Most Common Feral Cat Coat Colors In Your Area?

[Monotail]

I've always nursed a sort of fascination for feral cats. For better or for worse, the domestic cat is by far one of the most successful species on the planet. They're alliance with humanity has ensured that they inhabit six of the seven continents. From huge landmasses to tiny islands, from the mean city streets to the quiet countryside, it's undeniable that cats are here, there and everywhere!

But I've always been curious about a few things. Are some coat colors more commonplace amounst ferals then others? Are some colors more common in one area, but not another? Do some colors offer survival advantages? Etc and so forth. Well I want to know! So let me ask you, what are the most common coat colors for feral cats in your area?

So let's start off, shall we?

-I live in Montana, in a small city relatively close to the Canadian border to be a bit more specific. (Montana in the fourth largest state in the US after all!)

-Black based colors are by far the commonplace here. So black cats and brown tabbies are ubiquitous, while ginger tabbies... just aren't. I've actually only seen two in my time here!

-The dilute gene also doesn't seem to be common, not many blue/gray cats (Tabby or otherwise) around, but I have several of them.

-White spotting is fairly common though, I'd say about half of the cats around here have some amount of white on their bodies. Usually only small amounts though.

-The colorpoint gene is apparently present, but it's even rarer then ginger tabby is! I've only seen one coloredpointed cat and that one was at the local shelter.

Can't wait to see if your guys areas differ from mine!

 

[shadowsrescue]

I am in Central Ohio. I have seen it all. I currently have 5 former feral cats all living inside my house after a recent move. I have 1 black, 1 ginger, 1 gray and 2 brown tabbies. Previously when they all lived outside, I had 2 other males and 1 female. The males were both brown tabbies and the female was a Tortie.

So here in my neck of the woods, it's a complete mixed bag!

 

[Willowy]

Torties have a camouflage advantage in forested areas. Brown tabbies are better in grasslands. White spotting isn't terrific for camouflage. But most cats here are some version of farm cat so they have some help in survival, and in my experience, "prettier" cats get better care on farms. So the survival advantage is about equal. I've seen all colors.

 

[Monotail]

Torties have a camouflage advantage in forested areas. Brown tabbies are better in grasslands. White spotting isn't terrific for camouflage. But most cats here are some version of farm cat so they have some help in survival, and in my experience, "prettier" cats get better care on farms. So the survival advantage is about equal. I've seen all colors.

Thank you very much! This is just the sort of information that I was hoping to hear.

 

[TobiDaDog]

I live in Southeastern Idaho. Most of the strays here seem to be Tuxedo or black. I've always assumed it was because we have so many open fields and predators...it's easier for them to blend in and survive!

 

[catapault]

An interesting 1977 article from Scientific American on the inheritance of coat color in cats

https://www.gwern.net/docs/genetics/selection/1977-todd.pdf

 

[Kieka]

Southern California we tend to have a lot of variations on grey in my area; solid, bicolor or tabby but usually grey. If it's not grey, it is black in all patterns. We also a good amount of pointed cats. I can't remember that last time I saw a red feral in the area.

 

[Monotail]

An interesting 1977 article from Scientific American on the inheritance of coat color in cats

https://www.gwern.net/docs/genetics/selection/1977-todd.pdf

Thanks! That's really fascinating.

 

[kittychick]

So interesting to hear what everyone's seeing in their area (and that article is so interesting -- I've read several articles on genetics and coloration and I just think it's amazing!).

Like shadowsrescue , I'm in Ohio (a different part of Ohio), and as far as what comes into our rescues & spay/neuter clinics (as far as stray & feral), coloration completely runs the gamut. I can pretty definitely say our shelters see far more short coats, than long, but that's about the only "definite." That said - we've definitely got "pockets" in areas of our city. We've got at least two pockets I know of where the majority of strays/ferals are variations of the colorpoint gene.

The shelter where I volunteer sees a large number black, black & white, and grey or brown tabby/tiger. And as in most places, the solid black - or close to solid black - are the slowest to be adopted, with the next slowest being the brown/grey tigers (we don't get a huge number of torties, but they're also often slow to find homes, as there still seems to be alot of the "torties are just crazy" thinking). We also get a fair share of orange/red tabbies.

The colony that's existed in my neighborhood for some time (that then spread out to form other colonies nearby) is probably 75% solid (or close to it) grey, with about 20% of the rest solid black (or close to it). Hubby and I (and other neighbors that we recruited) have worked hard to control our neighborhood colony through TNR. (And this isn't a coloration issue - - but our neighborhood colony - and neighboring neighborhood colonies -- also have a large number of curly tails!)

So fascinating to see how genetics works - - - and what everyone's seeing!

 

[Jcatbird]

Very interesting question!
I am in a rural area of the southeastern U.S.
Having worked with cats a lot I can give you a breakdown over the past few years although there were actually a bit more than I recorded.
3 Partial Tortie/ tabby
4 Tortie
4 white with partial grey tabby markings (one of these had one blue eye and one gold)
1 That appeared a Siamese as a baby but evolved into what appears to be dark brown Tonkinese
8 marked as Siamese light points
25 grey and black tabby
12 Calico
5 spotted tabby/ some Bengal?
14 Brown tabby
11 Solid Black
9Black and white three being tux
7 orange or ginger tabby
7 Silver tabby
4 Merle Tabby
Does that help or just confuse the issue?
There seems to be Siamese, Maine Coon , Calico, and Burmese and Bengal all thrown into the mix with the black and tabby. A genetic chaos.
The tabbies seem to survive the longest here. Light colored do not fare as well. I’ve noticed the Hawks zero in on the lighter fur more quickly. Don’t worry though. I built them shelters as soon as I noticed.

 

[NY cat man]

My wife and I live in a small city in western NY, and we have 6 former feral, now indoor cats. One is a black and grey tabby, one is tabby with grey, black, orange, and white markings, and the other 4 are yellow/orange tabbies with varying amounts of white. In addition, there are 2 male ferals that show up from time to time, and both of them are yellow/orange tabbies

 

[Jcatbird]

N NY cat man Ahhh! Now we now where all the Ginger cats go! To your house!

 

[jcat]

Black based colors are by far the commonplace here. So black cats and brown tabbies are ubiquitous, while ginger tabbies... just aren't. I've actually only seen two in my time here!

This describes the feral (and nonferal) cats in our area in Germany, so I've always figured it's a small gene pool. We TNRed one feral colony where around 90% of the cats were black and all but one of the others (white with black) were gray/brown
tabbies. Another colony of 32 had all but 5 tabbies - only one of them red.

Red tabbies are so rare that we almost immediately find homes for them; oddly enough, tortoiseshell and calicos are pretty common. I've only seen 3 female red tabbies in the past four years and 5 or 6 males. i work at a shelter and am a member of a rescue organization, so I see a lot of cats. There's a large city 38 km/24 miles from here where red tabbies, both male and female, are a dime a dozen, but you almost never see torties or calicos.

 

[Maria Bayote]

From where I am I see a lot of calicos (long and short haired), tabbies and torties.

Not too much Tuxedo cats which I hope I could catch one.

 

[ItsMaryann]

Southern California we tend to have a lot of variations on grey in my area; solid, bicolor or tabby but usually grey. If it's not grey, it is black in all patterns. We also a good amount of pointed cats. I can't remember that last time I saw a red feral in the area.

I’m in Southern California also and I was about to say the same thing..grey cats, mostly tabby’s is what I see.

 

[islander]

Skinny inbred black/white out here in West mayo .... 3 of mine and one no longer with us, rescued up in Leitrim and Kerry have the same colouring, but they are sturdier and bigger boned,, One I cared for in kerry was ginger/white and another tortie .. the 2 wee girls I just took in are black based, one fluffier than the other and the smooth one is defintitley part oriental from her voice and manner. She has white spots under her chin, armpits and her private place!

 

[Norachan]

I'm in Japan and I see a lot of ginger and calico cats. Most of the feral population seem to have the bob-tail gene. They've either got a very short tail, a half tail of a twisted, curly tail. Even cats that seem to have a long tail often have a few kinks in it.

The first colony I TNR'd, where most of my resident cats came from, were either black and white or tabby. The original two cats in that colony were a tuxedo male and a tabby and white female. After the first male was TNR'd a silver tabby turned up and his kittens were all blue eyed points.

This lovely guy was the father of all the pointed kittens. His tail twisted right round into a knot at the end.

Ginger bob-tails.

Happy is pretty typical of the calico cats I see around here.

 

[islander]

Skinny inbred black/white out here in West mayo .... 3 of mine and one no longer with us, rescued up in Leitrim and Kerry have the same colouring, but they are sturdier and bigger boned,, One I cared for in kerry was ginger/white and another tortie .. the 2 wee girls I just took in are black based, one fluffier than the other and the smooth one is defintitley part oriental from her voice and manner. She has white spots under her chin, armpits and her private place!

This is the ginger and white who came to me i Kerry. He was a holy terror and kept chasing my cats up trees. He clearly had been used to being h andled and to food and I managed to get him neutered

 

[cheshiremonster]

The colony I help with in sacramento is at a city park with a river. Since i joined in helping 5years ago there’s been 1 orange tortie, 2 muted grey, currently, 1 blk tort. A couple grey half tort/tab short hair. 3 orange tabs, none now. 1 solid grey long hair, a few rag doll/Siamese types, all long hair. Mostlyshort hair tabs of grey or black. 2 short hair marbled greys. 1 gone now & 1 a kitten that’s still being socialized. Both females. Recently there appear to be some adults being dropped off, so we have a long hair tux, a short hair Black and white, 3 brown tabs with varying amounts of white and short hair.

 

[lutece]

Here's a 2005 article that is about allele frequencies in Arkansas and Tennessee but also has many references to studies of allele frequencies in other areas. It's interesting to look at the tables and compare the frequencies.
Mutant Allele Frequencies in Domestic Cat Populations in Arkansas and Tennessee