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Cat Colors FAQ: Common Colors

This FAQ covers common cat colors, basic color terminology, and color genetics.

Copyright © 1994-1999

Orca Starbuck orca@fanciers.com

and David Thomas david@micro.ti.com

Contents

A. Common Cat Colors (this file)

If you want to read about which colors are commonly seen in cats, or if you want to know what your cat's color is called, read section A.

Note: Cat fanciers use the term "red" for the color that is commonly called "orange," "marmalade," or "ginger". We also use the term "blue" for the color that is commonly called "gray" or "maltese."

There are four different tabby patterns:

A "mackerel tabby" has narrow stripes that run in parallel down its sides. This is what some people refer to as a "tiger."

A "classic tabby" cat has bold, swirling patterns on its sides like marble cake. This color is called "blotched tabby" in the UK.

A "spotted tabby" has spots all over its sides. Sometimes these are large spots, sometimes small spots, and sometimes they appear to be broken mackerel stripes.

A "ticked tabby" (sometimes called "Abyssinian tabby" or "agouti tabby") does not have stripes or spots on its body. However, like all tabbies, it has tabby markings on the face and agouti hairs on the body. This is the color of the Abyssinian cat, but it also appears in non-purebreds and does not mean the cat is Abyssinian.

A "brown tabby" has black stripes on a brownish or grayish ground color. The black stripes may be coal black, or a little bit brownish.

A "blue tabby" has gray stripes on a grayish or buff ground color. The gray stripes may be a dark slate gray, or a lighter blue-gray.

A "red tabby" has orange stripes on a cream ground color. The orange stripes may be dark reddish orange, or light "marmalade" orange.

A "cream tabby" has cream stripes on a pale cream ground color. These stripes look sand-colored or peach-colored rather than orange.

A "silver tabby" has black stripes on a white ground color. The roots of the hairs are white. You can also have a blue silver, cream silver, or red silver tabby (red silver is also known as "cameo tabby") depending on the color of the stripes. In all cases, silver tabbies have a pale ground color and white roots. To make sure, part the hairs and look at the roots.

A "solid black" is just that: black all over. It may be coal black, grayish black, or brownish black. Black cats can "rust" in the sunlight, the coat turning a lighter brownish shade.

A "solid blue" is blue-gray all over. It may be a dark slate gray, a medium gray, or a pale ash gray. This color is also sometimes called "maltese." This is the color of the Russian Blue, Chartreux, and Korat, but it can appear in almost any other breed as well, and is also seen in non-purebreds. Solid blue does not indicate that a cat is related to any of these breeds.

A "solid white" is white all over. Sometimes white cats have blue eyes, sometimes they have green or gold eyes, and sometimes one eye is blue and one eye is green or gold! This last color is called "odd-eyed white."

The tabby-suppressing gene is not effective on red or cream cats, so you won't see red or cream cats without tabby markings.

Solid white cats are the result of a different gene that suppresses color completely. Young white cats often have vague smudges of color on the top of the head where the color is not completely suppressed. Sometimes this persists even in an older white cat.

If your cat is pretty much solid black or gray, but the roots of the hairs are distinctly white, it is a "smoke." (It's normal for the roots on a solid cat to be grayish; true smokes, on the other hand, have definite white roots.) Smokes are the solid version of silver tabbies. These cats are very dramatic because when they move, the hair parts and the white undercoat can be seen.

A "black smoke" is a solid black cat with white roots.

A "blue smoke" is a solid blue (gray) cat with white roots.

Cats with white markings might have larger or smaller areas of white. If you want to describe your cat's color more precisely, there are different names for the different amounts of white:

A "mitted" cat just has white paws.

A cat with a white spot on its chest has a "locket."

A cat with one or more little white belly spots has "buttons."

A "bi-color" is about half white.

A "harlequin" is mostly white with several large patches of color.

A "van" is almost all white with color patches only on the head and tail.

A "tuxedo cat" is a black and white cat with white paws, chest, and belly. It might have some white on the face as well.

Some people call black and white cats "jellicle cats" (after T.S.Eliot)

For cats without white markings:

A "tortoiseshell" or "tortie" is randomly patched all over with red, black, and cream. The patches may be very mingled, or they may be more distinct.

A "blue-cream" (also called "blue tortie" or or "dilute tortie") is randomly patched all over with blue and cream. This is a soft, pastel color.

A "brown patched tabby" looks almost like autumn leaves, with patches of brown tabby and patches of red tabby. This color is also known as "torbie" because it is a tabby tortie.

A "blue patched tabby" is a soft color with patches of blue tabby and patches of cream tabby.

A "tortoiseshell and white" or "blue-cream and white" has only small white areas. The body has mingled colors.

A "calico" has more white. As a rule, the more white there is on the cat, the larger and more distinct the red and black patches will be. You'll notice that the large black patches are solid black, and the large red patches are actually red tabby.

A "dilute calico" has the same amount of white as a calico, but instead of red and black patches, it has blue and cream patches. The blue patches are solid blue, and the cream patches are cream tabby.

A "patched tabby and white" or "torbie and white" may have any amount of white. A patched tabby with a lot of white, like a calico, has large distinct patches of color, and is sometimes called a "patterned calico," "calico tabby," or "caliby."

Pointed cats are born white and gradually darken with age. A young pointed cat will have a much lighter body color than an older pointed cat.

Pointed cats can come in many different colors:

A "seal point" has dark brown points and a body color anywhere between light brown and ivory.

A "blue point" has gray points and a light gray or beige body.

A "lynx point" has tabby points! It might have any of the colors described in the tabby section. For example, you could have a "blue lynx point" or "red lynx point." The body color may show some shadow tabby markings, especially as the cat gets older.

A "tortie point" has tortoiseshell points, and a "blue-cream point" has blue-cream points. Patched tabby points are also possible.

Are tortoiseshell cats always female?



Tortoiseshell and related colors (blue-cream, patched tabby, calico etc.) are the result of a sex-linked gene and require two X chromosomes to appear. Generally speaking, these colors will only appear in females. Very rarely, these colors may appear in male cats, but these males are genetically abnormal (they have XXY instead of the normal XY) and are almost always infertile.



Eye color is genetically related to coat color. Pointed cats always have blue eyes.



White cats, and cats with a lot of white markings, can have: blue eyes green, gold, or copper eyes or "odd-eyes" (one blue eye and one green or gold eye)!



Other cats can only have green, gold, or copper eyes, not blue eyes. The most common eye colors are in the middle of the eye color spectrum (greenish-yellow to gold). The colors at the ends of the eye color spectrum (deep green or brilliant copper) are usually seen only in purebreds who have been selectively bred for extreme eye color, but they may sometimes appear in non-purebreds.



No. Some white cats are deaf, and some are not. If a white cat has blue eyes, it is more likely to be deaf than a white cat with gold or green eyes. Deaf cats make perfectly good house pets, although they should not be allowed outside because they can't hear cars coming.