a timely manner.
