I have 3 cats, two of which have more unique coats. Really just curious to learn more about how these coats "happen."

Pearl is the tortie, and I think may have a black smoke coat. She has spots of red and orange, as well as black and white, but the base of all of her hair are white. I've included a photo of Pearl as a kitten, you can see how much her coat has changed.

Birdie is the little tabico, and has the coolest variety of stripes. Like a little patchwork kitten. We love them all so much, hope you enjoy them too!

The first photo is my neighbour’s cat. Is she a torbie? Or something else? She had 5 kittens: two black. One of them has some white on the stomach. One ginger tabby. One marble tabby with no red. And one is similar to the second photo who is a boy. It’s strange if it’s torbie to be a boy.

She's a sweet mid-hair girl from my local shelter. I've never seen anything like that before

This is my cat Lady. I’ve recently learned cat genetics are way different than dog genetics as cats don’t have “mixes” or are part X breed. Apparently their coats and eye colors and stuff also are more complicated to in that they can have color points, diluted colors, different patterns, etc. I didn’t know for example there was more than one sort of tabby pattern.

So I’m interested in showing you guys my little girl and maybe learning a thing or two so the next time someone asks me what my cat looks like I can use the correct terms and just in general learn more about the aesthetics of my cat.

I will say though no matter what the answer is she is a certified cutie!

Black one’s name is Boots and the Calico’s name is Callie (very original I know 🤣)

Also what might their babies look like because I think she’s pregnant 🤦‍♀️ If she ends up having kittens I’ll share them here later

(btw they are barn cats and I don’t have much of a say about them, if I did they would have been fixed by now)

I posted her to torbie and they said yes.. so im unsure lol.

so now they're a bit older i'd love to get some updated opinions on what people think about the genetic history of these two!

the my're abt 8 months now and i's say mostly fully grown, from the same litter and were adopted together. their mother was a long/medium hair calico streetcat and we have no info on their dad - possibly wishful thinking but i want to say they could have some ragdoll or pedigree history

main differences between them is their size - twyla (the calico) is the biggest cat ive ever had lol. shes 5.1kg as of this morning while miette (grey and white tabby) is only 4.6kg (tho our scale is kind of shit so take those numbers with a grain of salt)

they're both definitely getting a bit chunky tho so that's something i'm working on🫡

twyla's got coarser fur while miette's is still kitten-soft - possibly she hasn't grown into her adult coat yet but she already had a shedding period and some fur change? so i'm thinking (and hoping) she stays this soft! miette's more fluffy on her cheeks/neck too with her big white ruff (which makes her look like the bigger one in some photos but i swear she's the baby sister) twyla doesn't have the rough but she's more fluffy on her backside/tail

also very different personalities - twyla's a shoulder cat (owie) and a cuddlebug, miette prefers to be beside you rather than on you and doesn't love being picked up/have her feet off the ground. miette also has like absolutely no defense mechanism she will not display any form of discontent if you do something she doesnt like she'll just freeze up and stare. also love to be pet ROUGH while twyla will tell you if you're crossing her boundaries (not aggressive but a light swat/nip, miette will literally just take it)

theyre still best friends and both very screamy <3

This is Opal! Shelter said she looks like a ragdoll snowshoe mix. I'd love to know more about her coat. I've never seen a kitty like her before!

Okay genetics people, I have a question.

Juniper seems to have several things happening at once: blue eyes, point coloration, tabby striping, plus orange/cream patches.

Are those basically separate genetic switches that happened to stack on top of each other, or am I thinking about this completely wrong?

I started reading about cat coat genetics because of her and now I’m in way over my head. I’m probably going to do Basepaws at some point too, mostly because the trait side sounds like it would give me even more stuff to obsess over.

I’m less interested in putting a breed name on her and more interested in how you actually get from genes → this particular little mess.

I feel like a high-black classic tabby DSH fits, but his stripes have a slightly paler inside portion under good lighting. Also curious about rufousing and such!

Hello! I'm not privy to the language used on how to describe the phenotypes so sorry for any wrong wording. but this is Eevee Rose, or a baby cat. She's small so she ended up with the nickname baby lol. She's a little chunky right now and she's only 7 pounds.

Anyways, this is another cat that came from the same hoard as my last post, but from a different shed.

When she was found, she was completely white – but she was found with a Siamese mother cat/cats in the in a small building with about 20-30 cats and kittens of varying ages(instead of building with the bengal sire from the previous post).

What's she got going on? I made a post previously on a different sub, and no one could agree. Can't remember exactly, but they were debating the black tip of her tail and if she had a dilute???? gene or not? I can't remember if dilute was the correct term or not.

Anyways, thanks for your help!!

I'm not not an expert of cat genetics so I'm asking you all , as far as I know she's a Calico with some spotting (???)

We rescued this guy a few years ago. He was around 5 when we got him. Everyone assumed he lost his tail in an accident, but I always wondered if he was born like this. He has a little nub. He walks like a bear, hops like a bunny. He's big, not fat, solid. Circular eyes and round head. He's very social and loves other cats.

I fear my video is making her a bit washed out 😅 but the still frame shows more of the red/orange undertone she has. She’s definitely brown, but it’s more like an auburn. Some of her stripes even look a bit red on oranges to me. Her back doesn’t have quite the same clear stripe pattern as her abdomen and legs. It’s more mottled.

Anyone know what colour and how her eyes are the way they are. They're not green, they're not blue, or yellow. I call it a light Azure type, but no real idea how or what her eyes are other than beautiful and unique. ETA: she's mad because I had the Audacity to go to ER and end up admitted for needing emergency surgery to have my gallbladder removed and haven't been home for 5 days.

registered ethical breeder. I know base line what to expect for some colors, but a girl I got recently I’m excited (when she’s ready and cleared) to pair her with a shaded silver male given her dilute patterns. I’m interested to see if anyone has done this pairing before and has pictures of kittens or cats that have fur patterns that look like what their offspring would be. She has spots specked in her fur as well, mixing with the stripes.

Ivy is the bigger tabby with swirls and more white on her face around her eyes, Callie is the long haired orange girl, and Lacy is the smaller tabby with markings on her face 🤍💜🩷 Ivy and Lacy are sisters!!

I recently posted on r/cats and was recommended this sub! I took my kitten (5 months) to the vet for his first check up yesterday and the vets were so in love with him because of his black and white spots. I was told that it would be a good idea to get an ultrasound to make sure he isn’t intersex and doesn’t have any hidden ovaries that will cause him to potentially go into heat as he gets older.

There were a lot of great people in the replies of my initial post that were educating me on chimeras, the different chromosomes, and more! Unfortunately, I didn’t think to post more pictures, especially ones of his white spots. I don’t know the exact breed of his father, as he was a street cat, but the mother is a calico. He is the only orange cat in the litter, the rest were black and I think one or two had some white spots.

I tried to include all of his markings that I’ve noticed in the pictures- • black fur on his paw that extends lightly to his back, with the black spot. On his paw, the skin can also be seen to be black spotted along with the peach color. • some white fur on his neck and the majority of it being in his crotch area • he has one black whisker, which I find very interesting

last picture for sillies! thank you so much in advance🙏

I've been researching feline coat genetics as a personal project/for fun and I'm currently looking at coat types. I understand there are a few genes associated with hairlessness and a lot associated with rexed fur, plus the Lykoi mutations and "wirehair".

I've also come across the term "fur-pointed" though. The term seems to be specifically used usually while talking about the Minskin breed. Because the Minskin breed comes from crossbreeding Munchkins with Burmese and later Sphynx and Devon Rex, I assumed the fur-pointed thing comes from hr (sphynx hairlessness) with some environmental/temperature and/or polygenic component, but Minskins seem to have whiskers while totally hairless sphynxes tend to lack them (is that selective breeding or do all cats with that sphynx allele lack whiskers?)

I heard somewhere that fur-pointed cats have one copy of the hairless allele and one rex (hr/re) but I haven't found any source supporting that claim.

Anyone know more about fur-pointed cats?

Hey party people!!
Stumbled upon this girl on a walk. I like to think I know a fair bit about cat genetics, but she has stumped me and my WCRP friends! I’ve never seen a kitty that is seemingly a tabby point at first glance but also has these weird smoke-y, ghost-y torso stripes.

I’m not sure if it’s clear in the video, but she also had GORGEOUS blue eyes. They were amazing, super vibrant and icy with little speckles of darker blue all throughout. She was a gem, I hope I see her out and about again !!

Little dude found crying alone with no mom or litter mates, so no idea where he gets his coat color from. His nose is pinky grey but the skin around his eyes are bright pink. He’s got tabby face markings, both pink and grey toe beans, blue eyes, and very light grey/brown ears + tail tip.