Domestic Shorthair (Mixed Breed)
Nobody planned you, you adapt to anything, and that is the superpower.
- adaptable
- unflappable
- low-maintenance
- genetically varied
- even-tempered
- individual
Why you are a Domestic Shorthair (Mixed Breed)
You were not designed, and that turns out to be an advantage. You adapt to whatever happens — new house, new people, new routine — with a shrug that purebred cats cannot manage. You are nobody's type specimen and so nobody has expectations of you to disappoint. You like your household without being dramatic about it, you need very little upkeep, and you are, genuinely, unlike anyone else: there is no standard you are measured against.
The real Domestic Shorthair (Mixed Breed)
Most pet cats are non-pedigree. A detail that confuses almost everyone: CFA registered the American Shorthair under the name "Domestic Shorthair" until it was renamed in the mid-1960s, which is why "domestic shorthair" now means two different things — a recognised pedigree breed, and the far larger population of cats of no particular breed. If your cat came from a shelter or a friend's litter, it is the second. CFA offers a "Companion Cat" registration for non-pedigreed cats, and TICA has Household Pet categories, so mixed-breed cats can be shown.
- Registry status
- Not a breed. CFA offers "Companion Cat" registration for non-pedigreed cats; TICA has Household Pet and Household Pet Kitten categories.
- Origin
- Everywhere. The global free-breeding domestic cat population.
- Coat
- Anything at all — the full range of length, pattern and colour, in combinations no standard describes.
- Size (registry wording)
- No standard exists, by definition. Most fall in the ordinary domestic range.
- Weight — commonly cited, not registry-verified
- 8–12 lb (3.6–5.4 kg) is the commonly cited typical range, though variation is far wider than in any single breed.
- Life expectancy at birth (UK VetCompass, Teng et al. 2024)
- Crossbred cats: 11.89 years, against 10.41 years for purebred cats and 11.74 years for all UK cats.
A note on those two figures. No cat registry publishes numeric weight ranges — CFA and TICA standards are descriptive — so any weight you see anywhere, including here, comes from commercial sources. And the two lifespan rows measure different things: life expectancy at birth includes kittens that do not survive, so it runs lower than the ranges breed guides quote. They are shown separately because averaging them would produce a number that is true of nothing.
Honestly, what is hard about a Domestic Shorthair (Mixed Breed)?
You cannot predict adult size, coat or temperament from a mixed-breed kitten, and the popular idea that mixed cats are automatically healthier does not hold — hybrid vigour has never been demonstrated in cats, and two pedigree breeds (Burmese and Birman) outlived crossbreds in the UK data.
One more thing
The "90–95% of US cats are mixed breed" figure repeated everywhere is unsourced and circular — it traces to an uncited 2012 fact sheet, and no US industry body publishes an actual split. UK peer-reviewed work puts the non-pedigree share at roughly 86–92%.
The other 17 results
While you are here
- Cat Name Generator — thousands of names by colour, theme and gender.
- Cat Age Calculator — convert cat years to human years, with a full chart.
- Cat Personality Test — profile your own cat instead of yourself.
Quiz results are for entertainment. Breed information is general and descriptive, is not veterinary advice, and does not describe any individual cat. For questions about your own cat's health, please consult your veterinarian.