What Is A Tabby Cat Look Like

Keeping The Maine Coon Tabby Looking Beautiful

The beautiful Maine Coon coat does require grooming on a regular basis to keep it free from matted fur.

Try to do this little and often to keep the stress for your cat at a minimum, unless of course it loves being brushed.

Weve used many brushes over the years and this self-cleaning slicker brush has been the best weve bought to date. I recommend you try it.

How Much Do Tabby Maine Coon Cats Cost

If youre interested in purchasing your own Tabby Maine Coon cat, be prepared to spend a bit of money. The cost will vary depending on if its a kitten, full-grown, and where youre purchasing from. Youre going to have a lower fee when adopting from some type of shelter. When you purchase from a breeder, it will start to get expensive.

The color of the cat can impact the cost, as well as whether they are neutered/spayed or not. Youll pay more for an intact cat, due to the ability to breed. Some breeders will make you sign an agreement that you wont be breeding and will get the cats neutered/spayed because they dont want you to reproduce their bloodline.

Below will give you an idea of some costs:

Tabby Maine Coon Pattern Genetics

Every Maine Coon cat carries the gene for the mackerel, classic or ticked tabby pattern. The pattern is not always visible because of genetic masking.

To help make this section make sense, you need to know that alleles are found in pairs in genes that determine characteristics. They can be dominant or recessive.

The agouti gene in a cat determines whether its coat will be a solid color or not. If the agouti gene contains two recessive alleles the cat will be non-agouti and its coat will be a solid color.

If the agouti gene has one or two dominant alleles the cat will be agouti, that is it will not have a solid color coat.

If a Maine Coon is agouti it is the tabby gene that further determines which tabby pattern its coat will exhibit.

The dominant allele in the tabby gene causes the mackerel pattern and the recessive alleles cause either a classic or ticked coat.

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Typical Coat And Color Variations Of A Bengal Cat

After many generations of breeding, Bengals can now be found in many;coat colors. They can be silver, brown, black , snow, red, cinnamon, smoke, blue, or torbie.

They can have either spots, rosettes or a marbled pattern to their coat. The spots and marbling is randomly distributed, with no set patterns. That means the pattern on each side of the cat is very different.

Bengals and domestic tabbies;both have spotted bellies. But Bengals have no white on their body, other than possibly in their chin or whisker pad area or on their belly.

A Bengal cats fur is very soft and short. It feels much like a rabbits, like polished fur. The individual strands of fur are ticked, meaning there are bands of two to three colors on each strand.

Theyre also known for their glitter appearance; i.e. their fur sparkles in the sunlight. Since the tips of their hair strands have less pigment, light shining through this translucent part of the hair is what makes it appear to sparkle.

Tabby Cat Coat Colors And Patterns

Tabbies come in many different colors, including brown, gray and a variety of red shades often called orange, ginger or marmalade. Some have stripes and others spots and many a combination of the two. You can tell what color a tabby is by looking at the color of his stripes and tip of his tail.

The tabby pattern is determined by the agouti gene, which causes the individual hairs to have bands of light and heavy pigmentation, and the tabby gene, which denotes the type of tabby patterns, namely stripes, blotches or spots of hairs of solid color.

Research done by feline geneticists Carlos Driscoll and Leslie Lyons at the beginning of this millennium confirmed five genetic clusters, or lineages, of wildcats from various parts of the world and dating back some 10,000 years to be the ancestors of todays ubiquitous domestic tabbies. And, its easy to understand how a coat with stripes and spots could camouflage well into natural surroundings.

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How About Tortie Cats

Like Torbie cats, Tortie cats also belong to the tricolor breed. Nevertheless, they generally 80% look like the Torbie. Features that disgust these two breeds are their colors and patterns on the coat.

Although both belong to the tricolor breed, Tortie cats have only two colors orange and black. Sometimes, there are few of very little white points on the fur. However, theyre too small for you to see them and only 10% of Tortie have this.

Moreover, on Torties coat, there is no pattern. They may have patches from small to large size, depending on each individual. However, in general, most of them have a fur that looks like a mess with two colors with no certain shape and not in order. You may feel like they are wearing a patchy cloth.

So, the best way to distinguish them: Torbie cats have 3 colors and patterns on their coat, while Tortie cats only have 2 colors with no extra patterns.

What About The Tortoiseshell Maine Coon

People often think the tortoiseshell or tortie tabby is a fourth Maine Coon tabby pattern. Tortoiseshell is a cat coat of which there are four color variations.

All four of these colors can also have either a mackerel, classic or ticked tabby pattern and are often referred to as the Torbie or patched pattern. These are all described in more detail further down.

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Breeds That Can Have Tabby Patterns

There are many cat breeds in which the Cat Fanciers Association accept the tabby pattern. The Abyssinian is well known for having ticked fur as are the;Birman,;Singapura;and Somali.

The Egyptian Mau is the original spotted tabby. On a;colorpoint;shorthair,;Ragdoll;and the Javanese, tabby markings are called lynx points. The classic pattern is almost expected in the American;shorthair.

Nearly all Maine coon cats have a tabby pattern. The;ocicat;and Bengal are specifically bred to have distinctive spotting.

There are fourteen allowable tabby patterns and colors among the Turkish Angora. There are sixteen tabby patterns and colors allowed among the Turkish Vans.

Persians, Manx and American curl are also among the breeds that are still considered standard when they show tabby traits.

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Is My Cat A Ticked Tabby

Ticked tabby cats are one of the rarest tabby patterns out there. Identification of this type of tabby cat is also a little more cumbersome than other tabby cats. It is because ticked tabby cats do not have the usually spotted fur like other tabby cats. Instead, they have a specific type of hair that is different from other tabby cats.

The markings on the face of ticked tabby cats are the same as of any other tabby cat. However, they lack any spots on their bodies. The special agouti hair is the identifying factor for these cats.

It is extremely hard to recognize agouti hairs from a distance. However, if you look closely, the individual hair strands should have alternating light and dark bands on them.

You can identify a cat as a ticked tabby cat if they mark their faces and have agouti hair on their bodies.

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Tabby Maine Coon Pattern Colors

These Maine Coon colors can have mackerel, classic or ticked tabby patterns.

As there are at least 22 colors and combinations per pattern, over 66 Maine Coon tabby variations are possible!

• Brown tabby The brown tabby coat has a warm brown or bronze background. The tabby markings are dense black and this is sometimes confused with the black tabby cat.

• Brown and Whitetabby Brown and white tabbies have the same colors as the brown but with white fur on their bibs, bellies and all four paws. They may or may not have white fur on their faces.

• Brown Patched tabby The brown patched tabby has a coppery brown background color and the tabby pattern is black with patches of red.

• Brown Patched and Whitetabby These are the same as the brown patched tabby except they have white fur on their bibs, bellies and all four paws. They may or may not have white fur on their faces.

• Red tabby A red tabby has a red background color with a deep, rich red tabby pattern.

• Red and Whitetabby As for red tabby but with white fur on their bibs, bellies and all four paws. They may or may not have white fur on their faces.

• Silver tabby A silver tabby Maine Coon has a pale silver background color with a black tabby pattern.

• Silver and White Silver and white tabbies have a silver and white background color with the tabby pattern in black.

• Silver Patched tabby A silver patched tabbyhas a pale silver background color with the tabby pattern in black with patches of red and/or cream.

Orange Tabby Cats Have A Big Appetite

Think of all the orange cats you know from fiction. Garfield, Heathcliff, Tiger. Besides orange color, the one thing they have in common is being on the pudgy side. Garfield and Heathcliff are well known for pulling off crazy antics to get more food than they were due.

Tiger from;An American Tale;clamed to be vegetarian but while he had compunctions against eating something that could talk, sing and dance with him, he had no problem at all with fish.

Oliver of;Oliver and Company;was only a kitten, but like his namesake from Dickens, he always wanted some more. Morris, the spokescat for 9Lives, is on the svelte side but not shy about showing his love for his favorite cat food. Orange cats have a tendency towards a big appetite.

According to Goethe in his theories on color psychology, orange is warmth and gladness. To this day, fast food restaurants will decorate in warm reds and yellows to stimulate appetite.

Could having orange fur stimulate a cat’s appetite? Considering they don’t see color quite like we do, that perhaps is not the reason.

Maybe the bright orange coat and cute little face makes us think of food and that makes us think of feeding the cat. At any rate, if you own an orange cat see that his weight stays in a healthy range so he doesn’t suffer diabetes or joint damage. This is particularly important if he seems to be low in energy.

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What Makes A Flame Point Siamese

Flame Points are slightly different from standard Siamese cats. Theyre a cross between a Siamese and a red or orange American tabby shorthair. Flame Point Siamese cats werent bred until the 1930s, and it took some experimentation to get the colors to the point they are today.

When it comes to Flame Point Siamese genetics, the colors found in the coat result from pigmentation of the individual hairs. Melanin is produced at the base of the growing hair and is responsible for the breeds off-white or cream fur.

The body produces melanin and also uses an enzyme called tyrosinase. As described by Animal Genetics, tyrosinase mutations are associated with coat colorations in cats, including the points of the Siamese.

Flame Point Siamese cats have a mutated version thats sensitive to heat. When the temperatures too high, the mutated tyrosinase fails to work and prevents the body from producing melanin.

Because the face, ears, tail, and paws are further from the core of the body, theyre cooler, so the mutated enzymes can participate in the creation of pigments, giving these areas their darker, orange-colored fur.

Genetically, Flame Point Siamese cats are red tabby cats with two copies of the colorpoint gene. If they were able to produce melanin, theyd be red tabby cats. Flame Points always have at least one tortoiseshell or red parent. The red gene cant be carried as its not a recessive trait.

A Spontaneous Pattern Develops

To find out how these cells actually make a pattern of stripes on a cats body, the team turned to Alan Turing, computer scientist and founder of mathematical biology. In 1952, Turing described a way to explain mathematically how patterns can spontaneously emerge in nature.

Known as reaction-diffusion, his theory predicted that systems could self-organize during development in the presence of molecules activators and inhibitorsthat move from cell to cell, or diffuse, at different rates. If an inhibitor diffused farther or faster than an activator, then mathematically, the system would sort itself out. In the case of tabby cats, the inhibitor is the gene DKK4, but the activator is unknown.;

Turing didnt know what the activator or inhibitor would be. He didnt even know if they existed. But 70 years later, the tabby discovery is among a number of others that have proven Turing right.

We tend to think of cells moving around during development, but thinking of them so early in this sort of three-dimensional way, where theyre actually getting these stripes as thickness Thats really advanced, says Elaine Ostrander, who studies the genetics behind domestic dogs at the National Institute of Healths National Human Genome Research Institute, in Bethesda, Maryland.

Barshs team now sees cat color-pattern production as a two-step process. First, skin cells determine if the tabby patterns will be dark or light. Then, hair follicles grow and make pigments.

• Science

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Where Does The Word ‘tabby’ Come From

It is believed the name tabby comes from a type of striped silk called Atabi, which was made in Attabiah in the Middle East. As soon as the silk arrived in Britain, the similarity in pattern to the coat of the so-called ‘tiger cat; was noticed and this particular cat soon started being called ‘tabi cat’ which eventually became ‘tabby cat’.

Tabby Maine Coon Colors

In addition to all the cool patterns your Tabby Maine Coon can come in, there are roughly 75 color combinations! For now, well list the 17 most common colors . Then well break down a few of the ones youre more likely to see at your breeder.

Heres a list of the most common Tabby Maine Coon colors:

• Brown
• Brown Torbie
• Red With White

Thats quite the list of colors! Some of those are rarer than others though. You can expect to pay much more for a Blue, Red, or Cream colored Tabby Maine Coon than you would for a brown one.;

Brown Tabby Maine Coon cats are one of the most common colors youll see. Since its so common, youll see a lot of breeders that go with that color. For that reason, you can expect to pay on the lower end for this cat.;

Red Tabby Maine Coon cats are a vibrant color choice. Even though they have them labeled as red, their color is more orange in appearance. The majority of red tabbies tend to be male and have a mixture of white on them.

Cream Tabby Maine Coons can have their whole body be a shade of cream, or it can be mixed in with different colors throughout the variety of patterns. The cream shades offer a look of elegance.

Blue Tabby Maine Coons dont really look blue. They have more of a grey tone to them. This color tends to be a trendy choice among families searching for Maine Coons. If you want to search for a rare one, the Blue Silver color tends to be harder to find.

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Orange Tabby Cats Are Usually Male

Did you know orange tabby cats are typically male? In fact, up to 80 percent of orange tabbies are male, making orange female cats a bit of a rarity. According to the BBCs Focus Magazine, the ginger gene in cats works a little differently compared to humans; it is on the X chromosome. Males only need one copy of the gene to become a ginger cat while female cats have two X chromosomes and require two copies of the gene.

Tabby Is Not A Cat Breed

Yes you heard us right tabby is not a breed. Photograph by Alexas_Fotos|Pixabay

By now you should understand that the term tabby refers to a fur pattern, not to a particular breed of cats. Due to this, any cat that has the unique tabby colorations and patterns can be referred to as a tabby cat, in addition to belonging to a certain cat breed.

For instance, an Abyssinian tabby cat, where Abyssinian is the cat breed and tabby is the color of the coat.

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Personality Of Tabby Cats

It’s hard to say what a tabby personality is. They’re known for being friendly, but could this be because people act friendly towards such a handsome cat? Every cat is an individual.

Nurture does have a big impact on a cat’s personality, but kittens from the same litter raised the same way may still have very different personalities.