Post by Dreamer on Sept 2, 2017 15:55:40 GMT
Basics
If this is your first time studying cat genetics, there are a few things you need to know.
Now that that has been dealt with, to the very basics.
All of these colors in vivid descriptions can be found in this lovely guide by Joumana Medlej.
Main Colors
Black and Red
Red is dominant over Black, thus even if Black is present, Red will appear over it.
Black has two recessive variations present, chocolate and cinnamon.
All of these have dilute variants.
Black dilutes to Blue. Chocolate dilutes to Lilac. Cinnamon Dilutes to Fawn. Red dilutes to Cream.
Those are all the basic variations of the main colors found in cats.
However, to help diminish some confusion over certain terms, black tabbies will be divided into gray tabbies (gray with black stripes) and brown tabbies (brown with black stripes).
Tabbies
There are several types of tabbies.
The main ones are by order of dominance:
Ticked>Mackerel>Spotted>Classic
Ticked tabbies have a speckled, tawny look, with striping only on the legs and face, these will always be dominant if the gene is passed.
Mackerel tabbies are the traditional tabbies, with long straight stripes down the sides.
Spotted tabbies are conjectured to be a variation of mackerel tabby, breaking up the stripes.
Classic tabbies are those with the circular "bullseye" type markings along the sides.
Marble tabby and Rosette spotted tabby are common in bengals and other wildXdomestic crosses, for now these tabbies will not be allowed or included, until more research on them can be done as to how to incorporate them.
White
There are two versions of white that manifest in cats.
Epistatic white ensures that the cat is completely white. This gene is associated with deafness in blue eyed white cats. It is a dominant trait.
White Spotting is different, it involves a gene which manifests certain degrees of white spotting.
1 gene of white spotting allows a cat to have 1-40ish% white spotting. 2 genes is 50-100ish% white spotting.
For a cat to have blue eyes, they must have at least 40 % white spotting which touches the eyes.
Colorpoint
A variation on albino, which is said to be affected by temperature and environment.
There are several types of colorpoints, from ones with high contrast between the body and the points, to low contrast, as well as ones with tabby markings in the colored areas. However we will not be distinguishing between those types.
This gene is recessive.
Silver
This gene is a bit complicated to explain, but the gist is cats that have the silver gene will have varying banding of silver on each individual hair, tipped with the original color.
How this works is tabbies end up having a very light background color, while their stripes are the natural color. And solids, especially long haired ones, will have an odd salt-and-pepper look to them, where they are still the solid color but the silver shines through in certain areas of their pelt.
Body types
There are six accepted body types in the cat breeding world:
Oriental
Foreign
Semi-Foreign/Intermediate
Semi-cobby
Cobby
Substantial
All of these can be viewed and are explained on this handy-dandy guide.
Important Resources for further Research
Messybeast: This is where you should go if you have any questions, the website explains almost everything there is to know about cat genetics.
Color Chart: Another useful and compact guide with all the colors in the same place.
Cat Breeds: A Useful guide with the distinct body types, and easy descriptions of the different breeds.
If this is your first time studying cat genetics, there are a few things you need to know.
- 1. The basic genes for color are manifested on the X chromossome. Which means that Females (XX) can manifest both red and black, while Males (XY) can only manifest one. This is why there are no tortoiseshell males.
- 2. Due to this, male kits will manifest one of the mother's colors, while female kits can manifest the colors of both the mother and the father.
- 3. While the main colors are manifested on the X gene, modifiers are on other chromossomes. Which means a colorpoint gene can be inherited from the father, or a dilution modifier, or the different types of tabbies, etc.
- 4. There are certain terms when pertaining to genetics. For example, Allele refers to a gene, such as you can have an allele for black, or two alleles, Alleles always come in pairs and determine the appearance of your cat. A Dominant gene means that the gene will always manifest if it there is only one allele present. Recessive is a term that means you must have two alleles of the same type for it to manifest. There are other vocabulary words, but these are the only ones we will be using in this guide.
Now that that has been dealt with, to the very basics.
All of these colors in vivid descriptions can be found in this lovely guide by Joumana Medlej.
Main Colors
Black and Red
Red is dominant over Black, thus even if Black is present, Red will appear over it.
Black has two recessive variations present, chocolate and cinnamon.
All of these have dilute variants.
Black dilutes to Blue. Chocolate dilutes to Lilac. Cinnamon Dilutes to Fawn. Red dilutes to Cream.
Those are all the basic variations of the main colors found in cats.
However, to help diminish some confusion over certain terms, black tabbies will be divided into gray tabbies (gray with black stripes) and brown tabbies (brown with black stripes).
Tabbies
There are several types of tabbies.
The main ones are by order of dominance:
Ticked>Mackerel>Spotted>Classic
Ticked tabbies have a speckled, tawny look, with striping only on the legs and face, these will always be dominant if the gene is passed.
Mackerel tabbies are the traditional tabbies, with long straight stripes down the sides.
Spotted tabbies are conjectured to be a variation of mackerel tabby, breaking up the stripes.
Classic tabbies are those with the circular "bullseye" type markings along the sides.
Marble tabby and Rosette spotted tabby are common in bengals and other wildXdomestic crosses, for now these tabbies will not be allowed or included, until more research on them can be done as to how to incorporate them.
White
There are two versions of white that manifest in cats.
Epistatic white ensures that the cat is completely white. This gene is associated with deafness in blue eyed white cats. It is a dominant trait.
White Spotting is different, it involves a gene which manifests certain degrees of white spotting.
1 gene of white spotting allows a cat to have 1-40ish% white spotting. 2 genes is 50-100ish% white spotting.
For a cat to have blue eyes, they must have at least 40 % white spotting which touches the eyes.
Colorpoint
A variation on albino, which is said to be affected by temperature and environment.
There are several types of colorpoints, from ones with high contrast between the body and the points, to low contrast, as well as ones with tabby markings in the colored areas. However we will not be distinguishing between those types.
This gene is recessive.
Silver
This gene is a bit complicated to explain, but the gist is cats that have the silver gene will have varying banding of silver on each individual hair, tipped with the original color.
How this works is tabbies end up having a very light background color, while their stripes are the natural color. And solids, especially long haired ones, will have an odd salt-and-pepper look to them, where they are still the solid color but the silver shines through in certain areas of their pelt.
Body types
There are six accepted body types in the cat breeding world:
Oriental
Foreign
Semi-Foreign/Intermediate
Semi-cobby
Cobby
Substantial
All of these can be viewed and are explained on this handy-dandy guide.
Important Resources for further Research
Messybeast: This is where you should go if you have any questions, the website explains almost everything there is to know about cat genetics.
Color Chart: Another useful and compact guide with all the colors in the same place.
Cat Breeds: A Useful guide with the distinct body types, and easy descriptions of the different breeds.