Question about coloring

[neah]

I've been very interested in genetics since I was introduced to them and have since taking up learning all I can about feline genetics. That being said, my oldest cat, Snickers, has a color that stumps me.

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• neah
• Jan 12, 2017

Here is a picture of her. She's a mix. Her mother was a calico with high white and we aren't sure who the father was, just that he was either a Maine Coon or a Siberian. Her litter mates were all tabby and all of them male. Two were gray and white tabbys and the other three were orange and white tabbys.

At first I thought she was a brown tabby but her nose is red with black rims. I know this nose color is seen in the silver and golden series. She is very obviously not silver so that leaves the golden series. I figured that she is either golden smoke or shaded. She has a pretty pale golden ruff and her stomach is a rather light gold color, though most of it is covered by the white spotting. Her eyes are amber with a bit of green.

Let me know if you need any more pictures of her.

 

[neah]

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• neah
• Jan 12, 2017

Here is a picture of her stomach if that helps.

 

[StefanZ]

You use much nice wording, taken from the purebreds cats world, where they are breeded to press forward beautiful nuances.

I myself think she is in essence a diluted calico and tabby, ie what is called for patched tabby.   Other names are also possible.

So she combines essentially moms and dads colors and patterns.   Dad was longhair, I presume momma is a carrier of the longhair gene, so about half of the litter should be longhair and half - shorthair

(If I understood you right and momma is shorthair.  If she is longhair she too all should be longhairs)

 

[neah]

I would be inclined to agree but for two things:

She is black , which would make her have noticeably red spots if she were a calico and since she has so much white the patches would be pretty distinct.

We're pretty sure her father was either black or blue since she is black based.

The thing with the golden is that I would have written it off as her fur just being a different color but it is very light and not the typical copper color in brown tabbys and it is striped solid black so I know she can't be any other tabby color.

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• neah
• Jan 13, 2017

The picture doesn't showcase it that well since it was overcast that day but in the sun the lighter color is very yellowish in hue.

 

[neah]

I've done some research on golden tabbys as well and they have black banded golden hair with gray or pale roots, which she has in her coat. She isn't as bright as pure bred golden cats but that's to be expected since she is a pretty muddled mixed breed.

 

[posiepurrs]

She is a lovely brown tabby and white. The brown can be various shades from actually brownish to a golden brown. I am adding a photo of my brown tabby boy so you can see that his coloring is also more golden. He could have been a shaded golden - he is out of a shaded golden sire and a shaded silver mother.  Since you are interested in genetics I will add that shaded golden cats are born tabby, but as they mature the tabby markings fade and if they don't they are considered either brown tabby or in rare instances a golden tabby. This boys great grandmother was a golden tabby.

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• posiepurrs
• Jan 15, 2017