# Cat colour genetics?



## Heavenleigh (Apr 22, 2009)

I have been reading up a lot on the colour genetics of cats and i must say it has gone way over my head 
I know that moggy cats can throw back lots of colours from their past but was just wondering if anyone knew what kind of mixture Willow and Buffy 'could' have?
I dont even know it the ginger Tabby or black/smoky brown long haired tom with tabby markings that have been hanging round my garden recently are the fathers,
It's just of interest, it doesn't really matter what the kittens look like, just guessing 
Willow is a long haired silver tabby and Buffy is a short haired brown (typical) tabby
Is there a cat genetics for dummies website i could look at? :wink:


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## Saikou (Apr 2, 2008)

Try messybeast THE MESSYBEAST CAT RESOURCE ARCHIVE they have some easy to follow genetics.

What colours patterns you get depends on not only what the parents are but what they carry. To know what they carry you need to know what their parents are but then thats probably not possible.

From the description you gave, if Mum is silver, she may also carry a non silver gene. If she does then you will get a mixture of silvers and non silvers. If she has 2 silver genes all kittens will be silver.

Again with Tabby (agouti) they can carry a non tabby gene, if both parents are like that then you will get a mixture of solid colours and tabbies. If either parent only has 2 tabby genes then all kittens will be tabby.

If Dad is ginger, then the girls will be torties.

The long haired genes in my breed are recessive (ie can be carried), so that means the kittens will need a longhair gene from each parent to be long hair.

If you have two males hanging around, it is perfectly feasible that both could have sired kittens in the same litter


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## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

Genetics is very interesting but can be quite complicated - cats can 'carry' colours - i.e. have a ressessive colour gene in their gentic makeup -it won't show in them but could in the kittens IF the father also carries the same ressessive gene. For example, my cat 'carries' chococlate from her maternal grandmother -she had a 1 in 16 chance of carrying and this was confirmed by DNA test. Without knowing your girls parentsandgrandparents colours and the dad parents and grandparents colours it is almost impossibleto predict presicely. But it is possibletohave an educated guess. This site will give you a hint Kitten Color Predictor Genetics Chart but ignore the colour point stuff.

Basically your girls are tabby and from what you are saying it is probable that the dads are tabby so most of your kittens will be tabby. You can't 'carry' tabby - you either are tabby or you don't have the tabby gene, but you can carry non-tabby as a tabby. Do you know if your girls parents were tabby or not. Remember tabby is a coat PATTERN not a colour.

SO for either of your girls mated with a brown tabby you will get (assuming nothing carried) black, and brown tabby
if they carry for dilute (blue) then you will get blues and blue tabby too, but both parents have to carry as you need two copies of the genes.

Mated with a ginger tabby then you will get black and brown tabby boys and black tortie and black torbie (tortie tabby) girls. If they carry for dilute then add blue and blue tabby for boys and blue tortie and blue torbie for girls. Of course it is possible your girls kittens will have multiple fathers!

The silver part of you silver tabby is dominant so there is a good chance that will come through too - but I don't know enough about silvers to be sure.


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## Heavenleigh (Apr 22, 2009)

Thank you so much for your reply, looks like i am heading for a right mixture  I have blobbed you for your knowledge


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## Heavenleigh (Apr 22, 2009)

spid said:


> Genetics is very interesting but can be quite complicated - cats can 'carry' colours - i.e. have a ressessive colour gene in their gentic makeup -it won't show in them but could in the kittens IF the father also carries the same ressessive gene. For example, my cat 'carries' chococlate from her maternal grandmother -she had a 1 in 16 chance of carrying and this was confirmed by DNA test. Without knowing your girls parentsandgrandparents colours and the dad parents and grandparents colours it is almost impossibleto predict presicely. But it is possibletohave an educated guess. This site will give you a hint Kitten Color Predictor Genetics Chart but ignore the colour point stuff.
> 
> Basically your girls are tabby and from what you are saying it is probable that the dads are tabby so most of your kittens will be tabby. You can't 'carry' tabby - you either are tabby or you don't have the tabby gene, but you can carry non-tabby as a tabby. Do you know if your girls parents were tabby or not. Remember tabby is a coat PATTERN not a colour.
> 
> ...


Wow, i have blobbed you too  it is mind bending stuff! I had no problem doing A-levels in English, Physics and Physical Education but show me a web page on the genetics of cats and it is totally over my head :laugh:
I know they will be gorgeous whatever they have but it is also something i would like to get my head round. Not one to be defeated i really want to learn more about cat colour coat genetics


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## Saikou (Apr 2, 2008)

Heavenleigh said:


> Thank you so much for your reply, looks like i am heading for a right mixture  I have blobbed you for your knowledge


Thank you  I would agree with your prediction of a right mixture - very exciting :thumbup1: At least if you have no tortie girls you can rule out a ginger Dad


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## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

Saikou said:


> Thank you  I would agree with your prediction of a right mixture - very exciting :thumbup1: At least if you have no tortie girls you can rule out a ginger Dad


That's true. Thnaks for the blob HL too.


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## lizward (Feb 29, 2008)

Silver is dominant so 50% (on average) of your silver girl's kittens will be silver. if they are non-agouti, though, they will be smoke rather than silver tabby.

If Dad is homozygous shorthair then you will only get shorthair kittens. Have you any idea what Dad(s) might be like?

Liz


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## Heavenleigh (Apr 22, 2009)

lizward said:


> Silver is dominant so 50% (on average) of your silver girl's kittens will be silver. if they are non-agouti, though, they will be smoke rather than silver tabby.
> 
> If Dad is homozygous shorthair then you will only get shorthair kittens. Have you any idea what Dad(s) might be like?
> 
> Liz


Can you explain what smoke is to me please?


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## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

lizward said:


> Silver is dominant so 50% (on average) of your silver girl's kittens will be silver. if they are non-agouti, though, they will be smoke rather than silver tabby.
> 
> If Dad is homozygous shorthair then you will only get shorthair kittens. Have you any idea what Dad(s) might be like?
> 
> Liz


Oh the silver, smoked,shaded stuff does my head in! I know it is something to do with hair shafts and which bit is white (?) but haven't a clue over the dominance of whichor even if they are different genes. So is smoke silver but not tabby?


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## Saikou (Apr 2, 2008)

Cat genetics - Inhibitor gene


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## Saikou (Apr 2, 2008)

Heavenleigh said:


> Can you explain what smoke is to me please?


The Silver gene (inhibitor) inhibits the colour part way up the hair shaft. If that silver cat is not a tabby, there is no surface pattern, so the silver causes a white band so far up the hair and then an amount of colour on the end. On the surface the cat looks like an ordinary solid colour - part the hair and you see a clear silver 'roots'. Where the hair is shorter like on the face, you see a sort of smokey look where you see both the silver roots and the solid colour tips.


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## kozykatz (May 18, 2008)

Yes, a smoke is a non-agouti (self/solid) cat with at least one inhibitor gene

genotype aaI-

Smokes are very variable in appearance, some have so much silver undercoat that they look almost like silver shaded or tabby. Others have so little that they look like Self until you examine the coat very closely. For most breeds the latter is what's required.



spid said:


> Oh the silver, smoked,shaded stuff does my head in! I know it is something to do with hair shafts and which bit is white (?) but haven't a clue over the dominance of whichor even if they are different genes. So is smoke silver but not tabby?


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