Furbabies
Cat Care Site

Known Genes Of Cats

A - agouti (coat colour between tabby stripes), causes ticking (uneven pigmentation of hair)
a - non-agouti, uniform colouring of hair without ticking, solid colouring

B - black (undiluted) colour
b - chocolate dilution
b¹ (bⁱ) - light chocolate dilution (cinnamon)

C - full colouring (without mask)
c^b - Burmese colouring
c^s - Siamese colouring
c - total albinism

D - undiluted colour
d - blue dilution (black is diluted to blue, red to cream, with gene b it produces lilac colour, with gene bⁱ it produces fawn colour)

Fd - folded ears
fd - normal upright ears

Hr - normal hairy body
hr - hairless body

I - inhibitor - pigmentation in lower section of hair is suppressed, only the tips of the hair are coloured (tipping)
i - pigmentation of hair throughout

L - shorthair
l - longhair

M - tailless or short-tail Manx cats
m - normal length tail

O - red colouring (orange), linked to X chromosome
o - black colouring

Pd - polydactyly (extra toes, usually on front paws)
pd - normal number of toes

R, Re, Rg, Ro - normal structure of the coat
r - curled coat, awn hairs are missing (Cornish Rex)
re - wavy and shorthair (Devon Rex)
rg - wavy and shorthair (German Rex)
ro - wavy and shorthair (Oregon Rex)

S - white patches
s - colouring without patches

TT⁺ - tiger pattern
T^a - Abyssinian tabby
t^b - marble tabby colouring

W - white hair
w - any colour of hair other than white

Wh - excessively curly and wiry coat
wh - normal hair structure

References

Greene & Robinson, Genetics For Cat Breeders (3rd Edition), Pergamon Press, 1991

[Back to top]

Furbabies Cat Care

Everything Feline