What Color IS My cat?
Below is a list of articles that deal with both determining a cats color and the genetics behind it
CFA Breeds Color Prefix Chart gives the breed color codes which comprise the first four digits of a cat’s registration number. It is NOT a list of the color class numbers (which MAY be the same, but is often different to denote genetic information). Color class codes are found in the Breeds and Standards and in the Show Rules.
Pages with information about color and genetics:
- Basic Feline Genetics
- Hints for Determining a Cat’s Color
- Coat and Color Descriptions – Patricia Jacobberger
- Basic Genetics for the Cat Breeder – Hilary G. Helmrich
- Basic Genetics as Revealed by Cats (external link)
- Cat Body-Type Mutations
- Inbreeding and Genetics – Heather E. Lorimer (external link)
- Pros and Cons of Inbreeding – Sarah Hartwell (external link)
- Genetic Disorders – Kitty Angell
- The Pigment Parade – Lorraine Shelton (external link)
- Solid Colors and Dilutes – Heather E. Lorimer (external link)
- The Orange Gene: Sex-Linked Genetics over Dessert – Jo L. Whitman (external link)
- Sex Linked Orange (external link)
- Tortoiseshell and Tri-Color Cats – Sarah Hartwell (external link)
- The Genetics of Calico Cats (external link)
- Tabby Pattern Inheritance – Heather E. Lorimer (external link)
- Eye Color – Heather E. Lorimer (external link)
- Genetics of the Shaded American Shorthair – Carol W. Johnson (external link)
- The Genetics of Birman Traditional Colors – Michael Olsen (external link)
Color Charts