| KaDoKits Exotics presents Basic Cat Color Genetics... Basic Cat Colors As I have said elsewhere, I am not an expert and I am learning new things all of the time. There are plenty of terrific websites you can visit to learn about cat breeding genetics. Please visit my links page to see some sites you may like to check out. My goal in creating these genetics information pages is to try to offer simplified color & pattern breeding genetics FAQs relating specifically to a SILVER TABBY EXOTIC breeding program. This information is based on what I have learned from the internet, other breeders, some yahoo discussion groups, and my own background. Thank you to all who have contributed! |
| The Easy Part ________________ Most of the time, people want to know... "How do I get (produce) a silver tabby Exotic" and/or "What color kittens can I get from such-and-such parents?" __________________ This is the Easy Part.... ...no matter what color or pattern your cat is, it is basically one of two colors... BLACK or RED When asking yourself one of the above 2 questions, always, always, start with the Easy Part is your cat BLACK or RED or BOTH (tortie)? CFA has terrific color breeding pages that I will use as a reference throughout... http://www.cfainc.org/breeds/genetics-faq.html http://www.cfainc.org/breeds/chart-solid.html * |
Basic Rules to Remember You need to commit these rules to your memory and apply them before you start trying to figure out anything more about your cat's color or the color of potential offspring. 1. The Easy Part....black or red or both? 2. Color is sex-linked....the gene is on the X chromosome only 3. Males are XY so can only be ONE color....black OR red. If a male is BOTH (a tortoiseshell), then he has XXY, an extra female sex chromosome, and will probably be sterile. 4. Females are XX so can be black OR red OR both (a tortoiseshell); they have a color gene on EACH X chromosome! A black female has 2 black genes A red female has 2 red genes A tortoiseshell female has 1 black gene and 1 red gene =^O.O^= Be firm on this... There's only black and red COLOR Everything else is a modification of black or red by other genes We call these modifications other "colors", but for the purpose of this discussion, the only COLORS are BLACK and RED. These are also called Dominant or Dense colors. |
| Modification of Dilute The Dilute gene is a separate allele from the black or red color gene. The dilute gene turns... If a cat has 1 dilute gene, it "carries" dilute. It is still a dominant color. It can produce dilute kittens when paired with a mate that also has a dilute gene. If a cat has 2 dilute genes, then it IS a dilute. It will produce only dilute kittens when bred to another dilute. It can produce dilute kittens when bred to a dominant colored cat IF that cat carries a dilute gene. You MUST have dilute on both sides of the pedigree for you to produce a dilute kitten. You CAN get dilute kittens from 2 dominant colored cats IF both PARENTS carry a dilute gene. The dilute gene is RECESSIVE so you need 2 copies, one from each parent, for you to have a dilute colored kitten. |
| black into blue photo courtesy of and property of Sunsoar Exotics |
| tortoiseshell into blue-cream photo courtesy of and property of Panei Exotics & Persians |
| red into cream photo courtesy of and property of Panei Exotics & Persians |
| black photo courtesy of and property of Sunsoar Exotics |
| red photo courtesy of and property of Sunsoar Exotics |
| tortoiseshell photo courtesy of and property of Sunsoar Exotics |
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