Knowra Cat coat genetics Cat coat genetics Cat coat genetics is the inheritance of genes that shape cats’ fur color, pattern, and hair characteristics. It includes interactions among pigment production, pigment distribution, and sex-linked inheritance.
Melanin : A group of pigments responsible for much of the color in animal skin, hair, and eyes. Eumelanin and pheomelanin provide the main pigment types found in cat fur.
Allele : One of the alternative forms of a gene at a particular genomic location. Different alleles at coat-color loci can produce distinct pigments or patterns.
Cat coat color : The visible hue of a cat’s fur, produced chiefly by pigments and their distribution. Breeders describe colors such as black, chocolate, red, blue, and cream through inherited variants.
Tortoiseshell cat : A cat with patches of orange or red and black or their diluted forms. X-linked orange expression and cellular X inactivation create its patchwork coloration.
Ticked tabby : A tabby coat in which individual hairs are banded but the body has few or no clear stripes or spots. Its genetic control involves agouti expression and patterning variants that are not fully resolved.
Agouti signaling protein : A protein that regulates the balance between eumelanin and pheomelanin production in hair follicles. Its periodic action along growing hairs creates banded tabby hairs.
Dominance (genetics) : A relationship in which one allele's effect masks another allele's effect in a heterozygote. Dominance helps explain why some coat traits appear with only one inherited copy.
Cat coat pattern : The arrangement of colored and uncolored regions or markings across a cat’s fur. Pattern inheritance distinguishes tabby, tortoiseshell, bicolor, and other coat appearances.
Calico cat : A cat with distinct white, orange, and black patches, or their diluted equivalents. White spotting added to tortoiseshell coloration produces the typical calico appearance.
Mackerel tabby : A tabby pattern with narrow vertical stripes along the cat’s sides. Its patterning offers a clear case of inherited markings whose genetic architecture is still being refined.
Show all 26