What color tabby is she?

[Bratcat31]

My little girl is a beautiful tabby cat who's coloring changes quite interestingly from primarily silver/grey to primarily black depending on the angle or the light! She also has some cool brown shadings that have shown up as she's gotten older.

Would she be considered a black, brown or grey/silver tabby? If it matters, her mom was a dilute calico and her siblings were a calico (not dilute), a cream and white, an orange and white and a black tabby.

Thanks!

 

[lutece]

She's a gorgeous girl! She appears to be either brown mackerel tabby, or brown mackerel patched tabby (torbie) in color.

Brown tabbies have black stripes on a brownish ground color that can range in shade from warm orangey brown to cold grayish beige. Blue tabbies have gray stripes on a light beige background. Silver tabbies have black stripes on a white or off-white background. From her pictures, she's definitely not blue or silver, the only question is whether she's a brown tabby, or brown patched tabby (brown torbie).

Patched tabbies (also known as torbies) are tortoiseshell tabbies. A brown patched tabby (brown torbie) has brown tabby patches and red (orange) tabby patches. Your girl is mostly brown tabby, but I've circled in this picture a couple of places where she might have red tabby patches; her black stripes look like they might be red instead of black in these areas. However, she might simply be a brown tabby since these patches are not very obvious and might just be an artifact of the picture. Note that the rusty orange areas on her belly and inside legs are typical for a brown tabby cat, and don't necessarily indicate that she has red tabby patches there.

I'm curious, what do you mean by one of her siblings being a black tabby? Brown tabby is the tabby counterpart to black. Do you mean a darker brown tabby compared to your girl?

 

[Bratcat31]

She's a gorgeous girl! She appears to be either brown mackerel tabby, or brown mackerel patched tabby (torbie) in color.

Brown tabbies have black stripes on a brownish ground color that can range in shade from warm orangey brown to cold grayish beige. Blue tabbies have gray stripes on a light beige background. Silver tabbies have black stripes on a white or off-white background. From her pictures, she's definitely not blue or silver, the only question is whether she's a brown tabby, or brown patched tabby (brown torbie).

Patched tabbies (also known as torbies) are tortoiseshell tabbies. A brown patched tabby (brown torbie) has brown tabby patches and red (orange) tabby patches. Your girl is mostly brown tabby, but I've circled in this picture a couple of places where she might have red tabby patches; her black stripes look like they might be red instead of black in these areas. However, she might simply be a brown tabby since these patches are not very obvious and might just be an artifact of the picture. Note that the rusty orange areas on her belly and inside legs are typical for a brown tabby cat, and don't necessarily indicate that she has red tabby patches there.

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I'm curious, what do you mean by one of her siblings being a black tabby? Brown tabby is the tabby counterpart to black. Do you mean a darker brown tabby compared to your girl?

Wow, this is awesome reply!! When I get up in the morning I'm going to check out her stripes more closely. She's a beauty regardless of course I've just recently started looking at colors and tabby patterns and was always curious what she was.

Sorry, black tabby may be wrong. He was a super dark tabby cat. That was almost solid black on his back with just some light grey markings but had the tabby face and underbelly. I don't have recent pictures but this was him as a baby.

 

[lutece]

The brother also appears to be a brown tabby, but he has a different pattern. He appears to be a brown classic tabby, rather than a brown mackerel tabby. Classic tabbies (also known as "blotched" tabbies) have very bold markings, and are often darker overall, compared to mackerel tabbies. Young classic tabby kittens can appear to have an almost solid dark back like the first picture you posted, which eventually resolves into spine lines and swirling "bullseye" patterns on the sides. Classic tabby pattern is recessive to mackerel tabby.

 

[Bratcat31]

The brother also appears to be a brown tabby, but he has a different pattern. He appears to be a brown classic tabby, rather than a brown mackerel tabby. Classic tabbies (also known as "blotched" tabbies) have very bold markings, and are often darker overall, compared to mackerel tabbies. Young classic tabby kittens can appear to have an almost solid dark back like the first picture you posted, which eventually resolves into spine lines and swirling "bullseye" patterns on the sides. Classic tabby is recessive to mackerel tabby.

It's so odd that a kitten with no (or very little) brown would be called a brown tabby. LOL!! Cat coat colors are such a mystery to me still and I've read pages and pages on it. Just doesn't stick well. LOL!!

Okay, last question. Other brother here. Would he be cream and white or also a tabby? As a baby he looked SOLID cream colored. The stripes and white didnt come out until he was a bit older and got a bit darker. He's the one on the far right in the teeny tiny baby picture.

 

[lutece]

It's so odd that a kitten with no (or very little) brown would be called a brown tabby. LOL!! Cat coat colors are such a mystery to me still and I've read pages and pages on it. Just doesn't stick well. LOL!!

It's a developmental stage... very young classic tabby kittens often look very dark like that, and then the stripes separate and the background color appears between them. Here's a page with pictures of mackerel, classic, spotted and ticked tabbies so that you can see how the different tabby patterns look in different colors: Tabbies

Okay, last question. Other brother here. Would he be cream and white or also a tabby? As a baby he looked SOLID cream colored. The stripes and white didnt come out until he was a bit older and got a bit darker. He's the one on the far right in the teeny tiny baby picture.

All reds and creams have tabby markings, even if they are genetically solid, because the non-agouti (non-tabby) gene doesn't have an effect on red pigment. So he's phenotypically a cream mackerel tabby and white, but we don't know from just looking at him if he is genetically tabby or genetically solid. Hope that makes sense, I can explain more if needed

 

[Bratcat31]

Hope that makes sense, I can explain more if needed

Actually I do understand that! I read a breeding forum that goes into the genetics of coat coloring and patterns sometimes when questions about breeding X to X gives ? pop up. I don't really get it all, and have ZERO desire to breed, but I do find it fascinating and the agouti gene part of it has stuck a bit more.

Thanks so much for your thoughtful and thorough replies!

 

[lutece]

Sure! By the way, if your girl is the one in the upper left in the baby picture, my guess is that she's a patched tabby (torbie), as you can see both black and red stripes on that kitten. I've annotated the baby picture with the colors the kittens appear to be.

 

[Bratcat31]

Sure! By the way, if your girl is the one in the upper left in the baby picture, my guess is that she's a patched tabby (torbie), as you can see both black and red stripes on that kitten.

That is her! You could always tell her apart from her brown tabby brothers because she was much much lighter. Fun story, the two brown mackerels aren't actually her birth siblings. Her mom gave birth to her, my cream colored boy, the classic tabby, the red classic with white and the calico then adopted the two brown mackerels 24 hours later when they came in orphaned to the shelter I foster for. They obviously fit right in though. LOL!

You have quite the keen eye. The stripes you noticed could be red are actually red. Looked at them this morning. Thank you again for your time. I have had a lot of fun reading your replies!!