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Spotted-Tabby-Cat — Cat Genetics Tutorial Part 9 (Hair)
Published: 2016-02-10 01:40:41 +0000 UTC; Views: 18906; Favourites: 157; Downloads: 128
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Description
This tutorial is out of date. Please see more information here .
There are multiple cat genetics tutorials about, but they tend to only cover the basics (base colors, dilutions, tabby, white-spotting, pointism, & tortie/orange). In-depth cat genetics tutorials tend to be lacking. So thus, this. I have no idea how long this will take to be completed. Hopefully before 2016 2017.
Off from (almost all) of the colors, and off into other characteristics. As you might know, not all cats have the same type of fur, and genetics are (normally) to blame. Most common is short hair, which is dominant over long hair (L/l). The long hair depicted here is rather modest, they can get a lot longer. There are also hairless cats, most famously the Sphynx, and this is caused by a recessive gene (Hr/hr). Then there are a whole multitude of rex or curly coated cats. The Cornish (R/r) and Devon (Re/re) varieties are recessive, while LaPerms (Lp/lp) and Selkirks (Se/se) have dominant mutations. Last on my list is the Lykoi, which has a rather unique appearance and coat development, detailed here .
Since it's hard to accurately depict the various hairs, here are pictures:
Longhaired cats
More extreme longhairs
Hairless
Cornish Rex
Devon Rex
LaPerm
Selkirk Rex
Wirehair
Lykoi
Part 1 (Base Colors):
Cat Genetics Tutorial Part 1 (Base Colors)
Part 1.5 (Torties):
Cat Genetics Tutorial Part 1.5 (Torties)
Part 2 (Dilutions):
Cat Genetics Tutorial Part 2 (Dilutions)
Part 3 (Tabby):
Cat Genetics Tutorial Part 3 (Tabby/Agouti)
Part 4 (White-Spotting):
Cat Genetics Tutorial Part 4 (White)
Part 5 (Pointism & Albinism):
Cat Genetics Tutorial Part 5 (Pointism & Albinism)
Part 6 (Silver & Gold Series):
Cat Genetics Tutorial Part 6 (Silver & Gold Series)
Part 7 (Color Changes):
Cat Genetics Tutorial Part 7 (Color Changes)
Part 8 (Weirdos):
Cat Genetics Tutorial Part 8 (Weirdos)
Part 9 (Hair):
Cat Genetics Tutorial Part 9 (Hair)
Part 10 (Tail):
Cat Genetics Tutorial Part 10 (Tail)
Part 11 (Ears):
Cat Genetics Tutorial Part 11 (Ears)
Part 12 (Other):
Cat Genetics Tutorial Part 12 (Other)
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Comments: 11
You've done amazing work here. I was wondering if you could shed (sorry) some light on double coats? I have a black cat who has very sleek, shiny, medium length pitch black hair from her head to the base of her tail, with long, straight, dry (as if her hair had just been blown out), very dark gray hair everywhere else, particularly obvious in her mane and chest fluff. Her brother from what I believe to be the same father is a boring brown broken stripe short hair tabby (black main, brown ground). These are common domestic ferals.
Does she technically have two distinct hair types, or can differences in hormone distribution explain the difference? It's quite a stark contrast.
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Hello, how can you tell if a kitten is a wirehair vs a lykoi? What are the characteristics of a wire hair? Thanks in advance.
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Here are the characteristics of the wirehair coat from the TICA standards: Texture (AS): Hard, natural protective appearance, lustrous but close-lying. Texture (AW): Very dense, resilient, coarse, with crimped hair. The overall springy appearance is of more importance than the crimping of each hair. (www.tica.org/en/cat-breeds/ite… ). And here's the Lykoi standard: Texture: Partially hairless. Undercoat is minimal; longer guard hairs cover body. Amount of coat will vary depending on cycle of hair, but more coat is desirable over less coat. Coat resembles the look of an opossum coat. Soft to the touch. (www.tica.org/en/cat-breeds/ite… ). In general, the Wirehair will be fully furred, with the coat being more hard and coarse, as if it is literally made of wires, with crimping evident. Lykois will show some degree of hairlessness, and the hairs will be generally straight and feel soft. Hopefully this helps you!
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Hi, I hope you can help me. I have my cat from an animal shelter and he is a mixture of different breeds. The fur on his belly is quite long, and extremely soft, almost as soft as a rabbit. It seems to be only undercoat hairs at the belly. At the rest of the body he has some normal hairs, but mostly undercoat, so he has a very thick (and slightly long) fur.
His tail has long hairs, but the hairs always stand out to the sides, so it is a very wide tail.
I was really hoping you could tell me something about the genetics, because I would love to know which breeds might have similar hair.
Here are some photos, you might see the dense hair. When he sees another cat, the tail will get twice as wide.
www.facebook.com/dionebo/media…
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The link isn't working, but your cat sounds like a fluffy long-haired cat. In most cases, mixed-breed or 'mutt' cats don't exist the way they do in dogs. Dogs were deviated into 'breeds' earlier than cats, hence most dogs that aren't a specific breed are a mixture of these breeds; cats, on the other hand, were differentiated into 'breeds' from wild-breeding populations. Most dog wild-breeding populations come from breeds, and most cat breeds come from wild-breeding populations, hence a different term, 'moggy' is used with them. Because of this, you cat is probably a moggy, and not really a mix of breeds. Most longhaired breeds of cats would probably have similar hair though. Maine Coons, Persians, Norwegian Forest Cats, Siberians, and longhaired varieties of shorthaired breeds (i.e. Nebelung, Balinese, etc.) would be a good place to start looking and researching. The tail getting wider when in the presence of other cats (being surprised) is common to cats, it's called a bottlebrush tail when it's all puffed up.
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Hi, thanks for your reply. I'm sorry the link doesn't work, I will try a different way to post photos, do you have any suggestions? The thing is that I have never seen another cat with this kind of hair, also not with this kind of tail, it is wide, and full with a round top., definitely not pointy like in most long haired breeds. And in relaxed state it looks like a "bottlebrush" tail, when he is around other cats, it is maybe 10 cm in diameter. His fur does not need brushing.
Does this link work?
tinyurl.com/jxz8ydc
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I'm sorry for how late this response is. This second link worked just fine, thank you! Longhaired cats with rounded tail tips isn't that rare (x , x ). As for the puffed up tail, some cats just have thicker tails. I know of no genetic factors. Most cats generally don't need their hair brushed that often, they're pretty good about keeping everything in order themselves.
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My mother took in a calico cat last year from an animal hoarder and it is very strange looking. For some reason it's head is small and kitten looking while it's body is a normal adult size. And what really confuses us is how it's fur is all short except it's tail which is longer haired, yet not like a full huge fluffy Persian's tail is either. She might be a Chimera as she looks like a normal orange and white tabby cat, but with black spots. So is it possible for one of them to be both a long and short haired cat somehow, as they are 2 different cats fused together? We thought when we first got her she was a semi-longhaired cat but with only long hair on her tail it doesn't seem likely.
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Do you happen to have any pictures? From your description, I'd be inclined to say that she is not a chimera, because even if fur length changed with chimerism (which I'm not sure it does as I've never heard anything about any relation between fur length and chimerism), it'd correspond to the differently colored areas, and since it's only affecting her tail I find that unlikely. And it is possible for genetically red cats to have black flecks, particularly around the face. It is somewhat similar to freckles in humans. You can find some more information on them here: vetmedicine.about.com/od/disea…
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Just took this photo today of Missy: i1161.photobucket.com/albums/q…
And what I mean is she looks as if she should be a normal orange tabby cat but at the last minute black large spots got put on her making her look like a calico. So she kinda looks like Venus the Two Faced Cat who is a chimera cat.
In the photo you can even see her odd puffed up looking tail, most people seem to think she was startled seeing her tail looking like, that but it's always that way even when she is asleep.
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To me, she looks like a pretty standard calico/tortie with white. Her tail is odd, and I don't think I've ever seen a cat with a tail like that. Since the long fur is only on the tail, and does not correspond to any color changes in her fur pattern, we should be able to rule chimerism out. My best guess is either:
A. Perhaps some nerve damage/strange arrangement of the hair follicles causes them to poke out in the bottlebrush shape, like a scared/startled cat.
or
B. For some reason she has a longhair gene expressing in an odd pattern due to other genes/a mutation.
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