What are the colors of cats: description, photo

There are a great many colors of cats, while the color of the “coat” is the result of genetics or the work of breeders. Even for those owners who do not want to connect their lives with exhibition activities, it is important to at least be a little oriented in the issue of what exactly gives the animal one color or another. We offer you to get acquainted with the most common colors of cats, find out their names and some interesting facts.

Key Options

There are several basic varieties of pet color:

• Solid (monochrome).
• Tabby.
• Silver (shaded).
• Color Points.
• Tortoiseshell.

We will get to know each of them in more detail.

Solid (Solid)

A distinctive feature of this cat's color is the uniformity of color, there are no patterns or spots on the coat. When preparing the animal for the exhibition, such a coloring is the simplest, because visually it is easy to note whether the pet meets the accepted standards. It is customary to single out “commercial colors” - those colors that are popular with a particular breed and overshadow the rest. For example, the blue color of British cats refers specifically to those. Other options are acceptable standards, but do not enjoy special love from breeders and buyers.

Distinctive features are as follows:

• Even tone, there is not the slightest hint of a drawing or a spot.
• Each hair is dyed evenly from root to tip, the color is the same everywhere.
• The color of the lips, pads, paws, nose and eyelids matches the tone of the coat.

And if for owners this color of cats is the simplest, then for breeders it involves considerable work, thanks to their efforts it is possible to get a shade that meets the standards.

Varieties of solid color

Do not think that cats of black color or any other are boring and the same. Representatives of monochrome are also very diverse.

First of all, it is customary to distinguish three color options depending on the color saturation:

• Complete.
• Diluted (Maltese).
• Diluted modified (caramel). The main color is brown.

Classification is possible by the color of the coloring pigment:

• Black (pigment is eumelanin).
• Red (faumelanin).
• Tortoiseshell (both pigments).
• White (pigment suppressed).

Solid colors, quite a lot. Here is a description of some of them.

• Ebony. The coat is completely black, the eyes of the animal are orange, green, copper. A red tint is visible in the light.
• Chocolate (brown). The coat and nose of the cat are painted in a deep dark brown color, the eyes are most often orange.
• Cinnamon (Cinnamon). Such coloring is not recognized by standards for thoroughbred animals.
• Gray (blue).
• Purple (lavender).
• Light purple (deer or faun).

This is not an exhaustive list of variations, in addition, new breeds are constantly appearing, therefore it is acceptable that the colors also undergo changes.

Red group

To get a cat of a red or cream shade of a solid color while the breeders did not succeed, the animals always belong to the tabby.

Most often, the red color is inherent in cats, since the red gene is inherited from mother to son. Also, the color is called ginger, red or orange. The animal is characterized by copper-colored eyes, brick pads and a nose. Cream color is possible only in thoroughbred animals, and apricot, on the contrary, is considered unacceptable for thoroughbred.

Tabby

Otherwise, this color of cats is called “tabby”. It is one of the most beautiful options, all kinds of patterns, spots, patterns are applied to the animal’s hair. For some breeds, this may be an imitation of the skins of wild “relatives” - cheetahs, leopards, tigers. The secret of such an unusual color is the coloring of each hair in a special way, zoned - dark and light shades evenly alternate on one hair.

It is customary to distinguish 4 colors of tabby ; for convenience, the information is presented in table form.

Breeders went even further, creating amazingly beautiful colors in which rounded rosettes decorate the hair of animals - dark spots, in which the middle is several tones lighter than the edging. Among these cats are Bengal, very beautiful animals, the price of kittens which are very high.

Shaded, silver

Among the colors of British and Persian cats is shaded, the specificity of which is that each hair is not completely colored, the brightest area is the base. You can also find the name of this color "chinchilla."

Among silvery, several options are possible:

• Tabby. An unusual pattern is formed on the animal’s hair due to darkened tips.
• Smoky. The entire hair is dyed, in addition to the base.
• Smoky vice versa. The lightest color is the tip of the hair.

Cats with this color look very elegant.

Color points

We continue to consider the names of the colors of cats. Among the most interesting and attractive ones, one can safely refer to color points, in which dark fragments of wool (they are called points) are located on a light background. Similar dark areas can be placed in various places of the cat's body. Within the framework of standards, these can be:

• The ears.
• Tail.
• Muzzle.
• Paws

The main color is different: brown, red, white. Some breeds have their own name for coloring, for example, the Himalayan color is known.

With white fragments

We continue to consider cat breeds and colors. A whole group of animals belongs to the owners of amazingly beautiful wool, including various white spots, which can have both large and small sizes. The cat itself is considered colored, and snow-white fragments are nothing more than the absence of pigment. Such color variations include harlequin (white cat ¾), van (color spots less than 25%), bicolor (uniform distribution of dark and white). Also snow-white can be “socks”, “medallion”, “mask”.

Tortoiseshell

The tortoiseshell color of cats is very popular, it is a combination of various spots: black and chocolate, red and cream with purple. Amazing wool is created, so even and covered with bizarre patterns - stripes, spots, “marbled”.

Color allows a huge number of variations, there are tortoise bicolors, point, smoky. Among the breeds for which this color is the norm include orientals, bobtail, British.

Variety of scots and british

Consider the specifics of colors of animals of different breeds, first of all, the colors of Scottish cats, of which several are distinguished:

• Plain (white, black, lilac, blue).
• Tabby (brindle, spotted, harlequin, red, cream blue, brown).
• Silver.
• Silver chinchilla.
• Smoky (black, blue, cameo).
• Shaded (golden and silver).
• Bicolor.
• Wang.
• Harlequin.

All these colors of Scottish cats comply with the standards, and therefore animals can take part in exhibitions.

And what variations are acceptable for the British? There are several of them:

• Plain blue, a classic version for representatives of the breed, the coat is colored evenly, but a slightly lighter undercoat is acceptable. The skin is always blue. In the photo, the color of the British cat looks very beautiful.
• Purple plain. Occurs infrequently, this is due to the lack of a special gene that gives an amazing coffee-pink color, so most often purple kittens are born only in the nurseries of the luckiest breeders. Animals are characterized by lilac pads and nose, copper or orange eyes.
• Monochrome include chocolate, black, cinnamon, deer, white.
• Tortoiseshell.
• Shaded silver and gold (including chinchilla).
• Color-point with a predominance of snow-white, the second color is most often gray or red. A distinctive feature of such animals is blue eyes.
• Tabby (marble, brindle).
• Colors with white fragments: bicolor, harlequin, van.

The British are very beautiful tabby, owners of amber or orange eyes and a darkened area in the shape of the letter "M" on the forehead. The marble color of British cats is peculiar, spots in the form of circles are located on the sides, marks are required on the cheeks and nape, and two stripes adorn the back. Such a palette is highly regarded by breeders.

In the photo you can see that the colors of British cats are very diverse. If you want to buy a kitten of a rare color, you should definitely get acquainted with the documentation that will be provided in a reputable nursery without further ado. Belonging to one or another elite color of the British must be confirmed by a DNA test, especially for cinnamon and deer.

Lop-eared

There are a lot of acceptable colors of fold cats, first of all, they are plain (blue, black, lilac, white, chocolate), color points, bicolors and marble tabby are no less popular. For a black Scottish fold kitten, the presence of several white hairs is permissible, but for chocolate and blue this exception is not made.

Peach cream lop-eared are very beautiful, amber and orange eyes are possible for such a color. Cinnamon is a rare flower, so the price of such a pet will be high.

White Scottish cats are cute and adorable, but potential owners should be aware that the animal most often has poor hearing or is completely deaf. There are among the fold and harlequins, vans, ticked, tabby.

Color points are not common, but lop-eared kittens of this color look quite attractive. Marks of blue, purple, chocolate or red shade adorn the tail, paws and ears of the animal. And among the elite, rarest, is the color point color with white.

Interesting Facts

We invite you to get acquainted with some interesting facts regarding the color of cats and breeds:

• It is very difficult to get a uniform red color, animal genetics impedes the desire of breeders to “dress” cats with the same amazing “fur coat” as foxes.
• White cats are “discolored” cats; their hair is not dyed, but deprived of pigment.
• The color of the tabby is similar to the print of a human finger. You cannot meet two animals in which the coloring would completely coincide, each cat is unique.
• The genetics of cats allows us to predict the colors of future kittens: the cat will repeat the colors of the mother, the cat will become the owner of the combined color, in which the features of mother and father will be combined.
• A beautiful multi-colored color (tortie, peaky point) is peculiar only to cats or sterile cats.
• The coloration of tiger tabby is commonly referred to as “whiskas”, since kittens of this color took part in the advertising of the popular feed.
• Tabby is a natural, wild, wild color that helps cats to disguise themselves and hunt. However, the coloring does not have any negative effect on the nature of pets. It is also believed that cats of this color have the best health and longevity.

There are a huge number of colors of cats, with the photos of many of them we met. On the video you can get information about how the color of the pet affects the atmosphere in the home.

Some colors were bestowed by nature itself, others appeared as a result of the work of breeders. There are few primary colors, but there are a lot of variations of their combination, so cats do not cease to amaze us.