All about tabby cats and their color patterns - Behavior

All about tabby cats and their color patterns - Behavior - 2022

The name "tabby cat" brings to mind many different things for different people. The old phrase "cat's alley" might come to mind with some people: a tough, scarred, alley feral. Others will think of their favorite cats.

Tabbies are so ubiquitous that many people think of them as the breed. not like that; Tabby is a color pattern, often striped, but sometimes stripes and flowers, or even spots and stripes. The tabby pattern is so common that it can be found in many pedigree cats today, and is accepted in many breeds by the most popular registries.

Although there are many variations of each, the tabby style falls into four basic categories. The fifth includes the neckline as part of another basic color pattern, for example, the "patchwork" godfather, which may be a calico or a tortoiseshell cat with threshold spots (the latter is called a "cart"). Some pointed breeds also allow "tabby points" within their color standards. Not surprisingly, the tabby cat is everywhere. The gene for tabby type can be found in all domestic cats. Look at a "coal black" cat in the sun one day, and see if you can find hidden signs of hardship.

Types of tabby patterns

Classic: This style usually has whorls ending in a "target" on the side of the cat. Many American shorthair cats exhibit this pattern. The cat depicted in this chart has a very high color contrast, which clearly shows its flowers.

Mackerel (striped): This is by far the most common style, so much so that some people think it should have earned the moniker "classic." Mackerel tabels have striped rings around their tail and legs, a "necklace" of stripes on the front of their chests, and bands of solid or broken stripes that run down the sides of their bodies. They will have a darker color in the spots that extend in two lines across their abdomen (called "jacket buttons.") The little ginger in the chart shows an example of broken lines. You can click on the image to see a larger version. The same cat shown above as an adult.

Breeds that accept the tabby pattern

Al-Habashi (ticked)

American Bobtail

American curl

American Short Hair (Classic Style)

American Wirehair

Berman (Tabs Points)

Colorpoint Shorthair (taby points called "Lynx points")

Egyptian Mau (original spotted tabby)

Alien (Shorty-haired Persians)

Javanese (lynx points)

laperm (has its roots in "barn cat")

Maine Coon (probably the most popular tabby cat)

manx

norwegian forest cat

Ocicat - selectively generated to create websites

Oriental (with 112 tabby groups!)

Persian

ragdoll (lynx points)

Rex (Devon, Selkirk, and Cornish)

Scottish Fold

Siberian (another "normal" breed of spinster cat)

Singapore (tick)

Somali (long-haired)

Turkish Angora (14 patterns/lintel colors allowed)

Turkish Van (6 tabby styles/colors