Is my cat a rare colouration?

Myshkin02

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Hi,

We adopted our cat as a kitten almost 4 years ago, and every time we go to a new vet they say they've never seen a cat with this type of coloration.

Is this special? What would the coloration be called? It seems like dilute calico, but she has full black and white, mixed with darker brown patches and light brown.
IMG_20160527_205711.jpg

Here she is as a kitten.

IMG_8824.JPG


IMG_3899.JPG

This shows the chocolate brown patch at the side of her face, by the ears.
 

StefanZ

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She is as you say, calico, but probably not diluted. So I think! :)

The difference between calico and tortie? Torties have the colors, especielly black / blue and red / creme, intermingled or even mottled.
While calicos have the colors separated in clearly seen fields / spots.
 
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Myshkin02

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She is as you say, calico, but probably not diluted. So I think! :)

The difference between calico and tortie? Torties have the colors, especielly black / blue and red / creme, intermingled or even mottled.
While calicos have the colors separated in clearly seen fields / spots.
Very interesting! She definitely has some resemblance to a tortie... but the colours are split up like a calico. Thank you for your thoughts :)
 

Willowy

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She's so pretty!

It's unusual that her orange spots are so light, and her black spots are so black. If she were dilute like her mom, her black spots would be blue/gray. So I guess she just has extra-light orange spots without it being dilute. Some calicos have very bright orange spots and some have lighter spots, and she just fell on the lighter side.
 

Lari

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My girl's a bit like that, but her orange color isn't quite as light as yours. I always thought it was more of a light brown.
0222201053a.jpg


People do tend to have this image of calicos with bright orange, but I think it varies.

She's gorgeous!
 

cataholic07

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She would be a light calico, the dilute would be the black spots, not the orange spots. Stunning girl though!
 

lutece

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Very interesting! She definitely has some resemblance to a tortie... but the colours are split up like a calico. Thank you for your thoughts :)
There isn't a hard and fast line separating "tortoiseshell and white" from "calico." Cats with less white tend to have the red and black patches more mixed together ("brindled"), and we call these cats "tortoiseshell and white," while cats with more white tend to have the red and black patches more separated and we call these cats "calico"... but this is just a tendency and can vary somewhat from cat to cat. On your own cat, most of the patches are fairly well separated, but I see some brindling on her back.
(The graphic below is from Sarah Hartwell's Messybeast site.)

tortie-white-spotting.jpg
 

rosegold

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What a beautiful cat! She reminds me of my Chai, who was calico smoke. Your girl doesn’t appear to be smoke (base of the hair would be white) but similar coloring with that dark black and pale cream combination.

0E2023E7-8833-4424-AEF4-DDFC976B5364.jpeg

5158B017-BD5C-4FC2-81C1-C5FD42931072.jpeg
 
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Myshkin02

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My girl's a bit like that, but her orange color isn't quite as light as yours. I always thought it was more of a light brown.
View attachment 323506

People do tend to have this image of calicos with bright orange, but I think it varies.

She's gorgeous!
She is so pretty! And so much like our girl :-)
 
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Myshkin02

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There isn't a hard and fast line separating "tortoiseshell and white" from "calico." Cats with less white tend to have the red and black patches more mixed together ("brindled"), and we call these cats "tortoiseshell and white," while cats with more white tend to have the red and black patches more separated and we call these cats "calico"... but this is just a tendency and can vary somewhat from cat to cat. On your own cat, most of the patches are fairly well separated, but I see some brindling on her back.
(The graphic below is from Sarah Hartwell's Messybeast site.)

View attachment 323787
Thank you so much for the info & the graphic! I never really realized that... there is some brindling on our cat's back!
 
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Myshkin02

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What a beautiful cat! She reminds me of my Chai, who was calico smoke. Your girl doesn’t appear to be smoke (base of the hair would be white) but similar coloring with that dark black and pale cream combination.

View attachment 323882
View attachment 323881
Wow! Chai is so beautiful, and is the first cat I've ever seen with colouration close to Myshkin's. Chai's nose spot is too cute.

We have been debating whether myshkin's lighter patches are lilac or fawn. When I brush back her black fur, I can see that the hair is actually greyish and becomes white at her skin. Is this what you'd consider to be smoke?
 

rosegold

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Wow! Chai is so beautiful, and is the first cat I've ever seen with colouration close to Myshkin's. Chai's nose spot is too cute.

We have been debating whether myshkin's lighter patches are lilac or fawn. When I brush back her black fur, I can see that the hair is actually greyish and becomes white at her skin. Is this what you'd consider to be smoke?
I’m not an expert but I believe it’s usually a starker contrast between the tips and the roots. Here’s a picture of Chai showing how her fur looked when she was moving, so you can kind of see the base coat - even on her black fur, the tips were black and the roots were solid white, with no greyish or gradient in between.

5F424C7A-A6C2-4EAB-9288-8552AFC3DB8F.jpeg
 

lutece

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We have been debating whether myshkin's lighter patches are lilac or fawn. When I brush back her black fur, I can see that the hair is actually greyish and becomes white at her skin. Is this what you'd consider to be smoke?
A lilac or fawn cat cannot produce black hairs anywhere.
Can you take a picture of your cat's coat with the fur parted, so that we can see the base of the hairs?
 
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