Tremendous tabbies!

Well, there is no doubt about it!  Tabby cats are the very best cats ever!  Now, first of all, "tabby" is not a breed.  Some people think it is, but actually it is a pattern, a genetic pattern of stripes, swirls or dots in grey, brown, buff or orange.  Some people call us tiger cats, I guess because tigers have stripes, too.  And some people can't just call us all tabbies, they have to divide us up even further into classic tabby, mackerel tabby, spotted tabby or ticked tabby.  Really??  Mackerel?  Come on!  That's a fish!!

Now here is something really cool about tabbies.  We all have an M on our heads!  Isn't that neat?!  Some people say ALL of us have an M.  Others say almost all of us do.  Well, I can only tell you that I have never seen a tabby without an M so I'll go with the ALL version.

Now we have a tabby at StreetCats right now who agreed to model for me.  Her name is Marlo and she is a very sweet tabby.  Now this is not unusual.  We tabbies are known for the following qualities:  intelligence, cleverness, being amusing and warmly affectionate.  Ha!  Of course those are our qualities!!!  And I, as a tabby myself, am a shining example of all these qualities plus that of leadership!  Anyway, here is a picture of Marlo showing us the M on her head.

I have been asked many times about that M are our heads.  I could give you the scientific, genetic version of why we have it.  I totally understand it, of course, but you wouldn't, so I'll just skip that and get down to the legends.  Here is one.  The prophet Mohammed loved tabby cats and he had one that saved his life by killing a snake.  So he placed an M on the cat's head so that everyone would remember how much he loved cats and so that, in being reminded by the M, people would always respect us.  And the M has been there ever since.

 Another story involves a tabby cat who brought warmth and comfort to a shivering baby Jesus by cuddling up with him and purring.  Mary was so grateful that she put her initial on the cat's head.  And, again, it's been there ever since.  Those are nice stories, but the explanation that I heard that I like best is that it stands for Master of the Universe!  Yep, now that makes sense!!

 Now here's another picture of Marlo that shows you what kind of tabby she is. To me a tabby is a tabby, but people like to call this a ticked tabby, a brown ticked tabby to be specific. See how her stripes are sort of faded and covered by the little white ticking on her fur?   I think it makes her look a little dreamy! And that reminds me of another trait that people think we tabbies have. We're magical!! Yep, we are!  I know that on Halloween it's the black cats that our caretakers worry about.   But in the 16th century we were the favored cats of witches!   Of course we were!  Anyway, here's the picture of Marlo, the brown ticked tabby.  Do you like her necklace?  I think most ticked tabbies have a necklace like that.

Marlo is not the only tabby we have at StreetCats right now. So come visit us and see for yourself! And just to be sure you have a total understanding of just how tremendous tabbies are, here is a picture of the best tabby of them all . . . tabby and white, but still tabby. It's me, King Adam of StreetCats!!  Now I'm going to have to study my patterns to see just what kind of tabby I am.  It better not be mackerel!