The Paint Shop

Agouti is the gene responsible for tabby or banded markings. It is called ASIP (Agouti signaling protein) Tabby is dominant to solid, but there is another gene that determines the tabby pattern. It can be expressed in the following ways

AA: 2 copies (homogeneous) of tabby gene. 

This cat will have tabby markings

Aa: 1 copy (heterogeneous) of "tabby" gene, 1 "solid"

This cat will have tabby markings

aa: 2 copies of "solid" gene, 0 copies of "tabby" gene

This cat will be solid, ghost markings (faint tabby markings) are still possible. 

In this picture The Dirty Genny (Friggy x Fab litter 2023) is in front, she is aa but she is a tortoiseshell so you can see her red ghost striping, but she is a solid! In the back is Soma, he is Aa a spotted tabby. 

...or what non cat people call black. This gene (TYRP1) is responsible for a lot of your base colors. For pointed cats, black is called seal. While tabby or solid cats would be called ebony. To keep it simple we will call it black here. Chocolate is for pointed, and chestnut for the rest so we will just refer to it as brown here. 

Black is dominant to brown. 

BB: 2 copies of black

This cat is black

Bb: 1 copy of black, 1 brown 

This cat is black

bb: 2 copies of brown 

This cat is brown 

Then you add a little bit of cinnamon (lower case L). 

blbl: This cat is cinnamon 

Bbl: This cat is black, carries brown and cinnamon

bbl: This cat is brown but carries cinnamon, their coat typically appears a little warmer in color than a bb. 

Pictured is Alfred, from Freya x Fab litter 2033.

There are several variations of this gene (TYR) that can give you the pointed look like the siamese. With what we breed we only care about 1, cs which relates to siamese. Color point is recessive to your "wild type" or non pointed. It can be expressed in the following ways. 

CC: Wild type

This cat is not pointed

Ccs: Wild type

This cat is not pointed

cscs: This cat is pointed. 

Lynx point- A pointed cat with tabby markings, the coloration will not be as intense as a non lynx/solid point. 

The darker the color, the sooner it starts to appear as the kitten grows. Wait what? 

Thermolabile is to blame here. That is a mutated enzyme related to melanin production. The mutation causes it to no longer work at regular body temperatures like the regular enzyme, Tyrosinase would. As such the color only shows on the cooler parts of the cats body such as ears, face, paws, tail, and for boys their coconuts. However the womb is warm, so these kittens are born white until their body temperature comes down and the color starts to develop. As such cats that live in cooler environments will actually have darker color, while those kept warmer will be more muted. 

Did you know that horses, rabbits, and dogs can also be pointed?? 

Pictured is Aditi from Friggy x Fab litter 2023. She is a tortie lynx point. 

The dilute gene (MLPH) is responsible for determining the intensity of the coat color. Non dilute is dominant to dilute. 

DD: This cat is not diluted 

Dd: This cat is not diluted, but carries it

dd: This cat is diluted

Well if the color is diluted, what is it called then? 

Black with dilution: Blue

Brown with dilution: Lilac

Cinnamon with dilution: Fawn

But wait! There's more!! 

Basically a double down on the dilution strength. 

With this they are all essentially considered caramel, but it will appear slightly different based on the base color. If the cat is not diluted, this gene will not have an effect on the color. 

Well I is for inhibitor, but same thing. This gene inhibits pheomelanin (red/yellow color) production, giving you... Silver is dominant to non-silver, so it cannot be carried. Just recently they have identified the gene and there is now genetic testing available for it, but it is it's infancy. Luckily this is one of the easier colors to figure out. If mom and dad were not silver, they cannot have silver bebbies. 

This is Tookas sister pictured here from Asynjas Cattery in Sweden! 

But this tricky one only exists on the X chromosome. Orange/red is dominant. 

Males

×o: This dude is not orange

×O: This dude is orange

Females 

oo: This gal is not orange

Oo: This girl is a calico, some cells will activate the orange, and other cells will activate black giving you the randomized spotting pattern. 

OO: This girl is orange

Because a male can't have 2 copies since they only have 1 x chromosome, they cannot be calicos unless they are XXY (Klinefelter syndrome). 

Pictured is Wilma from Freya x Fab litter 2023.

White is one of the more complicated colors, there are several combinations that contribute to white coats. 

The (KIT) gene is responsible for your white coloration. The w allele is for dominant white, it is dominant to your wild type or no white markings. This gene can also be linked to increased risk of deafness in certain cases. 

WW: White coat color 

W/ws: White coat color

Ww: White coat color

ws/ws: White spotting

ws/w: White spotting

ww: Non white

There is also the n allele which determines white gloves. But it only applies to Birman cats so ain't nobody got time for that. 

Pictured is White Hot from Strekoza's Cattery in Russia. 

Well that's just our opinion. This gene helps determine the structure of the tabby markings. Mackerel is dominant. There are 3 variations related to the mackerel/classic  tabby pattern (mc1, mc2, mc3) 

McMc: This cat is mackerel (stripey) 

Mcmc: This cat is mackerel 

mcmc: This cat is a classic tabby

There's more to this too, solids are so easy compared to tabbies. 

Pictured is Breezy from Friggy x Fab litter 2023.

So now we know most tabbies have a mackerel backing to them, but if they aren't mackerel and they aren't classic, what are they? 

SpSp: This cat is a spotted tabby

Spsp: This cat is a broken spotted tabby

spsp: Normal, non spotted so tabby pattern will follow MC description unless there is ticking. 

Speaking of ticked tabbies... 

Pictured (his back) is Soma from Friggy x Fab litter 2023.

We don't see this in our lines currently, but we figured we would mention it since we have all the other tabbies covered. There are two varieties of ticking gene (DKK4), they are both dominant. 

TiTi: This is a ticked tabby

Titi+: This is a ticked tabby that carries non-ticked

ti+ti+: Non ticked tabby