[Ads-l] Ocicat

[Emily Gordon]

Aha, there’s Tonga again! Thanks, Ben.

On Sat, Jun 6, 2026 at 1:21 PM Ben Zimmer <
00001aae0710f4b7-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> "ocicat": OED3 1970 (2012 entry), M-W 1967
>
> ---
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/news-herald-ocicat/199053368/
> Daily News (Port Clinton, Ohio), Mar. 24, 1965, p. 3, col. 4
> The Maumee Valley Cat Club will celebrate its tenth anniversary with its
> eighth annual championship show to be held April 3 and 4 at the Lucas
> County Recreation Center at the Fair Grounds in Maumee.
> Cats from 20 states and Canada will be judged in the purebred classes
> competing for ribbons, rosettes and trophies.
> New breeds and colors will be on exhibition, including the Ocicat, thought
> to be a descendant of the ancient Egyptian fishing cat.
> ---
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-blade-ocicat/199053283/
> The Blade (Toledo, Ohio), Apr. 5, 1965, p. 14, col. 5
> Tonga is an ocicat and was the only one of his kind at the [Maumee Valley
> Cat Club] show. He's a hybrid of Siamese-Abyssinian parentage, who wound up
> with a spotted coat strikingly similar to an ocelot. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas
> Brown, his owners, brought him from Detroit for the show which attracted
> more than 200 entries.
> ---
>
> On Sat, Jun 6, 2026 at 2:03 PM Emily Gordon <
> 0000205244c4ee9d-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > Have Ocicats been similarly documented? I learned about them from the
> > writers James Wolcott and Laura Jacobs, who have owned several of these
> > lithe jungle-esque cats. I imagine the first sighting of them also
> caused a
> > stir.
> >
> > Surprisingly, they seem to be a relatively recent invention from a
> breeding
> > whim in the fifties and sixties. The Cat Fancier’s Association has quite
> a
> > tale to tell.
> >
> > As for the name:
> >
> > “In the first litter, and in subsequent litters, the much-sought-after
> > Aby-pointed Siamese were produced along with mackerel tabbies, a lynx
> > point, a solid black, and classic tabbies. In the second litter, a
> > ‘spotted’ kitten was produced and upon seeing it Mrs. Daly’s daughter
> > remarked, ‘It looks like a baby ocelot, let’s call him an Ocicat.’ This
> > baby ocelot look-alike was named Tonga, and on that chilly day in
> Berkley,
> > Michigan, an entirely new breed of cat was born.”
> >
> > https://cfa.org/ocicat-article/
> >
> >
> > On Sat, Jun 6, 2026 at 10:20 AM Jonathan Lighter <
> > 00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> >
> > > Earlier, from Newspapers.com:
> > >
> > > 1872 _Boston Evening Transcript_ (March 30)  4: A new breed of cats -
> > > long furred, bushy-tailed felines - called "coon cats" are exciting
> > > much interest in Mane, where five dollars is paid for a good specimen.
> > >
> > > 1872 _Brooklyn Eagle_ (Apr. 21) 1:  Coon cats worth $6 a piece are the
> > > rage at present - in the western part of Maine.
> > >
> > > The same or similar squibs appeared nationally that year. Six bucks
> > > then is about $165 now.
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > On Sun, Feb 22, 2026 at 7:21 PM Jonathan Lighter <
> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> > >
> > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Amazingly absent from OED.
> > > >
> > > > 1877 _Daily Eastern Argus_ (Portland, Me.) (Oct. 31) 3: FREE
> > EXHIBITIONS
> > > of Photographs, Live Birds, Coon Cats, and other "Curiosities."
> > > >
> > > > 1878 _Evening Bulletin_ (Providence, R.I.) (Jan. 29) 4: A manx cat
> wins
> > > a look, and so does a stately tiger cat...from an engine house at
> > > Pawtucket. Last in the row is a coon cat, a funny specimen, having the
> > ways
> > > and some of the looks of both cat and raccoon.
> > > >
> > > > 1883 _Nashville Banner_ (Oct. 30) 3: The Maine wild coon cat was
> > > expressed from Bangor yesterday, and is expected at the show to-day.
> > > >
> > > > JL
> > > >
> >
>
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>

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