Coloring cats: the most incredible options

Thanks to constant crossbreeding and various experiments, felinologists managed to bring out a lot of feline colors, many of which look simply amazing and unusual. However, the genetics of cats’ colors even made the most extraordinary colors standard for certain breeds: these standards should correspond not only to the color of the cats, but also to the color of their nose lobes, paw pads and eye color, and only this strict correspondence can be considered proof of the cat’s true identity. to a particular breed.

In general, the color of cats is finally established only by six months of a kitten’s life, and until that time it is very difficult to determine what color his coat will be. Moreover, some colors (for example, tortoiseshell cats or cream-blue) are sex dependent and can be found only in cats or only in cats. Other colors are directly related only to a certain breed. For example, the smoky purple color of cats is practically not at all peculiar to the British, although for this breed such smoky varieties as “black smoke” and “blue smoke” have already been bred.

Unusual colors of cats can be common everywhere, and almost unique. Common types of colors cats can be divided into fairly traditional colors that are found in several breeds at the same time and are “undiluted” – that is, they are practically unacceptable stains. These varieties include, for example, chocolate, lilac or silver colors.

So a chocolate-colored cat can have wool of all tones of brown shade without admixture of other colors and patterns. Also, such an animal cannot have a pronounced gray undercoat or white hairs, and the paw pads and nose-tip should also be “chocolate”. Similar requirements should have a silver color of cats, as well as purple. These tones should be smooth and soft, with a pleasant tint and brilliance. At the same time, cats should not have a gray or white undercoat and white hairs, as well as an extraneous pattern of other colors.

Also, the specified colors, including the tortoise (tricolor – black, white, red) can be smoky, which is created due to the presence of thin silver-white or even “gray” tufts of wool, which are almost invisible to the naked eye, and a silver-white undercoat. Such color of cat’s fur looks contrast: while the animal is calm, it seems monotonous, but as soon as it starts to move, a soft silver undercoat becomes noticeable.