What breed is my cat?

Upload a photo and our AI compares your cat with 31 breeds and the everyday house cat, then shows the three closest matches. It takes a few seconds.

Your photo is analyzed in memory and deleted right away. Nothing is stored.

  • Free, no sign-up
  • Photo never stored
  • 31 breeds plus house cat

How does the cat breed identifier work?

You need no breed knowledge. The AI looks at the same things a cat show judge would: the shape of the head, the ears, the eyes, the coat and the build of the body.

1

Upload a photo of your cat

Any clear photo from your phone or computer. Your browser shrinks it before it is sent, so it is quick even on a slow connection.

2

Our model takes a look

A vision model we trained on more than 50,000 labeled cat photos compares your cat with 31 breeds and the ordinary house cat.

3

See the three closest matches

You get the top three with a match score and a reference photo for each, plus a page on every breed to compare the details.

How to take a photo that gets the right answer

The photo matters more than anything else. Four small things make a clear difference:

Use daylight

Soft light from a window shows the true coat color and pattern. Flash and dim rooms hide both.

Show the face and ears

Head shape, ear shape and eye shape carry most of the breed signal. A front or slight side view works best.

Include the body and tail

A Manx has no tail, a Munchkin has short legs and a Maine Coon is huge. A full-body shot lets the model see that.

One cat per photo

Two cats in one frame confuse the answer. Crop to the cat you are curious about.

Which cat breeds can it recognize?

31 breeds, from fluffy giants like the Maine Coon to the hairless Sphynx, plus the house cat. Tap a breed to see what sets it apart.

See all 31 breeds
Maine CoonMaine Coon RagdollRagdoll SiameseSiamese PersianPersian BengalBengal British ShorthairBritish Shorthair SphynxSphynx Scottish FoldScottish Fold Russian BlueRussian Blue House cat (domestic shorthair or longhair)House cat

Is my cat a purebred or a house cat?

Most likely a house cat. The large majority of pet cats are not pedigreed. They are mixed cats, called domestic shorthairs or domestic longhairs, and many of them look a lot like a breed. A gray cat can look like a Russian Blue, a black cat like a Bombay and a silver tabby like an American Shorthair.

That is why our scanner has a house cat answer. When no breed fits clearly, it says house cat instead of forcing a breed name on your cat. When a breed and the house cat are close, the result says that too.

Coat colors and patterns are not breeds either. Tabby, calico, tortoiseshell and tuxedo describe the coat, and they show up in house cats and in many breeds. Our guide to cat coat patterns explains what each one means, and what kind of cat do I have? walks you through the six clues you can check yourself.

How accurate is the scanner?

We tested the model on 6,409 cat photos it had never seen during training. Its first answer was right 81% of the time, and the right breed was among its top three 98.5% of the time. On the public Oxford-IIIT Pet test set, a common benchmark with 12 cat breeds, it scored 92% overall and 96% when it only had to choose among those 12 breeds.

The numbers depend a lot on the breed. Distinctive breeds such as the Sphynx, Cornish Rex, Persian and Russian Blue are recognized almost every time. Breeds that share their looks with ordinary cats are much harder: the American Shorthair is right 44% of the time on its own, but it is almost always in the top three. The method page lists the score for every breed and explains how we trained and tested the model.

Can a photo tell you your cat's real breed?

No, and no scanner can. A photo shows what your cat looks like, and looks are only part of the story. Two cats can look the same and have very different family trees. If you want to know your cat's ancestry, the reliable options are pedigree papers from a breeder or a cat DNA test, which also screens some health genes.

What a photo is good for is a quick, free first answer: which breeds your cat resembles, what those breeds are like and what to read about next. Many owners use it to understand a rescue cat's look, or to settle a friendly argument about whether a fluffy cat is "part Maine Coon".

Looks, not ancestry. The scanner tells you which breed your cat looks most like. Many house cats look like a breed without having any of its ancestry. Only pedigree papers or a cat DNA test can prove a breed. See the terms.

Frequently asked questions

How can I tell what breed my cat is?
Upload a clear photo to the scanner above and it compares your cat with 31 breeds and the ordinary house cat in a few seconds. To check by eye, look at coat length and pattern, head shape, ears, tail and body build. Our guide what kind of cat do I have? walks through each clue.
How accurate is the cat breed identifier?
On 6,409 test photos it had never seen, the top answer was right 81% of the time and the right breed was among the top three 98.5% of the time. Distinctive breeds such as the Sphynx, Persian or Russian Blue score above 95%. Breeds that look like ordinary house cats, such as the American Shorthair, are much harder. The method page lists the numbers for every breed.
Can it tell if my cat is a mixed breed?
Yes, in its own way. Most pet cats are house cats (domestic shorthairs or longhairs) with no single breed, so the scanner has a house cat answer next to the 31 breeds. When no breed fits clearly, it says so instead of forcing a breed name.
Is my cat photo stored?
No. Your browser shrinks the photo, sends it to our server over an encrypted connection, the model looks at it in memory and the photo is thrown away as soon as the answer is sent back. Nothing is saved to disk or kept in a database.
What kind of photo works best?
One cat, filling most of the frame, in good daylight, with the face, ears and body visible. A photo from the side or at a slight angle shows the build and the tail. Blurry, dark or very small photos lower the accuracy.
Which cat breeds can it recognize?
31 breeds, from the Maine Coon and Ragdoll to the Sphynx and Savannah, plus the ordinary house cat. See them all on the cat breeds page. Rarer breeds such as the Burmese, Devon Rex or Chartreux are not in the model yet, because we did not have enough clean photos of them.
Can a photo prove my cat's breed?
No. A photo shows what your cat looks like, not its ancestry. Many house cats look exactly like a breed. Only pedigree papers or a cat DNA test can show what breeds are really in your cat's family.
Does it work on kittens?
It works, but less reliably. Many breed traits appear as kittens grow: Siamese points darken, Scottish Fold ears fold at three to four weeks and Maine Coons take years to reach full size. A photo of a cat older than about six months gives a better answer.
Is the cat breed scanner free?
Yes. It is free, needs no sign-up and you can scan as many photos as you like.

What breed is your cat?

Upload one photo and the free cat breed identifier shows the three closest breeds in seconds, or tells you it is a classic house cat.

Identify my cat