Question for those who have the book Fantastic Beasts

[Celeste Chang]

No: HPFGUIDX 15836

First off, I must take this oppurtunity to scold John Walton severely 
for his April Fools joke and admit that it almost gave her a heart 
attack. Bad, bad John. -_-;; (hehe j/k) *thinks it funny that she, a 
fifteen-year-old, is scolding someone who is likely way older than 
her* Role reversal!

Anyway, on to the question- sorry if this has been asked before, but 
has anyone...

*thinks maybe she should include a spoiler space for those who don't 
have Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them*
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... has anyone ever thought that maybe Crookshanks is a Kneazle? I 
don't think Crookshanks is Mrs. Figg... I was under the impression 
that Animagi transformed into animals of the same sex, but... 

JKR indicates that Kneazles can crossbreed with cats, so maybe the 
fact that he doesn't have markings is due to the fact that his family 
line has been crossed so much with normal cats. That may also explain 
why he wasn't wanted, and why he stayed so long in the pet shop- maybe 
pure-bred Kneazles are much more desirable than those whose blood has 
been so diluted that they appear to resemble cats more than Kneazles.

Kneazles are also said to have the ability to sense unsavoury or 
suspicious characters... Crookshanks certainly didn't like Pettigrew. 
Kneazles are also extremely intelligent and loyal- Crookshanks could 
communicate with Sirius and understand what Sirius wanted, and when 
Sirius was threatened, Crookshanks protected Sirius with his body. 
"Occasionally aggressive" also fits Crookshanks quite well- he doesn't 
hesitate to sink his claws into Harry when the need arises.

Kneazles have tails like a lion's... is this what a bottlebrush tail 
would look like? Or perhaps the bottlebrush is the result of breeding 
with cats.

The fact that owners of Kneazles must get licenses was never mentioned 
by Hermione... maybe Crookshanks looked enough like a normal cat that 
they didn't need one?

- Celeste Chang