Cat Coat Colour & Pattern Decoder
Choose colour, pattern and extras — and discover the official name of your cat's coat, how the genetics work and the stories that go with it.
Step 1 — Base colour
Step 2 — Pattern
Step 3 — Extras
black mackerel tabby
🧬 How the genetics work
- Black is the 'default colour' of the cat: the pigment eumelanin at full strength. The B gene produces black; nearly all other colours are variations on this.
- Tabby requires the dominant agouti gene (A): each hair gets light/dark banding. The mackerel allele (Mc) then draws narrow vertical stripes over this.
💡 Three facts about this coat
- Black cats can 'rust' in the sun: their coat takes on a reddish-brown sheen when sunlight breaks down the pigment.
- 'Mackerel' refers to the fish — the stripes resemble its skeleton. It is the ancestral pattern of the African wildcat, the ancestor of all domestic cats.
- Every cat — including this one — genetically carries a tabby pattern. Whether you see it depends on the agouti gene that switches it 'on' or 'off'.
🔮 Cats with this coat are known as…
Striped cats are known as the 'original model': clever, no-nonsense hunters. According to legend the tabby received its 'M' on the forehead as a blessing — a story found in both Christian and Islamic tradition.
With a wink — scientific evidence that 'coat colour = character' is thin, but the stories are too good not to tell.
Cat coat colours: how it all works
All cat coat colours trace back to two pigments: eumelanin (black) and phaeomelanin (red). Every other colour is a variation on those two. Blue — what cat people call grey — is diluted black, cream is diluted red, and chocolate and lilac are rarer mutations of that same black pigment. On top of that comes a pattern: solid, tabby (striped, spotted, blotched or ticked), tortoiseshell, colourpoint as in the Siamese, or a combination with white. With the decoder above you click colour, pattern and extras together and get the official name, the genetics in plain language and three facts about that exact coat type.
Interesting to know: the coat often hints at ancestry. The mackerel tabby pattern is the ancestral pattern of the African wildcat, the forerunner of all our domestic cats. Once you have decoded your cat’s coat, save the official name to the cat passport with one click. Still looking for a name that suits that special coat? Try the cat name generator.
Frequently asked questions about cat coats
Why are tortoiseshell cats almost always female?
The gene for red sits on the X chromosome. A queen has two X chromosomes and can therefore carry both black and red in her coat at the same time — combined with white this produces the calico pattern. A tom has only one X and is therefore either red or black. A male calico occurs only with a rare chromosomal anomaly (XXY) and is almost always sterile; it happens in roughly one in several thousand calico cats.
What does ‘tabby’ actually mean?
Tabby is not a breed but a pattern. The most common variant is the mackerel tabby — narrow, continuous stripes running down the flanks, rings around the legs and the characteristic M on the forehead. It is the most common coat pattern in domestic cats and simultaneously the oldest — wildcats still wear it as camouflage.
Are ginger cats always male?
No, but mostly: about three quarters of ginger cats are male. Because red sits on the X chromosome, a ginger queen needs the red gene from both parents, while a tom only needs to inherit it from one. Ginger queens do exist, they are just considerably outnumbered.
Does a kitten’s coat colour change?
Yes, it can. Colourpoint kittens are born almost white and develop colour in the first months on the cooler parts of the body: ears, muzzle, paws and tail. In other cats too, the coat can darken or warm in tone as they mature, and in old age grey hairs sometimes appear — just like us.