Tabby CatsA Field Guide to Coat Patterns

Reading a tabby's face

Cat registries describe the M as a mark of every tabby pattern. Mackerel, classic, spotted, ticked and rosetted tabbies all show it. A cat-welfare group calls it the hallmark of the tabby.

So the M tells you about the pattern, not the family tree. A pedigreed Bengal and a mixed-breed cat from a shelter can both wear one.

The face helps most when the body gives few clues. A ticked tabby's body looks evenly flecked, yet its face, legs and tail usually still carry markings such as the M.

A pattern, not a breed

Tabby names a coat pattern. Many pedigreed breeds are defined by tabby patterns or allow them, including the Maine Coon, Egyptian Mau, Ocicat, Abyssinian, Singapura and Bengal. Tabby patterns are also common in ordinary mixed-breed and feral cats.

A mixed-breed cat with short fur is usually called a domestic shorthair. That name describes coat length and mixed ancestry. It is not a breed either.

Color is a separate question. The tabby pattern can be combined with many coat colors, and registries name brown, silver, red, cream and chocolate tabbies, among others. The color belongs to the coat; the pattern is what makes the cat a tabby.

How a stripe is built

Registry descriptions call the mackerel's body stripes narrow and pencilled. They run from the spine down toward the belly. The legs are barred with bracelets, the tail with rings, and distinct necklaces cross the neck and chest. Geneticists describe the same pattern as narrow stripes with regular spacing.

Look closer and a tabby coat has two layers. The lighter background is made of agouti hairs, each with alternating light and dark bands. The dark stripes appear where solid-colored hairs replace the banded ones.

Individual cats vary in how crisp their markings are. One mackerel can look sharply drawn and another softly smudged, and both are still mackerels.

One gene, two coats

Registry descriptions of the classic tabby call for broad, swirling markings and a butterfly shape across the shoulders. On each side sits a large solid blotch circled by one or more unbroken rings. Geneticists describe the pattern as wide whorls.

Geneticists also found the gene behind the difference. Cats with a working copy of Taqpep have mackerel stripes. Changes that knock the gene out widen the narrow stripes into the whorls of the classic tabby. Other genes shape the other tabby patterns.

A cat gets one copy of the gene from each parent. One mackerel copy is enough for mackerel stripes, so mackerel is called dominant. A classic tabby has two blotched copies.

A hidden copy

Because one mackerel copy is enough, a striped cat can carry a blotched copy without showing it. Two mackerel parents can even have a classic kitten, if both carry a hidden blotched copy.

Hidden copies are common. Geneticists report that the blotched version turns up in most feral cat populations, even though mackerel is the older pattern. Because blotched is recessive, many striped cats can carry it unseen.

The newer pattern

Despite its name, the classic tabby is not the older pattern. The wild ancestors of house cats were mackerel-striped, and the blotched pattern arose from a later change in Taqpep.

Ancient DNA from cat remains shows that the blotched version became common only after the Middle Ages. The researchers place its start in the Ottoman Empire. Tabby cats shown in pictures from the Middle Ages are mostly striped.

After that, the blotched coat spread fast. In 1758 the naturalist Carl Linnaeus described it as typical of the domestic cat, before most modern breeds existed. Researchers report that it was quite common by the 18th century.

Mistaken for a new species

The 2012 study that tied Taqpep to mackerel and blotched tabbies also found a Taqpep change in king cheetahs. In these rare cheetahs, the usual spots run together into larger blotches, with dark stripes along the back.

King cheetahs were first described as a separate species. Scientists later recognized them as cheetahs with a single-gene trait. The trait is recessive, much as the blotched tabby pattern is recessive in house cats.

Wild king cheetahs have been seen only in a small area of sub-Saharan Africa.

Spotted tabbies

In the spotted tabby, the body markings are spots instead of long stripes. The spots vary in size, shape and arrangement from cat to cat.

The rest of the coat still reads as tabby. The face has the usual tabby markings, including the M, and the legs and tail are barred.

The Egyptian Mau and the Ocicat are breeds selected for spots. What makes a cat spotted rather than mackerel is still unknown: geneticists have not yet found the cause.

Ticked tabbies

A ticked tabby has almost no stripes on its body. Each body hair carries bands of light and dark color, so the body looks evenly flecked. The face, legs and tail usually still show markings such as the M.

The Abyssinian and the Singapura are ticked breeds. Their coats show how far a tabby can drift from stripes and still be a tabby.

Stretching, not adding

Studies of cat embryos found stripe-like zones of thick and thin outer skin that match the coat the cat will have. The thick zones mark fur that will later be dark. All this happens before pigment cells enter the skin and before hair follicles form.

Later, each hair grows from a follicle, a tiny pocket in the skin. Follicles in dark stripes make about twice as much of a signal called Edn3 as follicles in light areas. High Edn3 makes dark pigment, and low Edn3 makes yellow. Taqpep is thought to set up the map that decides where Edn3 is high.

Each patch of hair keeps its light or dark identity as hair regrows. So a kitten's stripes stretch with its body instead of multiplying. Many fish are different, because their stripes can change in number.

Patched and hidden tabbies

Any tabby pattern can be mixed with red or cream patches. The result is a patched tabby, also called a torbie. The patches may sit apart from the tabby markings or run through them. Most patched tabbies are female, because the patching comes from a red gene linked to sex.

Some patterns hide in plain sight. A solid black cat is still patterned under its dark coat. Some black cats can show faint ghost tabby markings, mostly while they are young, and hidden stripes may sometimes show in sunlight.

Black leopards show a similar effect. Their rosette spots stay visible as even darker marks against the dark fur. The change that makes a coat black does not erase the pattern.

A hello on the cat's terms

Feline welfare guidelines advise people not to force contact. Let the cat start, choose and control it. Get down to its level, avoid staring and give it time to come closer.

Cats vary widely in how much contact they like. Genes, early life and experience all shape that preference. A cat that walks away is making a choice, and so is a cat that leans in.

A cat that knows you can rub its head, cheeks and chin against you. The rub leaves its scent and is a sign of familiarity. Those are also the places where most cats prefer to be petted.

Names and quiet voices

Voices matter too. Loud and unfamiliar sounds, at home or at a vet clinic, can make cats fearful. Background noise that people barely notice may stress a cat, so a soft voice is the kinder hello.

Cats can also hear high-pitched sounds that people may not hear, such as the squeaks of mice. That sharp hearing helps a cat find prey and notice danger.

What a purr can mean

Purring starts early. Kittens can purr while they nurse, and mother cats purr while nursing them.

Purring goes with friendly contact and drowsy rest. Yet cats can also purr when they are stressed or hurt, even at the vet. A purr does not always mean a cat is happy, so read it alongside the rest of the cat.

Some wild cats purr too, such as the puma, the cheetah and the ocelot. The big roaring cats, like lions, jaguars and leopards, do not.

The Near Eastern wildcat

Genetic studies of modern and ancient cats show that house cats were domesticated from the Near Eastern wildcat, also called the African wildcat. That probably happened alongside early farming villages in the Fertile Crescent.

Both Near Eastern and Egyptian groups of this wildcat later added to the house cat's gene pool.

The wildcats house cats came from show a striped pattern much like a mackerel's. That is why geneticists treat the mackerel stripe as the ancestral tabby pattern.

Wildcat or house cat?

A feral house cat with a mackerel tabby coat can look so much like a wildcat that it is hard to tell the two apart by sight. That is one reason scientists use DNA to tell them apart.

Wildcats and house cats can also interbreed, which adds to the confusion.

Where the word comes from

The word tabby began as the name of a cloth. Dictionaries trace it through French tabis to Arabic, after al-'Attābīya, a quarter of Baghdad where the fabric was first made. The cloth was a watered silk.

Only later was the word used for cats with striped or wavy coats.

Dictionaries also list an informal meaning: a house cat, especially a female. In cat genetics and at cat registries, though, tabby names a coat pattern, whether striped, swirled, spotted or ticked.

Chase, pounce, catch

Feline welfare guidelines suggest letting cats act out as much of the hunt as possible through play and feeding. That can mean toys to pounce on and toss, soft toys to rake and bite, and kibble tossed for a chase.

Food can be part of the game too. Hiding food for the cat to find can turn a meal into a search.

Safe toys matter as much as fun ones. Toys with string or small parts should be put away after play, so a cat cannot swallow them, and kittens need toys of a suitable size.

High places, hiding places

Welfare guidelines describe raised resting places, or perches, as a key resource. A perch adds height to a room and can let a cat watch its surroundings.

Hiding is a normal way for cats to cope when stressed, or to avoid people and other animals. A cat can have its own hiding places, such as a cardboard box on its side or a carrier. A perch on top of a hiding box can help a cat feel safe.

Reading a coat from a distance

Choose a time when the cat is already awake and settled. Sit where it can see you and leave freely. Never call, chase, lift or block the cat; if it comes over, let it decide how close to get.

Read the coat in a fixed order. Start with the forehead and look for the M. Then check the legs and tail for bars and rings. Last, study the sides, where the pattern shows its name.

Narrow stripes mean mackerel, and a blotch circled by rings means classic. Spots mean spotted, and an even fleck means ticked. Red or cream patches on any of these make a patched tabby, and most of those are female.

A sample watch

Five minutes with the cat on the shelf, written up. Saw: a dark M above the eyes; rings on the tail; thin stripes down one side; a yawn, then a turned back. Guessed: a mackerel tabby, fairly sure. The far side stayed hidden, so a bullseye there is not ruled out.

Six myths, checked

Myth: Tabby is a breed. Tabby is a coat pattern. It appears in many pedigreed breeds and in mixed-breed cats.

Myth: Tabby means a female cat. That is only an informal meaning listed in dictionaries. In cat genetics, tabby names a pattern.

Myth: The classic tabby came first. Despite its name, the classic pattern is the newer one. The mackerel stripe is the ancestral coat.

Myth: The king cheetah is a separate species. King cheetahs are cheetahs with a single-gene recessive coat, caused by a change in Taqpep.

Myth: Cats can see in total darkness. Cats can see much better than people in dim light; veterinary sources put it at about six times a person's sensitivity. With no light at all, though, they cannot see.

Myth: A purring cat is always happy. Cats can purr when content, but also when stressed or hurt.

Feature cards: stripes and swirls

Feature cards: more patterns

Food, water and a calm trip

Cats need nutrients that come only from animal foods. A complete, balanced cat food, chosen with a vet's advice, meets those needs. Cats cannot taste sweetness, so a cat that seems keen on a sweet food is probably after its fat and texture.

Cats need clean, fresh water at all times. Welfare guidelines suggest giving food, water, litter, scratching, play and rest each their own place, with food and water kept apart.

A familiar carrier can be a safe hiding place, not just a ride. With the cat's own bedding inside, it smells like home, and a blanket over part of it lets the cat hide.

At the clinic, quiet voices help, because loud, unfamiliar sounds can frighten cats. A vet can check a new cat as soon as possible after it comes home.