Richard Kitty is one of the most popular Instagram cats. What is really nice about Richard is that he is a former shelter cat. He was rescued from a Los Angeles, California, USA, public shelter in 2012 when he was two-years-of-age, which makes him around 12-years-of-age as at the date of this post. His human caregiver urges people to adopt adult animals, which I would endorse. What they are saying is that people who want to adopt should resist adopting kittens and even go for an elderly cat because there are benefits to adopting an adult and elderly rescue cat.
So, what kind of cat is Richard? He is a regular random-bred moggy. Another description would be a mixed-breed cat and a further description would be a non-purebred cat. His coat is bicolour, specifically, ginger tabby-and-white. You have probably noticed that he has odd-eyes. One is yellow and the other is blue. This is because of the piebald gene a.k.a. white-spotting gene, which creates the white parts of his coat and which is responsible for the blue eye.
I would say that he has some Turkish Van genetics in him because the coat is reminiscent of the Turkish Van. This is unsurprising because the original cats in Turkey have been exported from that country over thousands of years. Bits of their genetic makeup is bound to have infiltrated the domestic cat population in many countries.
The classic markings of the Turkish Van are an inverted V on top of the head and between the ears made up of the coloured hair and the white hair. They also have a tabby-marked tail. Often the colours are ginger as is the case with Richard.
RELATED: Turkish Van cat quiz
What I like about Richard is that a regular rescue cat can become an Instagram celebrity and influencer. The same can be said about another rescue cat also adopted from a Los Angeles shelter, Nala Cat.
Clearly there are millions of people who probably prefer moggy rescue cats over fancy purebred cats. I am one of those people. I prefer them because they need the help of people more than purebred cats because they are more likely to be abandoned and end up in shelters. They have less monetary value and therefore are probably viewed upon as more expendable than purebred cats. This is unfair and wrong.
Also, they are generally healthier and purebred cats because they have greater genetic diversity. Purebred cats can suffer from inbreeding depression, which you can read about by clicking on this link.
Below are some more articles on celebrity cats.
