Kulukulu Cattery

Colour of Cats
	Mackerel Tabby Pattern The mackerel tabby is referred to as the "wild type" tabby pattern. The markings are dense and clearly defined and are made up of narrow pencilings. the legs are barred with narrow bracelets, which come up to meet the ody markings. The tail is barred with tail rings. The necklaces on the neck and chest look like multiple chains. There is an M on the forehead and lines run back from eyes. The spine lines run together to form a narrow saddle, and narrow pencilings run around the body.
	Classic (Blotched) Tabby Pattern The name blotched is derived from the irregular spirals and whirls of tabby markings. The markings are dense, clearly defined, and broad. The legs are evenly barred with bracelets that come up to meet the body markings. The tail is ringed, and there are several necklaces on the neck and upper chest. On the forehead is an intricate letter M, and there are swirls on the cheeks and vertical lines that run over the back of the head and extend to the shoulder markings. The shoulder markings are in the shape of a butterfly, with both the upper and lower wings outlined and marked with dots insides the outline. The back markings include a vertical line that runs down the spine from the butterfly to the tail, with a vertical stripe paralleling it on each side. There is a large solid blotch on each side of the body that is encircled by one or more rings. There is a double vertical row of buttons on the chest and stomach.
	Spotted Tabby Pattern The markings on the body are spotted. The spots may vary in size and shape and sometimes seem to run together in a broken mackerel pattern. A spine line, usually composed of spots, runs the length of the body. The markings on the face and forehead are the typical tabby markings. The underside of the body has "vest buttons," and the legs and tail are barred.
	Ticked Tabby Pattern The body hairs are ticked with various shades of the main marking colour and ground colour. The body when viewed from the top, is free from noticeable spots, stripes, or blotches, except for some darker shading along the spine. The lighter underside usually shows tabby markings. The face, legs, and tail show distinct tabby striping. Most cats with this pattern have at least one distinct necklace.
	Patched Tabby Pattern Patching can occur in any of the tabby pattern - classic, mackerel, spotted, or ticked. Patches or softly intermingled areas of red or cream on the body and extremities characterize the patched tabby pattern. There are several tabby colours Brown tabby: The ground colour runs the gamut from a brilliant coppery brown to a darker, more subdued brown. The markings are dense black. Blue tabby: The ground colour is pale, bluish ivory.The markings are a very deep blue. Red tabby: The ground colour is red. The markings are a deeper-coloured rich red. Cream tabby: The ground colour is a very pale cream. The markings are buff or cream. Silver tabby: The ground colour is pale, clear silver. The markings are a dense black. Cameo tabby: The ground colour is off-white. The markings are red, and the undercoat is white. Brown patched tabby: The ground colour is the same as for the brown tabby, and the markings are dense black. There are patches or softly intermingled areas of red on the head, body, and extremities. Blue patched tabby: The ground colour is pale, bluish ivory. The markings are very deep blue or gary. There are patches or softly intermingled areas of cream on the head, body, and extremities. Silver patched tabby: The ground colour is pale silver with markings of dense black. There are patches or softly intermingled areas of red and/or cream clearly defined on the head, body, and extremities.
	BICOLOR PATTERN – CATS WITH WHITE White spotting or piebalding can occur with any of the colors and patterns discussed so far and with the pointed pattern. There can be as little white spotting on a cat as a spot or two, or the cat can be nearly white. Solid color and white bicolour colors include black and white, blue and white, red and white, cream and white, chocolate and white, and lilac and white.
	Blue patched tabby The ground colour is pale, bluish ivory. The markings are very deep blue or gary. There are patches or softly intermingled areas of cream on the head, body, and extremities.
	Shaded Cats with shaded patterns all share the common characteristic of having color only at the tips of the hair and a pure white undercoat. The three primary groupings are chinchilla, shaded, and smoke. The major difference between each is the extent of the tipping. In the chinchilla pattern, all of the color is at the very tip of the guard hair. The color may be one of any of the solid colors or tortoiseshell. The coat on the back, flanks, head, and tail is tipped with enough color so that you can see that the cat is not pure white. The legs may be slightly shaded with tipping, but the chin, ear tufts, stomach, and chest are pure white. In the shaded pattern, all of the color is on the last quarter of the guard hair and may be of any solid color or tortoiseshell. The general effect is much darker than the chinchilla pattern. There is a mantle of colored tipping shading down from the sides, face, and tail from dark on the spine to white on the chin, chest, stomach, and under the tail.
	The smoke pattern It is characterized by all of the color being on the last half of the guard hair. As before, any recognized solid-color or tortoiseshell-colored cat can have the smoke-pattern. When a smoke-patterned cat is resting, it appears to be a solid color. When the cat is in motion or when you pull the coat backward, the white undercoat is clearly and dramatically apparent.
	PARTI-COLORS (tortoiseshell) The colors influenced by the sex-linked red gene are popular among pet owners. Among those colors are the tortoiseshell and the blue cream (dilute tortoiseshell). Generally speaking, a tortoiseshell is a black female cat with random patches of red. If you look carefully at the red areas, you will often see red tabby patterning. This has given rise, over the years, to the popular belief that the tortoiseshell coat is comprised of three colors – black, red, and cream. In fact, what looks like cream is actually the ground color of the red tabby pattern. The blue cream (dilute tortoiseshell) is a blue female cat with patches of solid cream. The tortoiseshell pattern can also be colored with chocolate and red or lilac and cream.
	BICOLOR PATTERN – CATS WITH WHITE White spotting or piebalding can occur with any of the colors and patterns discussed so far and with the pointed pattern. There can be as little white spotting on a cat as a spot or two, or the cat can be nearly white. Tabby and white In tabby and white bicolors, the colored portions of the cat may be the classic, mackerel, spotted, ticked, or patched tabby pattern. And of course, bicolored cats may also be black smoke and white or blue smoke and white.
	Calico It is a color and pattern related to the sex-linked red gene, and calico-patterned cats are generally regarede as bicolors. The archetypical calico cat is a white female cat woth large, solid areas of black and red patching, but the calico pattern can be colored in with a number of other colors as well, such as blue and cream – often referred to as a “dilute calico” - lilac and cream, or chocolate and red. As with the bicolour, calico-patterned cats may have just a little bit of white, a lot of white, or anything in between.
	POINT RESTRICTED PATTERNS The Siamese cat is one of the most easily recognized breeds of cat primarily because of its characteristic point-restricted pattern. However, when many people think they are looking at a Siamese cat, they are in fact looking at a different breed or a cat with a mixed genetic background. The confusion arises because we use the term Siamese to identify a pattern, a gene, and a breed of pedigreed cat. The Siamese pattern is also referred to as the point-restricted pattern, the Himalayan pattern, and the pointed pattern. It is a pattern that is created by the Siamese gene. The Siamese gene is an albino gene, and it influences where and to what degree pigment and/or pattern will be deposited in the animal's hair, skin, and the irises of the eyes. In the case of the Siamese gene, color and pattern are deposited at the coolest parts of the body – at the extremes. As a result, the face, ears, feet, and tail have color and/ or pattern while the body of the cat is creamy-colored or white. As a cat with a pointed pattern grows older, the body color darkens because there is an overall decrease of blood flow to the skin. All cats that have the pointed patterns have blue eyes as a result of the albinism created by the Siamese gene. But remember, all cats with blue eyes are not “Siamese cats”. Any number of colors and/or patterns may appear at “the points” of a pointed-patterned cat, including Brown (seal point) Blue (blue point) Chocolate (chocolate point) Lilac (lilac point) Red (red or flame point) Cream (cream point) Tabby (Lynx or tabby point) Tortoiseshell (torti point)


NAMING CONVENTIONS FOR COLORS AND PATTERNS So how do you figure out what color and pattern your cat is? And then, how do you verbally express that information? Well, there are a number of naming conventions for identifying the pattern and colors of cats. One common approach is to start with the actual color of the cat. Next, add the basic pattern. After that, add “and white” if the cat is a bicolour. Then add the hair length. Last, add the name of the breed if you can reliably identify it. For example, a short-haired cat that is a mackerel tabby in brown and white is termed a “brown mackerel tabby and white short-haired cat.“ A long-haired cat with brown and white hair on the feet and head and brown hair on the tail is a “seal point and white long-haired cat.” Hopefully, you will never have to use this information to locate your missing companion cat. Even if you do not, perhaps you now know much more about your wonderful pet than before.