Catcodes

by Eric Williams, Richmond, California, USA.

Catcodes are used to describe cats. The detailed list follows. At the end there are descriptions of David Stevenson's two cats: why not see if you can work out what sort of cat they are, then have a look at their pictures!.

Contents
Physical Attributes Name Breed [first page] Breed [second page] Breed [third page] Colour Modifiers Eye Colour Age Sex Size ["largeness"]	Physical Attributes Weight Claws Behavioural Traits Indoors/Outdoors Temperament Activity level Eating Hunting Smurgling Vocalisation	Behavioural Traits Fetching Intelligence ["IQ"] Lap affinity Belly sensitivity Purr activity Purr loudness Sociability [cat] What are my cats like? Write to me!

Physical Attributes

These describe the physical appearance of the cat and must be listed in the order shown here.

Name

Show the name followed by ':' Either the common or formal name will do.

Breed [first of three pages]
AB	Abyssinian	AC	American Curl	AL	American Longhair
AS	American Shorthair	AW	American Wirehair	BA	Balinese
BB	American Bobtail	BG	Bengal	BI	Birman
BO	Bombay	BR	Bristol	BS	British Shorthair
BU	Burmese	CR	Cornish Rex	CX	Chartreux
CY	Cymric	DL	Domestic Longhair	DM	Domestic Mediumhair
Mixed breeds, if known, can be combined in descending order of contribution [eg: MC+SI].
If a cat "looks like" a particular breed but parentage is unknown, breed can be enclosed in quotation marks.

Breed [second of three pages]
DR	Devon Rex	DS	Domestic Shorthair	EM	Egyptian Mau
ES	Exotic Shorthair	EU	European Shorthair	GR	German Rex
HB	Havana Brown	HI	Himalayan	JA	Javanese
JB	Japanese Bobtail	KT	Korat	MC	Maine Coon
MX	Manx	NB	Nebelung	NF	Norwegian Forest
OC	Ocicat	OL	Oriental Longhair	OS	Oriental Shorthair
Mixed breeds, if known, can be combined in descending order of contribution [eg: MC+SI].
If a cat "looks like" a particular breed but parentage is unknown, breed can be enclosed in quotation marks.

Breed [third of three pages]
PS	Persian	RB	Russian Blue	RD	Ragdoll
SA	Safari	SF	Scottish Fold	SG	Singapura
SI	Siamese	SN	Snowshoe	SO	Somali
SP	California Spangled	SR	Selkirk Rex	SS	Scottish Fold Longhair
SX	Sphynx	TA	Turkish Angora	TF	Tiffany
TO	Tonkinese	TV	Turkish Van
Mixed breeds, if known, can be combined in descending order of contribution [eg: MC+SI].
If a cat "looks like" a particular breed but parentage is unknown, breed can be enclosed in quotation marks.

Colour
R	Red [Orange]	B	Black	L	Lilac
W	White	O	Brown	D	Ruddy
S	Silver	C	Chocolate	G	Gold
V	Blue
Colours can be combined in descending order of area [eg: B+W]

Modifiers
d	Diluted [ie: Red->Cream, Black->Blue(Grey), etc]	t	Tabby [classic or mackerel pattern]	r	Tortoiseshell
s	Smoke	c	Chinchilla	k	Ticked
m	Mink	o	Spotted	h	Shaded
v	Van	p	Pointed	x	Tuxedo [bi-coloured]
Modifiers can be applied to individual colours by concatenation [eg: W+Bd = white with grey patches], or groups of colours by use of parenthesis [eg: [W+B+R]d = dilute calico, [R+W]t+W = red tabby w/white].

Eye Colour
B	Blue	A	Aqua	G	Green
H	Hazel	C	Copper	Y	Gold [yellow]
Odd-eyed colours can be separated by '/', eg: B/G.
Colours can also be added for mixed colours, eg: G+Y = green-gold.

Age

yy or yy.mm

Eg: 5 = five years old, 1.5 = 17 months, .10 = ten months.

Sex
X	Female, spayed, no interest.
X+	Female, spayed, but still interested.
X++	Female, intact, but not particularly excitable.
X+++	I am a kitten factory.
Y	Male, neutered, no interest.
Y+	Male, neutered, but still interested.
Y++	Male, intact, but not particularly excitable.
Y+++	I would go through a burning building to get at a female in heat.

Size ["largeness"]
L---	I fit easily into your shirt pocket.
L--	I can curl up in two cupped hands.
L-	I'm somewhere between kitten-sized and average.
L	I'm average cat size, just right for your lap.
L+	I'm starting to slip off the side of your lap.
L++	I'm large enough to make a German Shepherd think twice.
L+++	People sometimes mistake me for a mountain lion.

Weight
W--	I'm so thin that you can count my bones.
W-	I'm slim, but healthy.
W	I'm an average cat, not too thin and not too fat.
W+	I'm a heavy cat, but it's all muscle.
W++	I need to go on a diet.

Claws
C---	I've been declawed front and back.
C--	I've been declawed in front.
C-	I have claws, but they're covered with "Soft Paws" [tm].
C+	I have claws, but they're clipped regularly.
C++	My claws are unclipped, but they're kind of dull.
C+++	I have ten razor-sharp implements of death.
Note: "C*" can be substituted for "C" for a polydactyl.

This page continues here