Guide to Cat Coat Colors and Patterns

Point Pattern Colors

• Seal Point: cream/pale fawn body, deep seal brown points
• Blue Point: bluish white body, slate blue points
• Caramel Point:cafe-au-lait color points
• Chocolate Point: ivory body, milk chocolate points
• Cinnamon Point: milk-chocolate color points
• Fawn (Light Lilac) Point
• Lavender Point: pinkish lilac points
• Lilac (Frost) Point: glacial white body, frosty pinkish gray points
• Red (Flame) Point: creamy white body, deep orange to red points
• Cream (Ivory) Point: creamy white body, buff-cream points.

Chinchilla (Shell), Tipped (Shorthair Tipped), Shaded & Smoke Color Group

Chinchilla (shell) is the lightest tipping; hair tip is colored and hair shaft is silver, giving a sparkling appearance. Shaded is next degree; color extends further along the hair shaft, darkest on the back to create a mantle of shading. Smoke is heaviest tipping; undercoat color is reduced to a small band near the hair root, the cat appears to be solid with pale ruff/frill until the coat is parted or the cat is in motion. In the golden series, the undercoat is gold rather than white. The terms "chinchilla" and "shell" are mostly used for longhairs (Persians), in shorthairs this is called tipped.

• Silver series: White undercoat with color tips.
• Golden series: Gold undercoat with color tips
• Shell: Chinchilla tipping
• Cameo: red (a term sometimes used in longhairs with red on a silver undercoat)
• Cream Cameo: cream (dilute of Red/Cameo)
• Silver Tabby: Colored markings on silvered/ivory ground color e.g. Red-Silver (Cameo) Tabby which is red on ivory.
• Tortie Chinchilla/Shell Tortie/Silver Tortie: Pale undercoat tipped in tortie combination of colors.
• Shaded Tortie/Tortoiseshell Shaded Silver: Pale undercoat tipped/shaded with tortie combination of colors (e.g. black red and cream). Tipping ranges from shell (chinchilla) to shaded.
• Smoke Tortoiseshell/Tortie Smoke: Pale undercoat smoked with tortie combination of colors. Undercoat only visible when cat is in motion.
• Silver Patched Tabby: Colored markings on silvered ground color interspersed with patches or red and/or cream (or other tortie combinations).
• Golden Patched Tabby: Colored markings on golden ground color interspersed with patches or red and/or cream (or other tortie combinations).

The first chinchillas/shaded silvers/smokes were longhairs which had black tipping or shading. Black on silver gives:

• Chinchilla: aka Silver/Silver Chinchilla/Tipped (called Burmilla in Asian group of cats)
• Shaded Silver: blue/green eyes, darker than Chinchilla
• Masked Silver: shaded silver with dark face/paws
• Pewter/Pewter Tipped: orange-eyed Shaded Silver
• Silver Tabby: black tabby markings on silver background
• Black Smoke: looks solid black until you part the fur which is pale near the roots