She was said to be a “bullseye” tabby, as she had stripes in big spirals on her sides. JJ was mostly a gray with silver and tan in her stripes. The Science Behind the Fur: What Makes Black Cats Black?.

Cat Genetics: Facts on 6 Unusual Coat Colors and Patterns.

7 Genes that Control Your Cat’s Fur Color.

Siouxsie: If you want to learn some cool stuff about the genetics behind cat fur, check out these articles Mama wrote for Catster: Thomas: Almost every cat breed carries the tabby gene, even Siamese cats!īella: After looking at all these tabby cat pictures, what color tabby do you think Thomas is? Give us your guesses in the comments and tell us about the tabby cats you’ve known and loved. Again, this pattern isn’t common in regular cats, but Bengals, Savannahs and Ocicats have spotted tabby coats. Siouxsie: And the spotted tabby looks a lot like a wild cat. You don’t see this pattern much in regular domestic cats, but the Abyssinian is a great example of a ticked tabby. I see a lot more mackerel tabbies than blotched tabbies!īella: The ticked tabby has bands of stripes on each individual fur. I don’t know why they’re so classic and mackerel tabbies aren’t. Those cats are called classic or blotched tabbies.

Thomas: Some tabbies have big, wide stripes that form round shapes on their sides. Siouxsie: Speaking of stripes, tabby cats with narrow stripes like Thomas are called mackerel tabbies or “tiger cats” back in New England where we came from. Thomas: Why? Are you embarrassed to have stripes? Are stripes embarrassing to you? *sniffle*īella: Oh, Thomas, of course not! I just like the idea of being a black cat, that’s all. In the bright sunlight, you can see Bella’s stripes.

Field of dreams cast