COAT COLOURS DESCRIPTION There are several thusands f cat clurs amng the cats. This nmenclature is a cmprmise between lgic, which allws sme systematic, and traditin, which allws t be understd by the majrity. Lgic has been intrduced at several levels: The terminlgy fr a clur is the same fr any breed. In French, extic names such as ebny r freign blue, fr Orientals, fr instance, have been suppressed because they have becme bslete. Hwever, there still are sme rare cases where specific names are ften used ( lièvre (ruddy) fr brwn ticked tabby and srrel fr cinnamn in the Abyssinian and the Smali breeds, brnze in the Egyptian Mau breed, zibeline (sable) in the English r American Burmese breeds). It is then recmmend t write the nrmal clur fllwed by the usual term. The rder f the different terms describing a cat is always the same. The rder is as fllws: - the basic clur (see clur sectin belw) including the trtie varieties; - the ptinal amber mentin; - the ptinal silver r smke mentin; - the ptinal tabby pattern; - the ptinal pattern fr the sepia, mink and pint categries; - the ptinal presence f white. Fr instance, ne culd read blue trtie [amber] [silver] [bltched tabby] [sepia] [and white] The usual rules have generally been kept. Fr example, black becmes brwn if the cat is aguti ( tabby ) and seal if the cat is sepia, mink r pint! Traditin that distinguishes between shaded and chinchilla was als kept, despite the cntinuum in tipping length. In sme cases, it is useful t include eye clur in cat name s that it is mentined n the cat s descendants pedigree. It is systematically dne fr white cats (example: blue eyed white, dd eyed white, gld eyed white), but als fr gld eyed silver tipped cats. Next t the current name, the genetic frmula is given. Even if cat cats are extremely varied, they are actually the result f a cmbinatin between a small number f independent genetic factrs, like dilutin, tabby patterns, etc. Sme f thse factrs are identified at the mlecular level and we have DNA tests at ur dispsal t knw fr sure the cat s gentype. Sme thers are nt available COAT COLOURS DESCRIPTION p. 1/7
yet. When the genetic mdel is established r strngly presumed, it will be indicated in the fllwing explanatin. The fllwing tables are meant t present a synthetic view f all thse clurs by gruping them tgether in rder t describe them mre easily withut listing them all. Cats are cmmnly classified by categries, divisins and clurs, the three grups cmbining with each ther: each cat belngs t a categry, t a divisin and t a clur. The categry Categry distinguishes cats with full clur expressin frm thse with thermsensible pattern, i.e. thse whse pigments fully express nly in the clder areas f the bdy (muzzle, ears, legs, tail ): there are then 4 categries, each f which crrespnds t alleles cmbinatins n C lcus (that f tyrsinase enzyme). Frm the mre hmgenus t the mre cntrasted, we get the fllwing categries: Full clur (C- gentype), als called «traditinal»; Sepia (c b c b gentype), like in the English r American Burmese; Mink (c b c s gentype), intermediate between sepia and pint; Pint (c s c s gentype), like in the Siamese r Birman. The divisin Divisin distinguishes cats accrding t several independent factrs: presence f white sptting r nt, presence f inhibitr gene giving silver r smke clurs, self-clured (nn aguti) cat r presence f a tabby pattern As thse factrs are independent frm ne anther and cmbine with ne anther, gruping them tgether by divisin includes sme arbitrary chices. Fr instance, silver AND tabby cats are in silver divisin, nt in tabby divisin. These gruping chices have ften been dictated by traditin and cnfrmity with ther feline federatins uses. Inside each categry, ne will find the 8 fllwing divisins: Slid: nn particlr, withut inhibitr allele (ii), nn amber (E-) and nn aguti (aa) cats. All-white cats (W-) are included in this grup. Tabby: nn particlr, withut inhibitr allele (ii), nn amber (E-) but aguti (A-) cats. In this divisin, ne distinguishes several sub-divisins accrding t the tabby pattern (fr ticked-hair cats) r the length f clred tip (fr tipped-hair cats): Ticked tabby Mackerel tabby Sptted tabby Bltched tabby Shell Shaded COAT COLOURS DESCRIPTION p. 2/7
Silver/smke: nn particlr, nn amber (E-) cats, but with inhibitr allele (I-), whether they are aguti r nt. Amber: cats that are nn particlr, hmzygus fr amber mutatin n the extensin lcus (ee), with r withut inhibitr gene, aguti r nt. Fr the mment, this divisin has nly been intrduced in the traditinal categry. And the fur similar divisins but fr cats with white: Slid and white: particlr, withut inhibitr allele (ii), nn amber (E-) and nn aguti (aa) cats. Tabby and white: particlr, withut inhibitr allele (ii), nn amber (E-) but aguti (A-) cats. One finds the same distinctins as in tabby divisin (ticked tabby, mackerel tabby, sptted tabby, bltched tabby, shell, shaded). Silver/smke and white: particlr, nn amber (E-) cats, but with inhibitr allele (I-), whether they are aguti r nt. Amber and white: particlr cats, hmzygus fr amber mutatin n extensin lcus (ee), with r withut inhibitr gene, aguti r nt. Fr the mment, this divisin has nly been intrduced in the traditinal categry. The tables I t III shw thse different grupings fr each f the categries. The clur Clur distinguishes cats accrding t the «basic» clur f their hair, which is cntrlled by several genes amng which the main nes are B gene («brwn», that f a prtein linked t tyrsinase, TYRP1), D gene («dilutin», that f melanphilin MLPH) and O gene («range») carried by X chrmsme. Thus, we btain the 6 basic clurs resulting frm the cmbinatins f B and D genes withut O allele: black (als called brwn, seal, ): B- D- () chclate: bb (r bb l ) D- () cinnamn: b l b l D- () blue: B- dd () lilac: bb (r bb l ) dd () fawn : b l b l dd () tw clurs resulting frm the actin f O gene carried by the X chrmsme: red: D- O(O) cream: dd O(O) and all trties crrespnding t red cmbinatin (resp. cream) with slid basic clurs: black, chclate, cinnamn (resp. dilutes: blue, lilac, fawn): COAT COLOURS DESCRIPTION p. 3/7
black trtie: B- D- O chclate trtie: bb (r bb l ) D- O cinnamn trtie: b l b l D- O blue trtie: B- dd O lilac trtie: bb (u bb l ) dd O fawn trtie: b l b l dd O All thse 14 clurs are fund in each cell f tables I, II and III. Hwever, amber clurs being nly identified in Nrwegian cats where chclate/lilac, cinnamn/fawn clurs d nt exist, and having as far as we knw n actin n red/cream clurs, nly black, blue, black trtie and blue trtie 4 clurs are represented in the cells fr amber and amber and white divisins. All-white clured cats are traditinally gathered with cats frm slid divisin in traditinal categry nly (red cell in table I) COAT COLOURS DESCRIPTION p. 4/7
Table I Divisins fr traditinal categries Withut white particlr E- ee E- ee nn aguti ticked tabby mackerel tabby aguti sptted tabby bltched tabby shaded shell Slid Tabby Silver/smke Amber Slid and white Tabby and white Silver/smke and white Amber and white Nte: the merging f the cells crrespnding t the different tabby patterns, fr «& white» cats, means that in this case, the type f tabby pattern is nt needed. COAT COLOURS DESCRIPTION p. 5/7
Table II Divisins fr sepia and mink categries Withut white particlr nn aguti ticked tabby mackerel tabby aguti sptted tabby bltched tabby shaded shell Slid Tabby Silver/smke Slid and white Tabby and white Silver/smke and white Nte: the nly difference between tables I and II is the nn-inclusin f amber divisin and amber divisin in sepia and mink categries. COAT COLOURS DESCRIPTION p. 6/7
Table III Divisins fr pint categry Withut white particlr nn aguti aguti tabby shaded shell Slid Tabby Silver/smke Slid and white Tabby and white Silver/smke and white Nte: the nly difference between tables II and III is the merging f the lines cncerning the different tabby patterns in pint cats. COAT COLOURS DESCRIPTION p. 7/7