![orange and gray tabby cat orange and gray tabby cat](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/S18C5T/orange-and-grey-tabby-kitten-looking-at-camera-S18C5T.jpg)
Spotted: The spotted grey tabby is a variant of the mackerel tabby however a modifier gene breaks the characteristic mackerel stripes up into spots. The classic tabby pattern first emerged in the middle ages. Grey classic tabby coats consist of a silver background with sworls of dark and a circular bullseye on the flanks. Grey and white mackerel tabbyĬlassic tabby: Also known as blotched or marbled, the classic tabby pattern is recessive to mackerel, which means the cat must inherit a copy of the classic tabby gene from each parent to have the pattern. Mackerel tabby is the most common tabby pattern and is dominant, therefore the cat only needs to inherit one copy of the T m gene to be mackerel tabby. Mackerel tabby: Also known as ‘ tiger cats‘, the mackerel is the original wild-type pattern and consists of a dark stripe along the back and a fishbone pattern down the side of the cat. The coat pattern of the grey tabby occurs in three patterns, mackerel, classic, spotted and ticked. Breeders have worked hard to eliminate this by selective breeding, and tarnishing is most frequently seen in random-bred cats.
![orange and gray tabby cat orange and gray tabby cat](https://www.wallpaperflare.com/static/585/756/948/ziggy-s-glamour-shot-grey-tabby-cat-wallpaper.jpg)
Occasionally, the yellow colour can be seen in parts of the coat, known as tarnishing.
![orange and gray tabby cat orange and gray tabby cat](https://www.wallpaperflare.com/static/765/952/886/chats-de-orange-tabby-tabby-cat-wallpaper.jpg)
The absence of yellow makes the black tabby pattern stand out against the pale background. Normally, the background colour has areas of yellow and black banding (ticking) along the hair shaft. The silver is caused by the melanin inhibitor gene I/i, which suppresses the development of pheomelanin (yellow pigment) from the agouti areas of the coat. The silver/grey background is caused by an inhibitor gene If the cat carries a copy of the A gene, it will be tabby, in order for it to be non-tabby (a solid colour, such as black), it must inherit two copies of the recessive ‘ a’ gene, one from each parent. The cat carries two sets of genes, inherited from the mother and father. The agouti gene (symbolised by an uppercase A) is dominant over its mutant form non-agouti (lowercase a). Pattern: Melanistic overlay of bars, spots, swirls and rosettes.Background: Alternating agouti hairs are made up of bands of black and yellow (brown tabbies) or black and off-white (grey tabbies).The tabby pattern is thought to have come from the African wildcat ( Felis lybica) and consists of two components. The grey tabby is not a specific breed of cat but is a common striped coat pattern that is found in purebred and mixed (random bred) cats. Cat lovers worldwide appreciate these gorgeous kitties for their stunning patterns and smoky to silver fur. I will post a few photos of her but I'll make a new reply because last time I posted too many photos in one message they wouldn't all show up.When it comes to beautiful cats, the grey tabby certainly makes the list. Ticked means they have 'ticking' and not stripes like a mackerel would have. If we were in CFA instead she would probably be called a ticked patched tabby with white I guess as I know CFA calls them "patched tabbies" instead, but that is quite a mouthful to say! She is actually a ticked torbie instead of a mackerel torbie like her sisters so her color name (at least in TICA where she shows as HHP) is brown ticked torbie & white. Harlequin was the only female I ended up keeping from their litter, she's the one who has the white. (I find it interesting how the paw pad colors are different, it's hard to tell there, but one middle toe is pink and the other dark brown) The other had this interesting pattern on one foot: One of them had a "split color" foot like yours: The two in the middle in this photo, Harlequin and Rosalie, are torbies, the two on the top and bottom are their brothers who are tabbies.Īnd the other torbie in the litter, Tiger: Of course the one that has white, her paws are just white so she doesn't have that. The two that did not have white also had paws like that.
![orange and gray tabby cat orange and gray tabby cat](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/dc/2e/ea/dc2eeac9a37ba8106cacefa668789da5.jpg)
Click to expand.She looks a LOT like some of the kittens from a litter I rescued several years ago who were brown torbie, aka brown patched tabby or if you want to get technical brown mackerel torbie or brown mackerel patched tabby (mackerel refers to them having the tabby stripes).