Tabby Cat Fur Patterns

Ticked tabbies also known as agouti have most of the tabby markings on their face.

Tabby cat fur patterns. If a cat has three colors and the distinctive tabby forehead marking they re a calico tabby. The tabby gene has three very well known versions or alleles which in different combinations account for most tabby patterns seen in domestic cats including those patterns seen in most breeds. White orange and black. People sometimes call the average domestic cat a tabby but tabby is not a cat breed it is actually the pattern of kitty s coat.

This is similar to the black tabby cat pattern. Classic swirl patterned tabby cats the swirling pattern on fur coats of the cats is the one that can be seen most commonly. Tabby cats feature distinctive strips lines swirling patterns or dots with a wide variety of patterns and colors. The term harlequin is sometimes used to describe a cat with a mostly white coat.

The classic tabby will have a butterfly pattern on his back or a bull s eye pattern on his sides appearing as if the cat was tie dyed. A spotted tabby will look more like a leopard or a jaguar with rosette or oval markings rather than stripes. Within their calico spots they may have tabby stripes. Why do tabby cats have an m on their forehead.

The term calico much like tabby refers to a pattern of colors rather than a breed. There are additional alleles and even additional genes affecting tabby patterns which have also been both identified and postulated. The other color can be a solid or show a tabby pattern. This blotched pattern is what also prompted the name blotchy tabby to be attributed to these cats.

Some pointed breeds also allow tabby points within their color standards. The most common mixed breed tabby cats are. Brown patched and white brown and white torbie as for brown patched but with white on the bib tummy and all four paws. They are not a breed but rather a coloration variation that pops up in almost all breeds of cats.

Calico cats have three colors. The marking is basically that of a color swirl present on the sides of the body of the cat. And it happens to be the most common of all the feline coat. The banded background ground colour consists of hairs which are more than one colour along the hair shaft and is termed agouti.

The bicolor pattern is common among mixed breed cats but it is also acceptable in many breeds. A fifth includes tabby as part of another basic color pattern e g the patched tabby which may be a calico or tortoiseshell cat with tabby patches the latter is called a torbie. Tabby refers to a coat pattern in cats which consists of dark swirls stripes spots superimposed on a lighter background of ticked banded fur.