Popular cat colors

Cats are one of the most popular varieties of pets. You can choose a pet today, as they say, for every taste and color. By the way, despite the seeming variety of shades of the cat's fur coat, there are only a few groups of their colors and patterns.

Despite the variety of colors of cat hair, all of them can be typed and can be assigned to one or another group of colors. It is determined genetically, which is why breeders of thoroughbred cats so strictly follow the pedigree. For in order for a kitten of a certain shade to be born that meets breed standards, it is important to choose purebred parents.

A special pigment is responsible for the manifestation of a certain shade of the fur coat. It is called melanin and is divided into 2 varieties:

• eumelanin (absorbs sunlight and gives black pigment);
• pheomelanin (on the contrary, absorbs the rays of the sun and gives red-yellow or orange pigmentation).

Initially, the color of cat hair was determined by the peculiarities of the predator's life and served to mask. Cats, unlike cats, have more color options. It is also associated with genetics - the X chromosome is responsible for the presence of pigment. Cats have 2 chromosomes, cats have one, and therefore females can have one of three basic pigments:

• red (OO);
• black (oo);
• tortie (Oo).

By the way, the last color option from the point of view of genetics is a chromosomal failure, a mutation. Similar changes occur only in cats (only females are four-colored) and, like any mutation, such a color does not continue, that is, a cat does not bring four-color offspring.

Some genetic features of the color affect the nature and appearance of the animal. So, snow-white cats, whose fur does not have pigment, often turn out to be deaf. The genome responsible for the color of the coat often determines eye color. That is why the standards for a particular breed prescribe an acceptable eye shade.

Many myths gave rise to the peculiarity of the color of Siamese cats and their character. It is believed that they are nasty and vindictive. Although in this case it is fair to talk about a violation of selection methods in the 80s, when a fashion for Siamese cats suddenly appeared.

In pursuit of profit, breeders who did not have the necessary experience did not carefully check the pedigree and received, in fact, defective offspring. One of the options for marriage was just the same unfriendly character. Although it is worth noting that Siamese cats are one of the oldest breeds with a stable psyche, a breed oriented to people.

In addition to the main genes, there are others responsible for the brightness and saturation of the color, the presence of contrasts. As a result, subgroups of colors and rare breeds appear, we will consider them below. And for ease of navigation among existing colors, use the table. It allows you to understand the groups and subgroups of colors. For example, the tortoise hue is just a subgroup, while pintail individuals form a larger group.

Seals with solid colors have uniformly dyed fur all over the body, face, tail and limbs. The shade of the nose and paw pads also matches. The appearance of spots, glare, stripes is a sign of marriage.

Despite the apparent simplicity of such a color, it is the result of the painstaking work of specialists. It is uniform solid color that is the first and most important criterion for evaluating an animal’s elite breed (Nibelungs, chartreuse, bombers).

The most difficult thing is to achieve a solid color with red and cream pigment. Therefore, the red fur coat of a solid color can still have some kind of pattern or stripes.

The solid black tint is quite common. Gone are the days when it was believed that a black cat would bring misfortune. Today, pets with the color of wool are like the darkest night - one of the most popular. There is even a breed (Bombay cats) whose hair is exceptionally black.

Cream shades are also difficult to breed. The color of the coat should not be faded, moderately saturated, and the shade of the nose and paw pads should match the tone of the fur coat as much as possible. The presence of a lighter or white undercoat is unacceptable. The eyes of cream-colored cats of solid color are copper or orange, the paw pads and nose are pink. Among the most valuable breeds with a complex solid shade are cinnamon and faun Briton, lilac Briton.

Turtle color is considered quite valuable and complex. It can include a variety of shades of red and black palettes. In this case, black is always clearly visible and clearly expressed, and red color implies a slight blur, tabby. For tortoise color, stripes and white spots are also acceptable.

Blue is called a solid light gray color. Interestingly, genetically, it appeared not from white (this does not exist, if we are not talking about mutations), but from black. It must be uniform, without impurities. As a rule, such animals have expressive green or orange eyes. You can recognize them by the bluish-gray nose and paw pads.

There is also a cream-blue tortie color, implying a chaotic arrangement of cream and blue spots on the body of the animal.

The concept of agouti color means the presence of zoning on the hairs of an animal. In other words, it resembles a striped police rod. In this case, the hair of a cat with agouti color can have several shades. For instance, one zone has black pigment, the other is red or no pigment at all. This group includes 3 large enough subgroups to consider: tabby, shaded, and “chinchillas”.

Agouti is the name of a gene that is still considered insufficiently studied. At the same time, the possibilities offered by the manifestation of this gene are truly vast. It can be combined with most shades, which leads to the birth of the usual "sailor" - yard striped cats, and elite exhibition individuals.

It is important to understand that not all cats that have the appearance of stripes are agouti. For example, solid ginger cats may also appear striped only because of the difficulty of selecting a red gene.

Such cats are popularly called striped, but this is not true. The animal has no stripes. It’s just that each hair of his hair is painted only on some of its part (for example, only the tip or 1/4, 1/8 part of the hair). The result is an interesting pattern, originally designed to help cats disguise themselves in the wild. By the way, the first non-domesticated cats had this color.

Sometimes it is not easy to determine the presence of a pattern on the animal’s hair. In this case, the letter “M” (as a picture) on the forehead and the dark outline of the eyes will become a bright sign of the tabby specimen. The hair on the tummy and the inside of the tail of such cats is noticeably lighter.

Features of the picture depend on genetic predispositions. Depending on how the strips and their varieties are located, this or that pattern develops. In this regard, there are several types of tabby.

• Marble. The pattern is formed by wide stripes on the sides, “rings” on the tail, stripes on the shoulder blades, resembling the wings of a butterfly open.

• Brindle. Dark stripes stretch along the spine, thin stripes are found throughout the body, the tail and legs of the animal adorn the "rings" forming the stripes.

• Spotted. There are specks in a chaotic order throughout the body. An important point - they have approximately the same shape (oval) and size. On the legs and tail, the patterns are more elongated, so they can visually resemble stripes.

Abyssinian or ticked color stand out. There is no clear pattern on the fur coat; it is as if oiled, covered with a light veil. However, such an animal can never be confused with a cat with a solid color. Ticking provides a special flicker of wool.

It is worth noting another variation of the pattern - a combination of marble and spotted patterns. The fur coat of the animal is decorated with elongated spots, the border of each spot is darker, and the middle is light, but still darker than the bulk of the hairs of the hair. Such a pattern can be seen in a marbled brown or rosette spotted bengal.

This group of colors refers to its varieties that are bred due to the partial suppression of melanin. As a result, silvery or smoky individuals appear, having a poorly visible, barely noticeable pattern. Among them, the most popular are several.

• Haze - have a small portion of white pigment at the base of the hairs. Sometimes an animal is confused with an individual with a solid color, but only until the moment when it begins to move. Then the hairs open, a smoky color appears.
• Back haze - similar to the previous color, but the tip of the hair is white. This creates the feeling that the animal’s fur coat is covered with hoarfrost (a typical representative is a Russian blue cat).
• Silver tabby - the hair of the animal has darkened tips, which, when viewed in bulk, form a pattern characteristic of a tabby.

Add a few words about the shaded color smoke (a striking representative - the Australian smoky cat). If the animal has a black hair tip and a white base, it is black smoke. If instead of black is a blue tint, we are facing the color blue smoke. White with a purple hair is purple smoke, white with red is red smoke, with chocolate it is chocolate smoke, respectively.

Chinchilla cats are a variety of agouti species. Chinchillas also have zoned colored hairs. In this case, it is the white base of the hair and the color is 1/3 or 1/8 of the hair. In other words, the color has only the tip of the hair.

The chinchillas look more elegant, light, a bit like the color of arctic foxes or chinchillas. In addition, the coat is soft, fluffy. They are made even more attractive by the black stroke of the eyes and nose and the black paw pads. The color of the eyes of chinchillas is bright green.

There are 2 varieties of chinchillas:

• tipped (have light fur, 1/8 of which is at the very tip of a dark color);
• shaded (have a similar color, but 1/3 of the fur remains dark, this is also the tip).

In these varieties, due to the white undercoat, the color of the fur coat is close to silver. It seems as if a light silver haze enveloped the animal's fur. There is also a golden variety of chinchillas. In such individuals, the undercoat has a pale apricot or reddish color. The tip of the hairs is dark.

Among the most famous representatives are Scottish, Persian, British chinchillas. Despite the fact that this breed is quite young, its representatives are distinguished by good health and a stable psyche.

Translated from English, the name of this group means "painted tip." Indeed, the animal has a light body, and the tips of its ears, paws and muzzle have a darker shade. Identify individuals of this group can be on the darkened areas on a lighter coat. Typical representatives of this group are Siamese and Himalayan cats.

To understand the features of color, it is useful to know the principle by which these very names are built: the main color + drawing (if any) + the word "point". For example, strength point (brown on light), tabby point.

Some breeds of cats have their own colorpoint names. So, Persians with Siamese color, it is customary to designate as Himalayan. The drill has its own line of names.Professionals can simply say lilac, sable chocolate color. However, in relation to this breed, there will be no continuous color, namely color point.

Pinto color also means a cat with a white color and spots on it. The following pied varieties are distinguished depending on the type of spots:

• van - most of the body is white, only on the head and tail (less often - from the back of the paws) there are colored spots;
• harlequin - colored spots are spread over the white body that are on the head, legs of the animal and on the sides, the tail usually has a solid color.
• bicolor (two-tone) - the presence of white is minimal, usually the tips of paws, ears, a “locket” on the neck;
• calico (or tricolor) - most of the animal’s body is white, the rest has a tortoise color.

It should be said that white alone does not exist in nature. This is either a genetic malfunction (albinos) or the result of suppression of melanin. However, in the latter case, it is correct to say that an animal of white color has white spots on a snow-white fur coat. It is clear that they merge, and therefore for a layman such a cat is simply white.

About the popular colors of cats, see the next video.