Just Curious...

[Thestarcatcher]

Where do the variations of lilac, chocolate, and silver tipped come from? I recently got a silver tipped cat, and never knew it was considered a true color.

 

[lutece]

The silver gene (inhibitor gene) inhibits color at the base of the hairs, turning the base of the hairs white. It is responsible for the colors variously known as smoke, silver, shaded, cameo, tipped, chinchilla, etc.
Gene I: Inhibitor
Different gene(s) known as "wide band" are thought to affect the width of this white area.
Silver and Golden

Chocolate coat color comes from the "brown" gene which is recessive. Two copies of the brown gene result in a chocolate cat. Lilac is a combination of brown + dilute (blue); two copies of the brown gene, plus two copies of the dilute (blue) gene will result in a lilac cat.
Cat Coat Color

 

[Thestarcatcher]

The silver gene (inhibitor gene) inhibits color at the base of the hairs, turning the base of the hairs white. It is responsible for the colors variously known as smoke, silver, shaded, cameo, tipped, chinchilla, etc.
Gene I: Inhibitor
Different gene(s) known as "wide band" are thought to affect the width of this white area.
Silver and Golden

Chocolate coat color comes from the "brown" gene which is recessive. Two copies of the brown gene result in a chocolate cat. Lilac is a combination of brown + dilute (blue); two copies of the brown gene, plus two copies of the dilute (blue) gene will result in a lilac cat.
Cat Coat Color

Thank you! I recently saw a cream smoke for the first time as well. I heard that they are very rare! How does a breeder achieve the coloration? I suppose a cream and a smoke bred together but I could be wrong haha

 

[lutece]

Well, first of all, cream is the dilute form of red. To make a cream cat, you need the sex-linked red gene (one copy for a boy, two copies for a girl), plus two copies of the dilute (blue) gene.

Here are some combinations that can produce a cream male kitten:

• The father must carry blue. So he could be cream, blue, black carrying blue, red carrying blue, brown tabby carrying blue, etc... He could even be a pointed cat, as long as he is not bred to another pointed cat. For the male kittens it doesn't matter if the father has the red gene or not, since his sons don't receive his X chromosome.
• The mother must carry blue, and must have at least one X with the red gene. She could be cream or blue-cream, red or tortoiseshell carrying blue, brown torbie carrying blue, etc... She could be a pointed cat, as long as she is not bred to another pointed cat.

To produce a cream female kitten:

• The father must have the red gene on his X chromosome and he must carry blue. So he could be cream, or red carrying blue, etc.
• Same requirements for the mother as above.

When producing reds and creams it doesn't matter much if the parents are solids or tabbies, since all reds and creams are phenotypically tabbies anyway.

Now that you know how to make a cream, all you need to make a cream smoke is one copy of the silver gene, since it is dominant. So, at least one of the parents must have the silver gene (must be a smoke, silver, chinchilla, etc).