Curious Case of Cat Colours!

Saquib Pathan
There are six main coat colours and patterns in cats. These include – Solid, Parti-Colour,Bi-Colour, Tabby, Shaded/Smoke and Colourpoint. In this edition, let’s focus onSolid.
A Solid colour means that a cat has only one colour all over her body. Not even a tiny part has any other colour anywhere else on the body. There is no pattern on the body either.
 
Nine different coat colours
There are 9 colours found in Solid cats – White, Red, Black, Chocolate, Cinnamon, Cream, Blue, Lilac and Fawn. In the cat colour terminology, Amber colour is called Red and Grey colour is called Blue. Out of these, White, Red, Black, Chocolate and Cinnamon are dominant colours, while Cream, Blue, Lilac and Fawn are recessive colours.
 
Theory of Dominant and Recessive Colours
This means that if you breed a Solid Black cat with a Solid Blue (Grey) cat, the kittens will all be Solid Black in colour. Because Black is dominant and Blue is recessive, Black will take over and the kittens will be Black. If you want a kitten with a recessive colour, you need to ensure both her parents have recessive colours. If even one parent has any dominant colour, that colour will come in the offspring. Interestingly, even among the dominant colours, some are more dominant than others. White is the most dominant, Red is a little less, and so on, till Cinnamon which is the least dominant (among the dominant colours). So if you breed a Solid White cat with a cat of any other colour or pattern, you will end up with all-White kittens.This magic of colours that Mother Nature has is truly incredible, just like our feline friends. Watch this space to know more about their coat colours and patterns!
 
(Saquib Pathan is President and Founder Member of The Feline Club of India (FCI).