Posted by STRAY on Jul 31, 2023 3:56:41 GMT
COAT COLOR/BREEDING RESULTS GUIDE
This guide assumes you have a basic understanding of dominant and recessive genes (those Punnett squares).
This is an advanced version of our Cat Coat Genetics guide. It goes into further detail about traits that have already been discussed as well as introduces new genes that you may want to play with for your character. This guide also includes real-life images instead of simple graphics.
This is an advanced version of our Cat Coat Genetics guide. It goes into further detail about traits that have already been discussed as well as introduces new genes that you may want to play with for your character. This guide also includes real-life images instead of simple graphics.
THE BASICS
There are 4 "self colors" or "solid colors" a cat can be; all other colors are modifications of these self colors. Here are the ones that show as a result of eumelanin, or black pigment. There are 3 black-based coat colors, with black being the most common, or dominant:
BLACK > CHOCOLATE > CINNAMON
Black: Exactly what you think. Some black cats "rust" if they spend a lot of time in the sun and take on a reddish-brown tint. Blue eyes are very rarely found in adult black cats. Cat noses and paw pads generally match the color of their fur, but as with all rules, there are exceptions.
Chocolate: Chocolate is the second color that eumelanin can produce. It ranges from a rich dark brown to a lighter grey-brown. It is a recessive trait, which means that it is less common than black. Their noses and paw pads are generally brown.
Cinnamon: Cinnamon is the third black-based coat. It is a light reddish-brown color, is also known as light brown, and is the most recessive of the three black-based coats. Can sometimes be confused for ginger cats. A way to separate them from chocolate is, of course, their cinnamon- and/or pink-colored noses and paw pads.
Red: Red coats come in a variety of shades like yellow, marmalade, ginger, and orange. It presents an intense orange color to a lighter orange and is dominant over black. It is a sex-linked trait that is dominant over not-red, and because of that, it is more presentable in males than females. All red cats show some form of tabby markings, even genetically solid ones.
Tortoiseshell: As mentioned earlier, red is a sex-linked trait. Since mollies have two Xs, they can receive both a black and a red gene, which produces a tortoiseshell cat. Also known as a "tortie," or a "calico" if they have white spotting. It is a combination of one of the three variants of black and red. The spots can come in many different shapes and sizes; generally, the more white spotting a tortie has, the less brindled and more patch-like the spots will be. There are some "cryptic" torties that are almost entirely one color save for a few flecks of fur. Torties can also have tabby markings, and these are called "torbies" or "calibies".
Extra: Male tortoiseshell cats are 1 in 3,000, most of which end up infertile due to Kleinfelter syndrome. Fertile male torties, however, are most likely chimeras. To make a cis male tortie in Windsong, you will need an item from the shop.
COAT DILUTION
Dilution simply means the pigment is less dense, making a lighter color coat. It is a recessive trait.
Grey/blue: A dilution of black. It has a range of colors from light grey to a darkish grey-blue, but all grey cats are considered dilute. A good example of this gene is in the Russian Blue breed.
Cream: A dilution of red. Comes in a variety of shades from almost white to a buttery yellow to even a pinkish-red. Also called pale ginger. It is easy to mistake with fawn coloring.
Lilac: A dilution of chocolate. It is a brownish color with a cooler hue, shows a pink-purplish tint. Looks like a brownish-grey.
Fawn: A dilution of cinnamon. It is the rarest coat color due to how recessive cinnamon is. It is a warmer, light golden-brown color. The second cat is a fawn-cream tortoiseshell.
PATTERNS
Tabby: A striped pattern in coats that comes in a few common varieties. It is dominant over solid colors.
mackerel, mostly thin vertical stripesclassic, thick swirls/blotchesagouti or "non-striped" tabbies, tabby markings only on their faceticked, tabby markings on neck, legs, and tailspotted, spots that follow a normal tabby pattern
The ticked gene overrides or masks every other tabby pattern, regardless of what other pattern a cat may genetically be. Mackerel is dominant over classic, and it is necessary for a cat to be spotted. Spotted is dominant over non-spotted. Genetically classic cats cannot present spots, though they can carry the gene for it. Cats can show some wild markings from crossbreeding non-domestic cats. Cats that have no tabby stripes at all are considered solid, though genetically solid red cats will still display faint markings.
Ticked and spotted tabbies may show some of the underlying pattern that is being masked. If a cat has only one ticked gene (Tata), they may display "ghost" tabby markings on their body. If a cat has only one spotted gene (Spsp), their pattern will instead be "broken mackerel," which is visually just in-between mackerel and spotted.
Generally, a cat's stripes are its self/"true" color. "Brown" tabbies (like in the second, fourth, and fifth cats below) are actually black. The third cat is likely a chocolate spotted tabby.
Ticked and spotted tabbies may show some of the underlying pattern that is being masked. If a cat has only one ticked gene (Tata), they may display "ghost" tabby markings on their body. If a cat has only one spotted gene (Spsp), their pattern will instead be "broken mackerel," which is visually just in-between mackerel and spotted.
Generally, a cat's stripes are its self/"true" color. "Brown" tabbies (like in the second, fourth, and fifth cats below) are actually black. The third cat is likely a chocolate spotted tabby.
White spotting/Dominant white: Dominant white occurs on a different gene than black/red and is associated with deafness in cats. Dominant white masks all other colors, and cats who have it are more likely to have blue or “odd” eyes (two different colored eyes, i.e. heterochromia). Those with one or both blue eyes are more likely to be deaf on the side the blue eye(s) are on. These cats are not albino, which is a separate gene.
White spotting can also create the impression of a dominant white cat, but is not linked to deafness. It is dominant and cats can have a small amount of white spotting or even be completely white. Some cats that display small white markings aren’t even genetically linked to white spotting.
Colorpoint: Colorpoint patterns are a form of albinism, and usually result in the cat having darker points at their extremities. They commonly have a pale body to go along with it. The most common breeds showing this trait would be Siamese and Himalayan. Pointing is a recessive gene and thus can be carried by non-pointed parents.
There are three levels of “intensity” to colorpoint patterns:
Siamese, where the body is nearly white compared to all other pointsMink, where the body is a medium tone of the colorpointSepia, where the body is almost the same color as the colorpointed areas
There are more colorpoint variants, but we will not go over those for the sake of simplicity.
SILVER & GOLD SERIES
Next, we will go over the two genes that cause many different effects in coat coloring such as the silver and golden series, sunshine and sunshine silver, bimetallic, chinchilla, etc.
The inhibitor gene (I/i): To oversimplify, it basically restricts pigment on the shaft of the hair. This creates silver cats. It is dominant over no-inhibitor-gene. The following coat colors and patterns are results of the inhibitor gene.
Smoke: If the cat is solid and presents the inhibitor gene, it is called a smoke. This can be applied to any coat colors including tortoiseshells. The base of the hair shaft will be white. They may present very faint or "ghost" tabby markings, usually best seen in strong sunlight.
Silver tabbies: Tabby cats with the inhibitor gene will be silver tabbies. A black/"brown" tabby with the inhibitor gene is simply called silver. A chocolate tabby with the inhibitor gene is called a chocolate-silver tabby, and a blue tabby with the inhibitor gene would be called a blue-silver tabby, and so on and so forth. As with normal tabbies, the color of the stripes is the cat's true "self" color. The fur between the stripes just gets replaced with silver.
Left-right: Blue-silver, (black-)silver, chocolate-silver, silver
Wide band gene: Represented by Wb. This produces chinchillas (WbWb) and shaded cats (Wbwb). This gene is also a little bit confusing, especially coming into play with the inhibitor gene, so let me elaborate.
Golden, Bimetallic, and Sunshine: A cat WITH the Wide Band gene and WITHOUT the inhibitor gene will show golden fur between their stripes instead of silver fur. Golden shaded cats and golden smokes also exist; they're just solid cats instead of tabbies with Wide Band.
So basically...
So basically...
If a cat has the Inhibitor gene, it will be silver. Silver cats can also present the Wide Band gene to become tipped (WbWb) or shaded (Wbwb) so long as they are solid.
If a cat has ONLY the Wide Band gene, it will be golden. Golden cats can also be tipped or shaded so long as they are solid.
"Bimetallic/sunshine-silver" and sunshine coats are mostly present in Siberian cats, with British Shorthairs also showing sunshine coats. The bimetallic coat pattern is a combination of the silver and golden mixing, giving the silver tabbies a golden tint on some areas, or even having full golden spots. They were mistaken for tortoiseshells and chimeras. We're including this here since it is technically a recessive allele of the Wide Band gene. It is on the same gene that causes golden tabby tigers. This is pretty tricky to map and will be very confusing to someone who isn't used to cat coat genetics, so... we'll just pass over it and say "well, it exists"! If you make a cat with these genes, though, we do have a way to express it in a gene string.
FUR LENGTH/TEXTURE
Fur length is presented by L/l. Short fur (LL) is dominant. Long fur (ll) is recessive. "Medium" fur is usually genetically long fur, but for our purposes, we accept Ll as medium-haired (despite it technically coding for short fur).
Textures like LaPerm, Wirehair, etc. will all be available in the item shop under mutations.
Eye colors:
We will briefly go over eye colors as an example to how we would roll them when deciding how kittens would inherit eye colors.
Blue: Kittens are all born with blue eyes, and around 6 weeks old, they will start turning into a different color. Some breeds do keep hold of the blue eyes as they grow. Blue eyes range from light clear blue, to dark ocean colored eyes.
Green: Ranging from a dark vibrant green to a yellowish-green. Hazel eyes also include green speckles within them.
Brown, amber, yellow: Yellow varies from a pale lemon to more vivid hues. There is overlap between the yellows and browns (pale hazel or tan) and also between yellows and greens. Orange is unmistakable though, as it usually shows up very vibrant.
Information you should write on the breeding form:
This will be on the form template, but if one of the parents of your cat had a different eye color than your cat, then they would most likely have that other eye color as a recessive trait. We would include your cat’s eye color and their recessive eye color, so that the kittens would have a chance of being rolled with the recessive eye colors.
If both parents eye colors are the same, and their recessives are the same, then all kittens will roll with 100% chance of having that eye color.
MUTATIONS
Here we will write a list of mutations that will be available to buy in the item shop. You are NOT allowed to make a character or ask for a mutation within a kit without the item.
Minor disability will have * next to it.
Major disability will have ** next to it. Kits with a major disability will have to talk with a leader about them training, as they might not be able to.
Minor disability will have * next to it.
Major disability will have ** next to it. Kits with a major disability will have to talk with a leader about them training, as they might not be able to.
Chimeras: Also known as chimerism, a chimera is the result of 2 fertilized eggs fusing to become a single kitten. Most tortoiseshell toms are a result of chimerism, though they are almost always infertile. The most telltale trait of chimerism is mostly coat patterns. Look for a combination of dense and dilute colors (black and blue, red and cream, etc), a mix of longhair and shorthair patches of fur, combinations of two different tabby patterns (mackerel and classic together), and mixtures of colorpoint + non-colorpoint.
Heterochromia: Also known as “odd eyes”. Simply means a cat has two different colored eyes. It occurs commonly, but more so in dominant white cats. Dominant white cats with one blue and one amber eye are more likely to be deaf on the side the blue eye is on. Being deaf on one side would be a minor disability*.
Tooth, paw/claw: Claws Unable To Retract*, Elongated Claws, Elongated Fangs/Teeth, Extra Teeth, Minor Clubbed Paw*, Overbite*, Polydactyly, Underbite*, Unusually Short Claws*, Unusually Small Teeth
Color: Black & Tan-type Pattern, Discolored Limb (ie, like Rosetail), Ignoring Parent Colors (two cinnamon cats having a black kitten), Impossible/Unusual White Pattern, Rufescence, Somatic Markings, Vitiligo
Leg/Height Mutations: Dwarfism*, Gigantism*, Mismatched Legs* (ex. short front, regular hind legs), Teacup**
Tail Mutations: Bobbed Tail, Curled Tail, Extra-long Tail, Kinked Tail, Split Tail-tip
Fur/Coat Mutations: Curly Fur, Glittering Fur, Lykoi*, Mismatched/Uneven Fur (chimerism), Wiry Fur
Sensory Disability: Anosmia(No Sense of Smell), Blindness(Full** or Partial*), Deafness(Full** or Partial*), Hyperesthesia*, Hypersensitivity to Pain*, Inability To Feel Pain**, Inability to Taste, Synesthesia
Physical Disability: Clubbed Limb/Paw(s), Folded ears (associated with bone problems)*/**, Missing Limb(s)*/**, Partial Paralysis*/**, Two-Faced/"Janus Cat"**, Two-Tailed (Causes spinal issues)**
Internal/Unseen Disability: Asthma*, Diabetes*, Epilepsy*, Sickle Cell**, Tumors/Cancers**
Deadly Disability: Autoimmune Disorders, Epilepsy(Severe)*/**, Tumors/Cancers
If there is anything more that you would like to learn about genetics and how they work, we suggest going to messybeast.com/catarchive.html as it is a massive guide that helps our breeding process!
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