Zebra Cat???

[ArtNJ]

My shorthair cat is grey with white pointing. He was out in the rain today, and also licking his leg some. We noticed that with the fur slicked, he has a very tight (*much* tighter than the typical tabby striping) pronounced zebra pattern of light grey and dark grey on his leg. And presumably everywhere, although this is the only place we have ever seen it. Super weird, never seen anything like this, and we have had cat for 3 years! Is this common?

 

[Daisy6]

Do you have a picture of his leg?

 

[abyeb]

I’d love to see some pictures if you have any!

 

[ArtNJ]

More of the pattern was showing earlier, but you can see some of it here.

 

[lutece]

In that picture it looks as though the hair is wet and it is forming a wave pattern. Sometimes that happens when a cat licks itself. Are you sure it is a color variation on the hair?

 

[ArtNJ]

No idea, but the color bands are so sharp and well defined, it seemed like it had to be the hair?

 

[lutece]

When my cats lick their legs a lot, the hairs sometimes curl up from the humidity into a wavy pattern like that, too. Next time you see that pattern, look closely and see if it is just the way the wet hairs are arranged.