This darling Yellow Tabby is a Domestic Short Hair!
Unfortunately, this is another victim of our damaged camera card!
The original coat color and pattern of our modern cats came from the native African wildcat -- a striped tabby that utilized its coat color to hide from larger predators and to creep upon unaware prey.
Modern cats come in four basic marking patterns -- striped (also called mackerel), blotched or classic, Abyssinian or ticked, and spotted. All are mutations of the original coat color and markings.
Striped or mackerel patterns are usually narrow, parallel stripes that originate as dark near the spine, run down and around toward the belly, - fading as they go - and disappearing into the white of the belly. Stripes or mackerel patterns were predominant in Europe for centuries until the "classic" , a blotched pattern with wide stripes that swirl and blotch along the sides and legs emerged.
Ticked tabbies have clear subtle markings on the head, legs and tail. The body is usually light with soft flecking and striped legs and tail. This pattern is very similar to the wildcat. It is interesting that this pattern became more predominant in Asia than in Europe. Other tabbies have spotted bodies with striped legs and tails, caused by the stripe pattern being broken up.
Bicolored (2 colored) cats usually have a white underbelly with a saddle of color over their back. Some longhair or shorthaired bicolored cats are predominantly white with the colors only on the head and tail.
The colors of a cats' hair is produced by skin cells that form into patch shapes during the fetus's development and control the feeding of pigment into the hair shafts. A gene called the inhibitor gene allows pigment to fill only the first part of the hair to grow. This produces a variety of subtle patterns that appear to change as the cat moves. Different degrees of shading give us shaded and silver colors and silver tabbies, which have appreciable colors, and "frosted" coats.
Other genes also restrict colors by producing a heat-sensitive enzyme in the pigmenting cells on the skin that inhibit color production. The animals' extremities , the ears, feet, tail and nose), have a lower temperature and permit color production usually darker on the points and lighter on the body.
When the color is restricted to the animals extremities, it’s called “pointing”.
Other genes also restrict colors by producing a heat-sensitive enzyme in the pigmenting cells on the skin that inhibit color production. The animals' extremities , the ears, feet, tail and nose), have a lower temperature and permit color production usually darker on the points and lighter on the body.
When the color is restricted to the animals extremities, it's called “pointing”.
This is a domestic Short Hair, the most predominant domesticated cat in the world. Although they originated in Egypt, their body type and weight has slowly evolved over the centuries to adapt to the region of the world where they live. Stocky cats with water-repellent topcoats and dense undercoats that held the warmth evolved in the Northern climates, while smaller, longer, leaner cats with thin, sparse coats that let the heat dissipate developed in the warmer parts of the world.
We are pleased to welcome this darling Yellow Tabby to our practice!
