The mackerel tabby pattern gives narrow, vertical, gently curving stripes that run parallel on the sides of the body. Domestic cats inherited this gene from their ancestors in the wild, with the purpose of tabby patterning to provide camouflage for the cat when hunting, as it is harder for prey to spot a predator whose markings blend in with the natural surroundings than it is to spot a predator of solid color. The full name for the gene responsible for the variation in tabby patterns is Transmembrane aminopeptidase Q or Taqpep for short. This can be more noticeable on a solid-colored cat who is sitting in the bright sun, making the faint tabby markings easier to distinguish. And even if the signature tabby pattern is not easily visible because the ticking pattern is so fine, or the color contrast is low, it is there. The tabby pattern is determined by both the agouti gene, which causes each individual hair to have bands of light and heavy pigmentation, and the tabby gene, which denotes the type of tabby pattern, specifically stripes, blotches, or spots of hairs of solid color (solid color being misleading in that when you look closely at a solid-colored cat, you will notice some hairs are a little lighter than others giving a faint striped effect). These pigmentless areas can cover most of a cat’s body, or just the classic bib, mittens, and tail tip. White and orange cats, a common color variation, owe their white color to the White Spotting gene, which overlays pigmentless areas on top of the tabby orange base. Orange coloring can also “mask” other colors, including black, and even light cream-colored cats have the orange gene, but they also have a dilution gene that limits how much red pigment is produced. If a kitten inherits the O gene from just one parent, because that gene, called the orange pigment gene is dominant, it will have some orange coloring somewhere, although it might not be a fully orange coat. The mix is determined by the amount of melanin transferred genetically by the father and the mother to their young when they are conceived. Eumelanin produces brown and black, and pheomelanin produces red and yellow. The combination of these two, in greater or lesser ratios, defines the intensity. The specific pigment responsible for an orange cat’s color (and all cat colors for that matter) depends on melanin and its two components: eumelanin and pheomelanin. Regardless of the pattern, the most distinctive feature all tabby cats have in common is the “M” on their foreheads. These cats are known as “torbies” if they have tabby and tortoiseshell colors and “tabicos” or “calibies” for a mix of tabby and calico patterns. A fifth pattern, the patched tabby, is formed by any of the four basic patterns when part of a patched pattern is a calico or tortoiseshell cat with patches of tabby coat. They are mackerel, classic, ticked and spotted. There are four basic tabby pattern classifications, and although there are many variations of each, none of them is solid orange. Or perhaps more aptly put, Ginger Cat Worship Day, but I figured since there is an official day, why not share some fun facts about how all those ranges of ginger fur patterns and colors come to be?įirst, because ginger cats are not a breed, their coloring is based on a specific coat marking known as the tabby pattern (a pattern common to cats of all colors, not just gingers). Honestly, however, every day is Ginger Cat Appreciation Day * in our house. Gingers can be one color they can have patterns with swirls, stripes, blotches, and spots and many are adorned with a bib and mittens, usually white in color. As guardian to a ginger cat who stole my heart the moment I laid eyes on her in 2014, my sweet Jazmine, I find it quite pleasing a day was created to honor her, along with other kitties in fur colors ranging from cantaloupe to pumpkin, copper, gingersnap, marmalade, rust, paprika, papaya, carrot, apricot, honey, amber, mango, poppy, sand, flame and more.
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