The name ‘Accicat’ is the earlier and discarded name for the Ocicat; the name that stuck. Both names were built on how the breed happened. Accicat is an amalgam of “accident” and “cat”. While Ocicat is an amalgam of “ocelot” and “cat”. Ocicat is the better name.
Both prefixes are derived from the history of the cat and are bound up with it.
Accicat
This cat breed was an accident. Well not quite, in truth. The original cat that prompted breeders to develop the Ocicat was indeed an accident that arose out of an attempt by Virginia Daley a well-known breeder at the time (1964) to breed an Abyssinian pointed Siamese cat (Aby-point Siamese).
The resultant attempt (not sure how it was done – Siamese and Abyssinian? – the Ocicat Breed Council website does not say) produced an “ivory kitten with golden spots”.
This was at a time, in 1964, when the beginnings of an interest of creating domesticated cats with a wild cat appearance surfaced. Although well-established now, at the time this was a new concept. The reason for this kind of breeding was no doubt in part financial but also it was claimed to highlight the plight of the wild cats, which were and still are in one way or another generally persecuted. It seems that that objective was not met. Other cats with a similar wildcat/domestic cat appearance that were bred at a similar time were:
- Bengal – 1975 but breeding by Jean Mill began in 1963 – of course this is an actual wild cat hybrid. The Ocicat and California Spangled are not but the objective is the same or similar: a domestic cat that looked like a wild cat.
- California Spangled – 1980s
Both the California Spangled and the Ocicat had faltering starts one way and another and so it seems the Bengal became the supreme wild cat/domestic cat. The Savannah cat is catching up.
But for the desire at the time to produce a cat with wild cat appearance and domestic cat temperament it could be argued that there would not have been any interest in this ‘accidental ivory cat with spots’.
Above: Tonga the “first” Ocicat. I don’t know if this actual cat was the cat that was the accident – the Accicat. I don’t think he was although the timing (1965) indicates it is. The Breed Council is a little hazy on this it seems. He looks remarkably like a Bengal cat or even a Savannah cat; elegant with a ‘foreign’ body conformation.
Ocicat
In case you came to this page before the Ocicat page and don’t want to stay, here is a modern Ocicat. I have no idea of this cat’s status meaning whether he/she is shown at cat shows or not but he/she is very similar to the original Tonga. A show cat is shown below at a Madison Square Garden CFA Iams cat show (2006):
SOME MORE ON THE CAT BREEDS: