Commonly Seen In: Mixed breeds, Egyptian Mau, Bengal and Ocicat.Īlso known as ‘agouti’, the ticked tabby pattern, doesn’t have the traditional stripes, spots, or swirls that are typically associated with tabby patterns because of the unique way the agouti gene affects the hair shaft’s pigmentation.Markings: Spots can be round, oval, or rosettes, similar to those seen in wild leopards or cheetahs.Appearance: As the name suggests, this pattern features spots all over the body, which can vary in size and spacing.These spots can vary widely in size and distribution across different cats, leading to a diversity of spotted tabby appearances. The spotted pattern is a modification of the mackerel pattern, where the stripes are broken into spots due to a modifier gene. Commonly Seen In: Mixed breeds, British Shorthair, American Shorthair, and Maine Coon breeds.Markings: It typically has three large, dark, and bold stripes running down the spine, merging into the swirls and loops on the sides.Appearance: Also known as “blotched” or “marbled,” this pattern features bold, dark, swirling or circular patterns on the sides, resembling a marble pattern.Two classic tabbies cannot produce offspring with the mackerel tabby pattern, but a mackerel tabby cat can potentially produce offspring with the classic tabby pattern if they carry one copy of the t b gene, ie: T m/ t b The cat must inherit two copies of the t b gene, one from each parent t b/ t b. The classic tabby is recessive to the wild-type mackerel tabby.

Classic Tabby (mc/mc): Classic ginger tabby cat

Commonly Seen In: Most domestic shorthair and longhair cats.Ģ.

Markings: The mackerel tabby has stripes running down the legs and tail, and dark lines running down each side of the spine.

Appearance: This pattern is characterised by narrow, parallel vertical stripes running down the cat’s sides, resembling the bones of a fish, hence the name “mackerel.”.

The vertical striping seen in mackerel tabbies serves as a form of camouflage, allowing wild cats to blend into tall grasses and vegetation effectively, which is crucial for hunting and evading predators. The mackerel tabby pattern is the wild-type (original) pattern of the African wildcat ( Felis silvestris lybica), the closest wild ancestor of the domestic cat ( Felis catus). Pheomelanin contains more sulfur and is composed of benzothiazine units, leading to lighter colouration while eumelanin is composed mainly of dihydroxyindole and dihydroxyindole carboxylic acid, resulting in darker colouration. The pigment responsible for the orange colour is known as pheomelanin, which provides yellow and orange colours while eumelanin is responsible for black, brown and grey coat colour. The default ‘ wild type‘ cat is a brown mackerel tabby. The tabby coat pattern is made up of two components the base agouti (ticked) background which is composed of alternating light and dark bands on each hair, and the overlying dark spots, swirls or stripes.

Orange tabby is a common coat colour and not a specific breed, it can be found in both random bred as well as some breeds of purebred cat. Also known as a red tabby, an orange tabby is a common coat colour that consists of a base colour that ranges from a light cream or yellow-orange to a deep, rich red or ginger, which is a backdrop for the darker stripes, spots, or swirls.

Orange and gray tabby cat