Genetics and Colours - as promised

[Kay]

Originally Posted by Fran

Thank you Kay. I thought he was Mackeral but got a bit confused That's really clarified it for me

He is classed as brown tabby because there are no such things as black tabbies?

Yes they are classed as Brown Tabbies the Black being the markings with the base colour being Brown.

[Fran]

He is more grey than brown. His under fur is browny/fawny but the tips of his fur are grey?

[Julie84]

Originally Posted by Kay

The face , tail and legs are the same but they have a dark line going down the back with stripes coming down from that, on either side, all the way along the body instead of having oysters on their haunches ( an oyster is just a large dark shape ). I will look one of Claude's pics and see if I can tell.

Could a litter contain classic tabbies as well as mackeral tabbies?

I think, from your description, Thomas is a mackeral and Murphy is a classic (which would make sense now as I was also confused as to why Thomas had a thick black line down his back and Murphy had blotches! )

Also, Thomas and Murphy are different brown colours, with Murphy being lighter (their markings are both black though). Is this because Thomas has more black markings, making him an overall darker colour, or could they be two different colours? Or are they different tones of the same colour and still both brown tabbies?

[Kay]

Julie

Yes a litter can contain both Classic and Mackeral pattern Tabbies and as with any colour there are varying shades of brown so it is probable that they are both brown tabbies. Have you posted any pics of them cause I could have a look for you?

[Kay]

Originally Posted by Fran

He is more grey than brown. His under fur is browny/fawny but the tips of his fur are grey?

Fran, I have checked his pics again he is definitely a Brown Tabby but he will carry dilute as Maude is a Blue (grey). They have varying colours/shades of brown in their coats.

[Fran]

Thanks Kay

[Snoof]

Thanks Kay. And thanks again so much for putting the time and effort into this thread. I'm riveted

[bobbie3917]

i think i have got it now about the all reds being tabbies,
its not just reds its all cats. tabbies are either TT or Tt, solids are always tt. the T or t stands for tabby. for either of the tabby markings (Mackerel or blotched) so the cat has to be either TT or Tt to be tabby (T) is dominant then it only needs 1 T to show and the t will be hidden. a solid or self will be tt there for tabby but not showing the patten and there far can not pass T on as it does not have 1 so if breed to another tt they will only have solid/self kittens but if put to a TT all kittens will be tabby or put to a Tt you will get half and half.


to put it easy Frans kittens can not be tabbys as both mum and dad only carry t but if dad was put to my minx she is a Tt (her mum was a solid) then half the litter would be blue tabby and the other half blue solid

hope this helps

[bobbie3917]

ps a tt (self/solid) is say a red cat with red tabby markings or a black cat with black tabby markings and so on and so on...... so the tabby is there you just cant see it

[Fran]

Thanks for that Nat...that really explains things well. But how do the 'ghost' markings work then. Both Maud and Clooney are solids but both of them had tabby ghost markings which have now disappeared. All the kitts do too and I am assuming theirs will disappear also. Are all solids born with ghost markings?