COLORS AND PATTERNS/ AN INTRODUCTION TO COLOR … · The color and contrast vary depending on the color. The expectation is that the ground color offers significant contrast to the

COLORS AND PATTERNS/

AN INTRODUCTION TO COLOR GENETICS in the PEDIGREED CAT

2

• Purpose of today’s presentation

– Acquaint you with the basics of colors and

patterns and the associated genetics

– Enable you to identify the common

patterns/colors found in the pedigreed cat

– Point out opportunities for further learning

– Learn and have fun!!

INTRODUCTION

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• Basis of all discussions around the

descriptions of colors and patterns - the

final authority today and during judging.

• Two issues to acknowledge regarding

the descriptions of colors and patterns:

– Many contradictions

– Many incongruities

CFA BREED STANDARDS

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• Decoration

• Design

• Scheme

• Stencil

• _______

• _______

Template – a Model that can be

used over and over again.

WHAT IS A PATTERN?

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START WITH THE BASICS

• Our cats have descended from the African Wild Cat –Felis Silvestris Lybica.

• FSL is a Brown McTabby patterned cat.

• Mutations resulted in the variety of colors and patterns that we see in our cats today.

• Mutations result from:• Imperfect replication or joining of the components of

the DNA molecule• Chemical imbalance within the body• Mutagens – nicotine and thalidomide• Greatest of all mutagen is radiation• Solar radiation, cosmic rays and Earth’s background

radiation

• Not all Mutations support survival.

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Felis Silvestris Lybica

and the

Seven Ancient Mutations

• Long Hair

• Blotched/Classic

Tabby

• Solid Color/Non-Agouti

• Dominant/Epistatic

White

• White Spotting

• Sex-Linked Orange

or Red

• Dilution

START WITH THE BASICS

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• Solid Color

• Shaded

• Tabby

• Parti-color

• Bi-Color

• Albino Series

PATTERN GROUPINGS

WHAT IS A PATTERN?

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• Dependent on selective

breeding

• Exceptions:

– Burmese

– Tonkinese - all patterns

– Siamese/Pointed/Himalayan

Pattern

– Blue-eyed white Albino

Artwork adapted from The Book of the Cat by Michael Wright and Sally Walters, 1980

EYE COLOR

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EYE COLOR

Heterochromia of the

eye (heterochromia

iridis or heterochromia

iridum)

• Complete

heterochromia - one

iris is a different color

from the other.

• The “odd-eyed” cat

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EYE COLOR

• Partial heterochromia or

sectoral heterochromia,

part of one iris is a different

color from its remainder.

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Black and White Persian Cats - The Book of the Cat by Frances Simpson; 1903

SOLID COLOR

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• There are two reasons why we start with the solid color pattern:

• First, we need to understand that “solid color” is a pattern;

• Second, it allows us to learn about the basic colors that occur in the

pedigreed cat.

• There are several breeds where the solid color pattern is the distinguishing pattern.

These are:

• Bombay

• Chartreux

• Havana Brown

• Korat

• Russian Blue

• A solid colored, or self colored cat, is one whose coat is one color. There are no tabby

markings, no white lockets and no startling change between the tip of the hair and

where it exits the skin.

• Variances in solid colors most often happen in kittens - smoky undercoats; tabby

markings; white kittens often will have a smudge of color and/or pattern on their top

heads.

SOLID COLOR

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White

Black

Chocolate

Cinnamon

Red

Blue

Lavender/Lilac

Fawn

Cream

SOLID COLORS

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Colors specific to the NFC

Amber

Light Amber - dilute of Amber

SOLID COLOR

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SOLID COLOR

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Smoke Persian - From Perfect Cats by Peter Warner; 1991

SHADED AND SMOKE

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Chinchilla Cat - The Book of the Cat by Frances Simpson; 1903

What’s the difference?!

18Chinchilla SmokeShaded

SHADED AND SMOKE

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• Basically, the difference between the chinchilla, shaded and smoke patterns is the degree to which

pigment is deposited on the ends of the hair. This is determined by the degree of influence of the

Inhibitor gene.

• Chinchilla/Shell - last 1/8 of the hair – the heavy expression of the inhibitor gene

• Shaded - last 1/4 of the hair – the moderate expression of the inhibitor gene

• Smoke - last 1/2 of the hair – the light expression of the inhibitor gene

SHADED AND SMOKE

What’s the difference?!

Adapted from The Book of the Cat by Michael Wright and Sally Walters, 1980

Chinchilla/Shell

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Shaded Colors - Adapted from The Book of the Cat by Michael Wright and Sally Walters, 1980

SHADED AND SMOKE

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Shaded


SHADED AND SMOKE

22

Smoke


SHADED AND SMOKE

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Goldens


SHADED AND SMOKE

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SHADED AND SMOKE

25Brown Tabby and Orange Tabby SH Cats- The Book of the Cat by Frances Simpson; 1903

TABBY PATTERNS

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• Tabby patterns are actually the combination of two patterns - one superimposed over the other

• Agouti camouflage is the background color -- the “ground color” - each hair has alternating

bands of color - each hair is ticked with multiple bands of color

• Superimposed over the agouti camouflage are the solid color markings

• There are many variations to those solid color markings

• There are five tabby patterns recognized throughout the pedigreed breeds but before we get

into the various tabby patterns, let’s examine the common features of the tabby patterns.

• Ground color - the background color (agouti) of the tabby pattern. The color and

contrast vary depending on the color. The expectation is that the ground color offers

significant contrast to the tabby markings.

• Tabby markings - the swirls, stripes, pencilings and/or spots of the particular pattern.

These markings are expected to be one color and very dense.

• Spine line - the stripe(s) running down the back or the spine of the cat.

• Mascara markings/lines - facial tabby markings, particularly around the eyes but

including cheek markings or swirls.

• Bracelets - the tabby markings that encircle the legs.

• Necklaces - the tabby markings at the throat.

• Tail Rings - the markings that encircle the tail.

• Buttons on the belly

• The Tabby “M” - the characteristic marking on the forehead of every tabby patterned

cat.

TABBY PATTERNS

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Mackerel Tabby

TABBY PATTERNS

• Mackerel Tabby Pattern - the “wild-type” tabby

pattern. “The markings are dense, clearly defined,

and all narrow pencilings. The legs are evenly barred

with narrow bracelets coming up to meet the body

markings. The tail is barred with tail rings. The

necklaces on neck and chest are distinct, like so

many chains. The head is barred with an “M” on the

forehead. Unbroken lines are running back from the

eyes. Lines are running down the head to meet the

shoulders. The spine lines run together to form a

narrow saddle. Narrow pencilings run around body.”

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TABBY PATTERNS

Classic Tabby• The Classic - Blotched - Tabby pattern - The term

blotched is derived from the irregular spirals and whirls of

tabby markings. “The markings are dense, clearly defined,

and broad. The legs evenly barred with bracelets coming up

to meet the body markings. The tail is evenly ringed. There

are several unbroken necklaces on the neck and upper

chest, the more the better. The frown marks on forehead

form an intricate letter “M.” An unbroken line runs back from

outer corner of eye. There are swirls on the cheeks. Vertical

lines over the back of the head and extend to the shoulder

markings which are in the shape of a butterfly with both

upper and lower wings distinctly outlined and marked with

dots inside the outline. The back markings consist of a

vertical line that runs down the spine from the butterfly to

the tail with a vertical stripe paralleling it on each side. The

three stripes are well separated by stripes of the ground

color. There is a large solid blotch on each side of the body

that is to be encircled by one or more unbroken rings. The

side markings should be the same on both sides. There is a

double vertical row of buttons on chest and stomach.”

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TABBY PATTERNS

Spotted Tabby• The Spotted Tabby pattern - The pattern is not

uniform in this variation. “The markings on the body

are to be spotted. They may vary in size and shape

with a preference given to round, evenly

distributed spots. The spots should not run

together in a broken mackerel pattern. A dorsal

stripe runs the length of the body to the tip of the

tail. The stripe is ideally composed of spots. The

markings on the face and forehead shall be typically

tabby markings. The underside of the body is to

have "vest buttons." The legs and tail are barred."

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TABBY PATTERNS

Ticked Tabby

• The Ticked Tabby pattern - In breeds other than

the Abyssinian, Somali and Singapura, the pattern

description is described as: “The body hairs are to

be ticked with various shades of marking color and

ground color. The body, when viewed from the top

is to be free from noticeable spots, stripes, or

blotches, except for darker dorsal shading. The

lighter underside may show tabby markings. The

face, legs, and tail must show distinct tabby striping.

The cat must have at least one distinct necklace.”

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Patched Tabby

TABBY PATTERNS

• Patched Tabby pattern - The sex-linked red gene

can express itself in tabbies as the addition of red or

cream to any tabby pattern occurring in a female

cat. (This variation is covered here because most

breeds examine their patched tabby examples with

the tabby group.) The patching can be just that,

patching - or it can follow the pattern, running

around and through the tabby markings. Each

individual cat will be different. Red or cream

overlays the primary color

• When the red or cream patching actually follows the

tabby pattern and outlines it, it is OK.

• Multiple colors on the face can draw your attention

away from or towards certain facial features and this

can fool you into thinking that you are looking at an

asymmetrical face when in fact the face is straight. It

works the other way too.

Agouti Cats . . . Not bi-colors

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TABBY PATTERNS

• Tabbies with white on their chins, lips and around the nostrils are Agouti tabby cats – true tabbies.

They are not bi-colors and this white is not locketing or spotting. In CFA, cats shown as tabbies who

do not have this white are likely being shown as tabbies because that is what they LOOK like – they

make a better tabby than a solid color. When you travel outside CFA as a judge, it is not unusual to

find cats entered as reds, creams or blues, with heavy tabby markings but without white in these

areas. That is because in other associations, these cats are shown for what they are genetically – a

solid color rather than what they look like phenotypically. Remember, underneath it all. Every cat is

a tabby.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=red+tabby+exotic+shorthair&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=48OY8jjxrGvuqM&tbnid=IMXVSx_gWk-xIM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http://edenlover.com/pastlatin2005.htm&ei=XlYgUZDUIs2pqwHlx4HgAQ&bvm=bv.42553238,d.aWc&psig=AFQjCNEf3xWD6CvLupifk9fOyVz8hjNPyA&ust=1361160114553922

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Kamee01.jpg

33Tabby Colors - Adapted from The Book of the Cat by Michael Wright and Sally Walters, 1980

TABBY PATTERNS


TABBY PATTERNS


TABBY PATTERNS


TABBY PATTERNS

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Abyssinian Colors

Singapura

TABBY PATTERNS

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Amber and Light Amber Tabby

TABBY PATTERNS

http://colorgenetics.info/sites/default/files/Dalaja-Doll_NFO_norvegien_ambre-blotched-tabby_neige3_0.jpg

http://colorgenetics.info/sites/default/files/800px-Amberkater.jpg

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TABBY PATTERNS

40

TABBY PATTERNS

41Tortoiseshell and Tortoiseshell and White Persians - The Book of the Cat by Frances Simpson; 1903

PARTI COLORS

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• Colors that only occur in the female cat. In order to be a tortoiseshell,

primary or dilute, or a patched tabby, a cat requires two (2) red genes.

• Red genes “reside” ONLY on the X chromosome.

• If a cat has two red genes, she has two X chromosomes and is a

female.

• When these patterns occur in males, they are generally sterile.

• There are exceptions but these males don’t sire as parti-colors. They

usually sire as reds.

PARTI COLORS

Tortoiseshell

Pattern

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PARTI COLORS

• The archetypal tortoiseshell is a black female cat

with random patches of red. If you look carefully at

the red areas, you will see evidence of the red tabby

pattern. This has given rise to the popular belief that

the tortoiseshell colored coat is comprised of three

colors - black, red and cream. In fact, what looks like

cream is actually the ground color of the red tabby

pattern.

• Many of our standards have been changed to reflect

the more correct definition of the tortoiseshell cat - “a

black female cat with patches of red" or, "softly

intermingled areas of red.”

• Study each standard carefully. The language

changes from breed to breed!

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12

3

4

PARTI COLORS

45

PARTI COLORS

46

PARTI COLORS

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Bi-Color and Calico Cats - By George Louis LeClerc Buffon

from Oeuvres Completes de Buffon, Volume III, 1833

BI-COLORS AND CATS WITH WHITE

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• White spotting can occur with any pattern or color here-

to-fore mentioned.

• There can be as little white as a white toe or belly spot

or as much as a nearly all white cat.

• White can also combine with the Pointed pattern (which

we will be learning about in a moment or two.


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• Descriptions of the bi-color pattern in the pedigreed cat vary from breed to breed. In some, the definition is specific:

“as a preferred minimum, the cat should have white feet, legs, undersides, chest, and muzzle. Less white than this

should be penalized appropriately.” Some standards state that an “inverted “V” blaze on face is desirable.” In others,

the bi-color pattern is described only as, “solid color and white, tabby and white, tortoiseshell and white, etc.”

• When the bi-colored cat is almost completely white with the color and/or pattern confined to the head and tail, the

pattern is termed “bi-color van” (see numbers 6, 7, 8 and 9 on the illustration above). There is only one breed in

which the van pattern is a significant defining characteristic: the Turkish Van.

• The gene associated with random white spotting is thought to be a different gene than the one that results in bi-color

patterns.

• Looking at the range of patterns above, please note examples 2 and 3 are views of the cat’s stomach -- the others are

from the perspective of the top or back of the cat

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Calico


• Calico - “a tri-color cat of black, red and white. The red and the black

should appear as clear, unbrindled patches. As a preferred minimum,

the cat should have white feet, legs, undersides, chest and muzzle.

Less white than this minimum should be penalized proportionately.”

Another way of looking at the calico pattern is that the cat is a female

cat with large areas of black and red overlaid with white.

• Calico pattern is related to the sex linked red gene, is generally

included in the bi-color group in most breeds. In the Japanese

Bobtail, the calico pattern is termed Mi-Ke—the equivalent to calico

(or tri-color) in Japanese.

• Be aware that you are looking for solid areas of red and black or blue

and cream or any number of colors with red or cream. BUT,

sometimes, what you may be actually looking at is a Tortoiseshell and

white.

• Genetically, calicos and tortie and whites are identical. It is merely a

matter of the distribution of all the color in the development of the

embryo of the kitten.

• Rule of thumb - calicos have large solid areas of color and torties

have patches. Another clue – low white is generally associated with

torti and white while high white is more associated with calico.

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12

3

4


52


• Solid Color and White - “black and white, blue and white, red and white, cream and

white, chocolate and white, or lilac and white. As a preferred minimum, the cat should

have white feet, legs, undersides, chest, and muzzle. Less white than this minimum

should be penalized proportionately.”

• While Number 1 above is a black and white bi-color, keep in mind that the black portion

could be any color.

• Similarly, Number 3 above is a brown tabby and white but there could be any tabby color

or pattern present. Even patched tabby!

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54


From The Messy Beastwww.messybeast.com

55From the Tamra Maew as shown in The Legend of the Siamese Cats by Martin R. Clutterbuck, 1998

PATTERNS OF THE ALBINO SERIES

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57

• Patterns of the Albino Series encompass more than the Siamese pattern.

• Albino genes influence if, where and to what degree, color and pattern will be deposited in the

animal’s skin and hair.


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THE ALBINISM GENE

• There are 5 alleles for this gene.

• “C” results in full color, dominant gene

• “cb” Burmese gene

• “cs” Siamese gene

• “ca” blue-eyed albino

• “c” true albino

• Dominance: C > cb = cs > ca > c

• cbcs mink pattern of the Tonkinese

• Temperature sensitive genes

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Sable/Brown/

Natural

Champagne/

Chocolate

Red

Blue

Platinum/Lilac

Cream

Burmese/Sepia Pattern• This diagram illustrates colors commonly associated with the Burmese gene.

• When the Burmese gene is present, the pattern on the cat appears to be solid

when in fact it is really pointed. The Burmese gene allows for more color to be

deposited across the body of the cat.

• The Burmese cat is the primary breed where these colors are a defining

characteristic.

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Mink Pattern

Adapted from The Book of the Cat by Michael Wright and Sally Walters, 1980


• Both the Burmese “cb” and Siamese “cs” genes

are in the albino series, both are recessive and

neither are dominant over the other. They are

said to be “codominant.” This means that the

effects of both alleles will be visible in those cats

who inherit the combination of the two. When

this happens, we call the pattern “mink.” We

refer to the eye color that results as “aqua.”

• As you examine a mink patterned Tonkinese,

note that even though it is a pointed pattern cat,

the points merge into the body color which is

darker than a completely point restricted cat.

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• Colorpoint

• Pointed

• Himalayan

• Siamese


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• “Body color is even, with subtle shading when allowed.

Allowance should be made for darker color in older cats as

pointed pattern cats generally darken with age. But there must

be a definite contrast between the body color and points. The

points - face mask, ears, legs, feet, and tail - are dense and

clearly defined and are all of the same shade. The face mask

covers the entire face including the whisker pads and is

connected to the ears by tracings. The face mask should not

extend over the top of the head. There should be no ticking or

white hairs in the points” except as allowed (e.g., ticked tabby

point and white bi-color). This is the basic pattern description

no matter what the point pattern or color is.

• The gene that causes this pattern is the Siamese gene. The

Siamese gene directs color to the points - the face, ears, feet

and the tail. These are the coolest parts of the body; the

areas that get the least circulation.

• The Siamese gene also alters the amount of pigment in the iris

of the eye.

• As pointed cats age, blood flow to the skin on the trunk of the

body diminishes and color is deposited across the body.

63

Solid

1 2 3 4 5 6


Pointed Pattern Colors - Adapted from The Book of the Cat by Michael Wright and Sally Walters, 1980

Lynx

Patched Lynx

64


Partis

1 2 3 4

65


Birman

Pattern

66


1 2 3 4 5 6

67


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The Pointed Bi-Color Pattern


• “Points: ears, mask, feet and tail to be

darker, with well-defined color. Nose leather

and paw pads: fully pigmented and matching

point color. Body: definite contrast between

body and points, chest, bib and chin areas

may be somewhat lighter in color.

Disqualify: presence of any locket or white

spot anywhere on cat’s body.”

• The pointed bi-color pattern in all breed, as

well as the other Ragdoll patterns will be

covered more extensively in the discussion of

each breed.

69


70


Used with permission of Chamsey’s Cattery.

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72


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OH MY! WHAT NEXT?!

Bring your answer sheets to the first day of class!

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PRINT SLIDES 71 - 86 AND COMPLETE THE POST TEST!

75

Identify the Seven Ancient Mutations:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

76

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

What are the six pattern groupings identified?

77

What are the basic colors of the domesticated cat?

Place an asterisk (*) by those color which are dilute.

78

Identify the pattern seen in these cats.

79

Identify the patterns seen in these cats.

80

Identify the patterns seen below.

81

Given the patterns on the previous slide,

what are the nine (9) common elements

found in all of them?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

82

Identify the pattern group seen in these cats.

83

Identify the pattern group seen in these cats.

84

Identify the pattern seen below.

85

Identify the pattern seen below using all four names.

86

Identify the pattern seen in these cats.

Documents

COLORS AND PATTERNS/ AN INTRODUCTION TO COLOR … · The color and contrast vary depending on the color. The expectation is that the ground color offers significant contrast to the