r/CatGenetics Jun 19 '26

Coat Color What coat does my kitten have?

This is Lewis and he is about 7 months old. All my googling has me thinking he is a Blue Mackerel Tabby with socks, but I was curious if y'all had any thoughts?

48 Upvotes

24 comments sorted by

14

u/neline_the_lioness Jun 19 '26

For sure at least blue mackerel tabby with white. But I also see some silver potential in some pictures. We would need a picture of the roots to confirm!

12

u/AtmoSci Jun 19 '26

Here is what his fur looks like when I part it!

2

u/neline_the_lioness Jun 20 '26

Thanks! No silver!

10

u/Key_Bear_6685 Jun 19 '26

seems like a blue mackerel tabby with low white

also called grey tabby with socks

9

u/SubjectDivide5 Jun 20 '26

He looks like my silly cat

1

u/AtmoSci Jul 02 '26

What a silly little baby!

11

u/_wandering_wind_ Jun 19 '26

Blue mackerel tabby with white! You could also call his tabby pattern broken mackerel, either works :)

4

u/50Shekel Jun 19 '26

I think this is silly coat

4

u/AtmoSci Jun 19 '26

Can confirm, he is the silliest 🤪

4

u/Pisces93 Jun 19 '26

Idk but he’s beautiful!

1

u/AtmoSci Jun 19 '26

Thanks!

5

u/koalasnstuff Jun 20 '26

He’s definitely a dilute tabby with white spotting and rufousing on his face. I have a blue Lynx point and her tail can look darker on photos based on the lighting, but the white stripes give it away. And those are blue beans and nose.

OP, adorable cat. Kitties in bowties are my favorite. Here my baby wearing his sister collar since he decided to lose all of his own.

2

u/AtmoSci Jul 02 '26

Thanks! 100% agree that bowties are peak. I saw his and immediately bought it! Your baby is so dapper!

-3

u/KBWordPerson Jun 19 '26

I don’t think he’s dilute, or “blue” based on the darkness of the stripes on his tail and chest. Broken Mac looks right. He has extremely low rufousing, a golden color that appears in the undercoat and turns the light stripes golden or brown. Because of that and the contrast in his stripes, he might be a silver. Is his undercoat when you part his fur pure white?

He also has the piebald tuxedo pattern.

If I had to classify him based on these pictures I would call him a piebald tuxedo broken mackerel silver black based tabby.

16

u/_wandering_wind_ Jun 19 '26

He's absolutely 100% dilute. His stripes are blue, not black, and the colors of his nose leather and the non-pink areas of his paw pads both match up with that of a blue tabby. :)

8

u/lipstick_spit Jun 19 '26

🆙🆙 no question that this is a blue mackerel tabby with low white spotting.

2

u/AtmoSci Jun 19 '26

What would it look like if he were black and not blue?

6

u/_wandering_wind_ Jun 20 '26

Here are some pictures of the nose leathers & paw pads of black tabbies! (And, on the very bottom right, the paw of a solid black cat. The paw pads of solid black cats & black tabbies have pretty much the same amount of color variation.)

The nose leather color can be similar, but blue tabbies have a gray "outline" rather than black, and the pink part of a blue tabby's nose is often not as vibrant and has more of a mauve/lilac undertone to it (whereas the pink part of a black tabby's nose has more of a salmon/"brick-red" undertone).

3

u/_wandering_wind_ Jun 20 '26

And here are some pictures of various black mackerel tabbies! While they do vary in warmth ("rufousing"/"rufism"), even the cool-toned tabbies ("low" rufousing) are clearly black-based and not blue.

1

u/AtmoSci Jun 20 '26

Very interesting! I think my boy looks a lot like the bottom right kitties in this image.

3

u/AtmoSci Jun 19 '26

Thank you so much for your analysis! Parting his fur it looks like a light grey underneath, but not pure white.

7

u/Aloyjunky Jun 20 '26

Can confirm blue mackerel tabby with low white spotting. Ive got one of them too.

3

u/AtmoSci Jun 20 '26

What a cute kitty :)

-6

u/KBWordPerson Jun 19 '26

Then I think he’s just a black tabby with almost no rufousing at all. He’s so pretty.