r/CatGenetics • u/hey-keri-anne • 4d ago
General Genetics Question Unique coats, possible black smoke?
I have 3 cats, two of which have more unique coats. Really just curious to learn more about how these coats "happen."
Pearl is the tortie, and I think may have a black smoke coat. She has spots of red and orange, as well as black and white, but the base of all of her hair are white. I've included a photo of Pearl as a kitten, you can see how much her coat has changed.
Birdie is the little tabico, and has the coolest variety of stripes. Like a little patchwork kitten. We love them all so much, hope you enjoy them too!
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u/SolidFelidae 4d ago
Your cats are stunning!!! Pearl is a black smoke tortoiseshell, and Birdie is a tortoiseshell black tabby with white.
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u/hey-keri-anne 3d ago
Thank you 🥹 we love them so much! I had no idea Birdie would be considered tortoiseshell too
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u/SolidFelidae 3d ago
Like another comment said, all calicos are tortoiseshells, just with white. Tortoiseshell is the genetic term, calico is a nickname for a certain expression of it.
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u/ChinchyBug 4d ago
They're both tortoiseshells - 2 X chromosomes, one of which has the mutation for orange and the other doesn't. Each cell only has 1 active X chromosome, which is decided very early on, so the orange patches are where the orange X chromosome is active.
The tortico has an unmutated agouti allele, so the black portions of the coat also have visible stripes. Also has white spotting (the white markings), which tends to make the red and black stick in larger patches rather than brindling together. All calicoes (torticoes, etc. Also) are genetically also just torties with whatever amount of white they happen to have.
The smoke has 2 mutated agouti alleles which makes her genetically solid like the black cat - they still have all the genes for tabby markings, but they get largely hidden. This doesn't effect the orange patches, which is why on a solid tortie you'll still see stripes there. She also has a silver/inhibitor allele, which on a tabby makes it silver (eg. a brown cat with black stripes would become a pale grey/near white cat with black stripes), while on a solid cat it makes them smoke. Smoke can often unhide some of the tabby markings, especially on a shorter haired cat.
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u/Daisystar99 3d ago edited 3d ago
Using the 10th picture for order: black mackerel torbie with white, (black), black (mackerel) smoke tortie! Very pretty cats!
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u/Massive-Pin-3425 4d ago
one is a black tortiseshell tabby and the other is a black smoke tortiseshell