# Curious about bicolor white/tabby cats



## RedDirt Cowgirl (Sep 21, 2010)

My newishly adopted cat is such a character! A wonder for catching voles and even digs for gophers. Never noticed beore I got her how common her markings are - don't remember seeing so many cats like this when I was growing up in the 60's.

So I'm wondering if it's just happenstance (here's a fun place to look at: http://messybeast.com/spotted-cats.html) or if there's something going on here. Does white and tabby mix up the perfect cat? :benice:


----------



## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I grew up in the sixties, and though there were plenty of tabby types, I think there were more black and white cats than I see today.


----------



## Patrick (Sep 13, 2011)

White is very commonly mixed with mackerel or classic tabby, either brown, orange or blue. I don't recall seeing it much with ticked or spotted tabbies.


----------



## madness (Dec 6, 2006)

I have one of those beasts too. I thought she was quite unusual looking when we first got her. She was almost all light gray with just her tail being the classic tabby striped and markings on her head and front legs, but as she got older, the rest of her body got a lot darker too!

Day one...before we even let the stray cat in the house!









Almost 2 years later...ruling the roost!









I do see her type of coloring on other cats too now. Never noticed it before!


----------



## lasergrl (Nov 24, 2007)

Madness, your girl is a tabby with the Siamese color point gene. What happens is the cooler part like ears legs and tail will be darker. That's why at first her body was lighter. Lets just say that a cat with a good fat layer will have cooler skin so she got darker  the color is dependent on skin temp. So she is technically a lynx point with white, or tabby point with white depending on who you ask.


----------



## madness (Dec 6, 2006)

Hahaha! As if I needed another piece of evidence that she has gotten a bit tubby!  She discovered that the neighbor feeds his cats outside, then comes home and complains she hasn't eaten all day. It's hard to know when she's telling the truth!

I looked up lynx point and that is sure what she looks like. Thanks! Never knew the official name of her coloring!


----------



## Patrick (Sep 13, 2011)

lasergrl said:


> Madness, your girl is a tabby with the Siamese color point gene. What happens is the cooler part like ears legs and tail will be darker. That's why at first her body was lighter. Lets just say that a cat with a good fat layer will have cooler skin so she got darker  the color is dependent on skin temp. So she is technically a lynx point with white, or tabby point with white depending on who you ask.


Yes. Now why is there no such thing as a black point, especially since there is a blue point?


----------



## Wolf Flower (Dec 21, 2005)

RedDirt Cowgirl said:


> So I'm wondering if it's just happenstance (here's a fun place to look at: http://messybeast.com/spotted-cats.html) or if there's something going on here. Does white and tabby mix up the perfect cat? :benice:


I'm confused (nothing new  ). What is the question? Whether spotted tabbies are more common than they used to be? They've always been quite common at least in my area.


----------



## Wolf Flower (Dec 21, 2005)

Patrick said:


> Yes. Now why is there no such thing as a black point, especially since there is a blue point?


There is, but it's called Seal point, I think.


----------



## RedDirt Cowgirl (Sep 21, 2010)

I was wondering why the bicolor white/tabby has become so popular. I guess white cats used to seem rare, black ones common, and tabbies were all over stripes. Tabbies were the Uber Cat, the Common Cat, but not like a saddle over white.


----------



## Patrick (Sep 13, 2011)

Wolf Flower said:


> There is, but it's called Seal point, I think.


 You're right. Black point manifests as seal. The question is why doesn't it appear as black?


----------



## Wolf Flower (Dec 21, 2005)

RedDirt Cowgirl said:


> I was wondering why the bicolor white/tabby has become so popular.


Popular as in more people own them, or popular as in population growth? I don't think the incidence of the coat color is any more common today than it ever has been.

If you've seen a relatively sudden boom of tabby-and-white cats, there may be a feral colony somewhere in the area where this pattern predominates. In our area, we have a colony of all-white cats dumped in the park years ago. There have probably been 40 generations of "park cats" that are white or white with black spots. There is an organization that captures the cats, and attempts to rehab and adopt out the ones that aren't too wild. So a lot of folks around here have white cats.


----------



## Wolf Flower (Dec 21, 2005)

Patrick said:


> You're right. Black point manifests as seal. The question is why doesn't it appear as black?


It does seem more of a dark brown than true black. I don't know why, it must have something to do with the gene that restricts color.


----------



## tailwagging (Jan 6, 2005)

neat site


----------



## farmmom (Jan 4, 2009)

I love tabbys. My current one has swirly markings, but no white. I had one that looked a lot like Madness' cat and one that was mostly white with tabby spots.


----------



## RedDirt Cowgirl (Sep 21, 2010)

By popular, I mean I see them in advertising and on products. And there were quite a few at the animal shelter when I went to adopt, but I don't think it had anything to do with a local population.

What made me curious is the white component - you know that experiment in Russia to breed domesticated foxes and they started showing white patches - and the supposed link with white coloration and tameness. Are white cats more "tame", ie, longer flight distance, more juvenile characteristics? Are tabbies the ultimate "practical cat"? If the two are mixed, do you get a practical cat with a soft side?

My Keeter is a Tough Cat, but she has such a silly sweet side that's all kitten.


----------



## Wolf Flower (Dec 21, 2005)

RedDirt Cowgirl said:


> By popular, I mean I see them in advertising and on products.


Oh, I see... I hadn't noticed that!



> What made me curious is the white component - you know that experiment in Russia to breed domesticated foxes and they started showing white patches - and the supposed link with white coloration and tameness. Are white cats more "tame", ie, longer flight distance, more juvenile characteristics? Are tabbies the ultimate "practical cat"? If the two are mixed, do you get a practical cat with a soft side?


With domestic animals like cats and dogs, coat color/pattern, ear shape, etc. don't really mean anything in terms of "tame" behaviors. In a sense, the species is already "tamed", so further variations of color etc. are moot. White cats are no more tame than tabby cats, spotted cats no more tame than solids, etc. If you were to judge tameness on coat color/pattern, then all spotted Pit Bulls and spotted Akitas should be tamer than any solid colored Golden Retriever or toy Poodle. And any Rottweiler (drop ears) should be tamer than any Pomeranian (prick ears).

The one exception to this might be the calico cat. Calicos are more fiesty and seem to have sharper survival skills than other cats. Whether this is a gene that is connected to some kind of throwback gene for wildness, or if it's just my own experiences, I don't know--but it is a sex-linked gene, meaning only females can be calico. So it might just have to do with them being female--females are generally more territorial and have quicker tempers than male cats.


----------



## Patrick (Sep 13, 2011)

All true. I would add that the issues with temperament in calicos also extends to the closely related tortoishell, and the dilutes of each. Another generalization that can be made that may be linked to color is that often orange tabby males have very nice temperaments. That's not to say that I have not seen very sweet calicos or aggressive orange tabby males. Another observation that I have made is that often, truly feral cats which do not rely on any human attention such as food or shelter, tend to be brown mackerel tabbies, or self blacks, both wild type colors. Other than these examples, there are few associations that can be made between color and temperament. White or partial white is merely a product of domestication, like so many other colors.


----------



## akane (Jul 19, 2011)

There was an interesting study using gerbils that found the color of the gerbil did impact the amount of various chemicals in the brain. I forget what part that made up the color crossed the blood brain barrier and caused that impact. This could actually make animals of a certain color predisposed to a certain personality and ability to be tame. However the difference found was so minute that environment and other genetic factors were determined to be far more important and unlikely that color would ever play a big enough role to be worth considering when choosing an animal beyond being appealing to the eye.


----------



## Patrick (Sep 13, 2011)

Coat color like any other trait may or may not be also linked to other traits. It depends on species and sometimes even strain or breed. Calico/tortoishell is sex-linked in cats, not in rabbits. Blue eyes, white or albinism is linked to detrimental or even fatal genes in some species or breeds, not in others. Same with blue coat color, crests, etc.


----------



## Wolf Flower (Dec 21, 2005)

Patrick said:


> Another generalization that can be made that may be linked to color is that often orange tabby males have very nice temperaments.


I have heard this from many different people, but had not noticed it myself.



> there are few associations that can be made between color and temperament. White or partial white is merely a product of domestication, like so many other colors.


I do hear dog people swear that, within a breed, different colors have different personalities. I have not noticed this to hold true, however. White and light blond dogs do tend to be more sensitive in their skin and more prone to irritation, but I haven't noticed this sensitivity extending to temperament. I have an all-white Akbash dog who is soft as butter with us, but hard as nails to any would-be predator. He has a very "primitive" temperament and would probably survive in the wild better than my dark colored German Shepherds.


----------



## Patrick (Sep 13, 2011)

I can't even begin to remember all of the inaccurate, hypocritical, false, misleading, untruthful or speculative things that I've heard over the years that some dog people claim. I'd imagine that most of what they claim regarding temperament associated with color, is more likely due to traits that run in a line or strain, rather than the color itself.


----------



## Ross (May 9, 2002)

I have to agree all the orange tabby's (male and female)I've encountered have been very affectionate cats.


----------



## blynn (Oct 16, 2006)

We recently got a cat with similar tabby striped/white splotch markings. She is the friendliest, most laid back kitty I have ever come across. And an excellent killer of bugs.

I don't recall seeing cats with her coloring before, but now I see them everywhere. I suspect it's similar to when you get a new car. Suddenly, you see your type of car everywhere on the road. It's familiar to you now so your eyes can easily pick it out.


----------



## RedDirt Cowgirl (Sep 21, 2010)

I just don't remember as a kid that there was a color mix like this. I would have gone nuts to have a "pinto" kitty! I still wonder if the white coloring is coming with more docile behavior. Never seen a white barn cat. Thankfully, we don't have the abandoned cats (usually preggers or worse) we used to, but white long haired used to be the most common - poor things didn't last long enough to be brought in, a few days and they were gone. The tabbies usually took up secret digs and set about raising their kittens, while the marmalades came readily to a milk saucer on the back steps.


----------



## akane (Jul 19, 2011)

We've had mostly blacks and patched tabbies around here since I was a kid with a few of your usual single color tabbies. No more whites now than there were.
My patched tabby and we had a grey and brown that was a little cleaner marked

















We got mostly black kittens with a few patched tabbies and regular tabby out of them. I think carmel had 2 black, 1 patched like her, and 1 red/orange tabby while the other I mentioned had 1 black, 2 patched, and 2 grey/blue tabby. We tried to spay everything before it reproduced too far but sometimes the money wasn't there or it got forgotten for a litter. We also had a ton of all black litters from strays who would sometimes pop in, drop a litter, and disappear before they were hardly weaned and she could be convinced in to a trap or carrier.


----------



## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

oh we have one, she is our mouser, lives mostly outside but comes in for bad weather, she just hates the dog and being in though.
She was ferel when I aquired her. Quite wild! and had been living in a cat colony. I had managed to grab her up one day while walking and she didn't like that too much LOL


----------

