Cat Identification

The vast majority of cats in American homes and shelters fall into 
the domestic short, medium or long hair category. But while they may not 
be rare purebreds, their individuality is expressed through both behavior 
and diverse coat markings.  Let's examine the terminology 
used to describe their coats of many colors. 

Click on pictures for larger view

• SOLID COLOR CATS
  Did you know all cats have the gene that produces tabby 
  (stripes/spots) markings?  However, in order for the tabby 
  markings to be prominent, the cat must also have 
  the gene for agouti or light and dark banded hair 
  from one of its parents. Without it, the hair shafts will be a 
  solid color. In bright light you can sometimes see the "ghost" 
  tabby stripes on a solid color cat.

• TABBY PATTERNS
  Tabbies possess a coat that is a combination of agouti 
  hairs and solid color hairs. There are four types of tabby 
  patterning. The mackerel tabby is the coat most 
  similar to our domestic cat's early relative, the African 
  Wild Cat. These striped markings are called mackerel because 
  they resemble a fish's skeleton with a solid line along the spine 
  and streaks radiating down the sides. Cats bearing this pattern 
  are the ones most often called tiger cats. Classic tabbies bear 
  blotches or swirls of solid colors on their sides. These cats 
  are frequently referred to as watermarked tabbies. Spotted 
  tabbies may have stripes on their faces, legs, and tails but those 
  on the body are broken up into many dots. This pattern is 
  the hallmark of Occicats and Egyptian Maus. The ticked tabby 
  has virtually no solid colored hairs, so it lacks spots or stripes. 
  The Abyssinian is an example of the all-agouti-haired ticked 
  tabby. Mixed breed cats may have agouti-haired patches 
  but they are generally combined with other markings.
  
  
  
  Tabbies can be short or long hair and usually have the 
  distinct "M" marking on their forehead.  
  
   
  
  
  
  

• PIEBALD/PARTICOLOR CATS
  Piebald or particolor cats are white and any other color. 
  Bicolor is the term used to describe a cat that is 1/3 - 2/3 white 
  and usually has patches of color on its head and torso. The van 
  is almost all white with colored patches on head and tail. Turkish 
  Vans bear these markings as well as mixed breed cats. The mitted 
  cat typically has white on its chin chest, belly and feet. 
  When black and white, it may be called a tuxedo cat as 
  we do on Petfinder. A solid colored cat with a spot of white 
  on the chest is said to have a locket and one with white on chest and belly 
  is said to be bikini-marked.  Tuxedo cats are predominantly male.
  
   
  

• TORTOISESHELLS/CALICOS
  A tortoiseshell cat has red hairs and black hairs in the same 
  coat. Since it takes two X chromosomes to create this coat pattern, 
  tortoiseshell cats are almost exclusively female. (Only in very rare cases 
  will this coat appear on a male and he will most likely be sterile.) 
  When the hairs are blue (gray) and cream, the pattern is dilute tortoiseshell. 
  A calico cat is a red and black tortoiseshell with white patches, a dilute 
  calico one who is blue and cream with white patches. And last, a 
  torbie is a tortoiseshell that bears patches of any tabby pattern.
  They usually have a blaze of orange somewhere on their face.
  
  The difference between a calico and a tortoiseshell is this:
  With a calico, there is a significant amount of white, 
  and the two colors are broken up into distinct patches. 
  This has to do with the interaction of white spotting.

  With a tortoiseshell, the three colors are blended and 
  don't form distinct patches. A tortoiseshell may have 
  significant portions of white as well, but the remaining 
  colors are blended 
  (this particular pattern is called a tortoiseshell and white).

  A torbie, or patched tabby, is a tortoiseshell where the 
  tabby pattern is very distinct all over the cat. 
  A calico or tortoiseshell may have distinct tabby 
  pattern on the red or cream patches (has to do with 
  another gene we won't get into at this juncture), 
  but no patterning on the other color. This isn't a torbie. 
  A torbie is clearly patterned all over the cat -- though never on the white.
  
  Tortoiseshells

  
   
  
  Calico

  
  
  

• POINTED CATS
  The pointed coat pattern is the result of gene mutations that 
  cause the coolest parts of the cat's body to be a different color 
  or pattern than the rest of the body. The areas that bear the 
  pointing are ears, muzzle, tail and legs. A cat with solid color 
  points is called a color point and is generally referred by the color 
  of the points such as a chocolate point Siamese.  Point patterns 
  include tortie point (tortoiseshell points), lynx point (striped points), 
  tortie lynx point (torbie points).
  

• SILVER CATS
  Another gene mutation results in removing the yellowish-tan pigment 
  from a cat's hairs.  The regular tabby becomes a silver tabby. In solid 
  color cats, the silver gene lightens the hair shaft resulting in a smoke 
  coloration where only the tip of the hair is colored and the rest is white. 
  Ticked tabbies are affected by the silver gene to the point that the lighter 
  bands on the hair shafts are both further lightened and widened. These 
  coats are referred to as shaded. The lighter bands are further widened 
  in the chinchilla coat pattern leaving color only at the tips of the hairs.

To become a member, to donate 
products, money or your time, contact:

The Brown County Humane Society
P.O. Box 512
New Ulm, MN  56073
507-359-2312
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