|
Broken
Colors: Tortoiseshells, Bicolors & Tricolors
Tortoiseshell
is the mixing of two or more distinct colors; one
of the colors is red or cream. The black/orange
tortie will be familiar to most readers. In
pedigree cats, well defined patches of each color are preferred. Cats with tabby markings on a
tortie background are known as tabby-torties/patched
tabbies/torties. Where the hairs are mixed
together, the cat is referred to as brindled.
Almost all tortie/tortie-and-white cats are
female; males do occur sometimes but they are
either infertile or they have a genetic condition
called "mosaicism" and do not bred true.
 Tortoiseshell: Black/Orange (tabby
markings visible on the orange patches)
Dilute Tortoiseshell:
Blue-Cream (tabby
visible on cream patches)
Brown Tortoiseshell:
(Burmese version of
black/orange Tortoiseshell)
Chocolate (Chestnut) Tortoiseshell:
Warm
milk chocolate, red, and cream
Cinnamon Tortoiseshell:
Milk-chocolate
brown and cream (Burmese)
Lilac (Lavender) Tortoiseshell: Frosty
lilac-gray and cream
The above can occur
in combination with the tabby pattern e.g. Blue
Tabby Tortie, Lilac Tabby Tortie, Silver Tabby
Tortie etc. Solid colors can
occur patched with white e.g. Black and White,
Cream and White (faint tabby markings), Chocolate
and White. Tabby patterns can
occur patched with white e.g. Blue Tabby and
White, Red Tabby and White, Silver Tabby and
White. Ticked colors can occur patched with
white.
Tortie patterns
occur with white e.g. Tortoiseshell & White
(Calico or Mi-Ke in Japanese Bobtail), Dilute Tortoiseshell & White (Dilute
Calico/Blue-Cream and White), Chocolate
(Chestnut) Tortie and White (Choc-Cream &
White/Chestnut Calico), Lilac (Lavender) Tortie
& White (Lilac-Cream & White/Lavender
Calico) etc.
Tortie or Tortie-Tabby
patterns can occur on silver backgrounds e.g. Blue
Silver Tortoiseshell/Tortie Tabby/Tabby, Fawn
Silver Tortoiseshell/Tortie Tabby/Tabby, Red
Silver Tortoiseshell/Tortie Tabby/Tabby etc
and possibly on golden backgrounds though the
genetics of golden are not well understood at
present.
Two others are
Shell/Cameo/Silver/Golden Tabbies and Smoke
Tortoiseshell/Shaded Tortoiseshell which are
described in the section on chinchillas and tipped
colors.
|
