# What does a "tabby" cat mean to you?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 20, 2009, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099 "2009-03-20T00:20:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099/101 "2009-04-06T20:06:37Z")

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Oddly, this was a question that baffled me the other day as we were looking at a bit of documentation from our vet, which identified [our dignified but very grey and not at all striped or patterned housecat](http://picasaweb.google.com/mpureka/Cats#5179601538044160050) as a “tabby”. This baffled me because I always thought “tabby” meant “striped” but a quick check of my dictionary indicated the aforementioned “any housecat, especially a female”. Which he definitely is not, being a neutered male.

This all after my first trip the vet involved the following conversation:

Me: “I have two cats and they need a checkup.”  
Vet: “Okay, what kind of cats are they?”  
Me (in a voice that indicates that the idea of ‘types of cats’ had not previously occurred to me): “…uhm…?”  
Vet: “Well, are they short or long haired?”  
Me: “Oh, short.”  
Vet: “Domestic shorthair then.”  
Me: “Yes, that’s it.”

So beats me where the “tabby” on the form came from.

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