Silver tabby cats is a phrase to describe a coat effect rather than a color. So a silver tabby cat is one where the agouti hairs, the base coat hairs under the black or darker stripes, have lost some of the individual color stripes that make up the agouti pattern – it does not follow that a silver tabby is a grey and black tabby (although some of the most popular silver tabby cats do actually appear this way). With this gene, the colors are reduced and the hairs at the skin are white – creating not a smoked tabby but a silver tabby cat! Silver Tabby Cat Color Options Normally the agouti hairs would have bands of several colors along their lengths. This means the black or darker hairs that form a tabby cat’s markings are unaffected but the underlying base coat agouti hairs lose some of their color. Silver tabby cats have exactly the same gene! Whereas, in a solid-colored cat the gene affects all hairs, in tabby cats the gene only interferes with the agouti hairs. But what does this have to do with silver tabby cats? When you part the fur you notice that the hair nearest the skin is white and colors towards the tips of the hairs! This is due to a specific gene, inhibitor gene I, that creates this effect in their coat. This creates an odd effect on their coat where they appear to have a smoky colored coat. Have you heard of smoke cats? Smoke cats are actually closely related to silver tabby cats!Ī smoke cat is a full single-colored cat that has fur that is white at the skin end of the hair and colored toward the tips of the hairs. Read on to learn what a silver tabby is and which cat breeds are most likely to offer a silver tabby cat option.
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