Tabby cat

Tabby refers to the typical fur drawings of cats if the cat is not a single color or single color with white. There are doing the patterns mackerel, distinguished blotched, spotted and ticked.

• 2.1 African Tabby
• 2.2 rosette pattern

The tabby pattern

Common to all tabby patterns is an M-shaped drawing on the forehead in the base color. Other features of the existence of a drawing are a lighter eye rims, also known as " Tabby glasses", and a lighter border around the ears. Especially some red cats are often incorrectly referred to as " Tabby ", although they are genetically non-agouti, so actually drawing free because in them the really oppressed drawing can be clearly seen as a " ghost markings " yet. This can be useful clues for identifying the Tabby eyes and ears border.

Mackerel

The tabby drawing (English Mackerel ) corresponds to the wild type. The cat has a dark dorsal stripe along the spine and narrow dark stripes running down the side of the body. Tail and legs are curled.

Brindle

The brindle drawing (English Classic or Blotched ) is a mutation of the tabby drawing. The dark bands are widened and shoulders is a butterfly drawing. In the middle of the flanks is in each case a dark spot. Farmers in Europe have tabbies preferred because they could be sure then that it was not to hard to be kept wild cats. Therefore, European house cats are very often brindle.

Spotted

In the stippled drawing (English spotted ) the tiger stripes are dissolved in points.

Ticked

The Ticked drawing ( other name: Abyssinian ) is characteristic of some breeds such as the Abyssinian, the Ceylon cat and the Singapura. Each hair of the cat is multiple light and dark banded, whereby the pattern is completely dissolved and the cat appears colored.

More patterns

African Tabby

This pattern is known from the Sokoke cat and is a modification of brindle drawing.

Rosette pattern

The rosette pattern has been transferred to domestic cats by crossing the Asian Leopard Cat. The ring-shaped spots with bright interior reminiscent of the coat pattern of the leopard.

Genetic basis

Also, the person responsible for drawing gene is called Tabby. Different genes, including the non- agouti gene allele of the agouti (A) and the gene for whiteness (W), covering the tabby pattern.

According to recent genetic research at least three genes are involved in the formation of the tabby pattern:

• The Ticked locus (Ti) is located on the cat chromosome B1. The gene is incompletely dominant in heterozygosity, the cat is still a ring markings on the legs and tail on.

• The tabby locus is located on the cat chromosome A1. The tabby locus is responsible for Tiger stiffeners or brindle, with the striped pattern is dominant. One older result which locates the " Tabby locus " on B1 has the Tabby locus identified with the Ticked locus.

• For the polka dot pattern in the Egyptian Mau, a third locus is responsible. The gene is incompletely dominant, with heterozygosity show the cats a pattern with deformed or broken strips, polka dots.

Each cat has a gene for one of these tabby pattern, even if they appear colored. Different genes, including the non- agouti gene allele of the agouti (A) and the gene for whiteness (W), mask the tabby pattern. Young animals often have even a ghost drawing in monochrome coat, which then disappears in adult cats.