We believe we've found out what type of breed Blaze is.
We happened to flip to the Animal Planet network, and they were doing a show on cats.
They started to talk about a breed named "Turkish Angora". They are mostly white, but there are other colors. They showed a black one, and he looked just like our Blaze.
I went online, and found this:
The silky, fine coat of the Angora changes according to the season; from a short coat with only slight britches and fluffy tail in summer to the full winter coat with medium long, silky hair complete with mane, britches, and lush, plumy tail. The coat must be silky, fine and single with no hint of shagginess. The best coats, however, are seen on mature animals over the age of three.
Here is a pic of what I found online.
A good and newer picture of Blaze might help (any excuse to ask for Blaze pics
).
If he now looks similar to the cat shown above, he might be a Turkish Angora or Turkish Angora mix. Might as well just be an ordinary black cat with the gene for longer hair coming through from some ancestor. Who knows?
Often it helps to look for the smaller things which are typical for the (presumed) breed: relations of head-body, tail-body, where are the ears positioned (don't tell me on top of the head!
), long legs or short legs (again in relation to the body), how are the eyes shaped, etc.
Typical for the Turkish Angora are the almond shaped eyes (that much I knew, then I googled). I found the standard of the Turkish Angora online. Have a look at it and a real close look at Blaze.
http://www.acfacat.com/turkish_angora_standard.htm