Kitty Coats
Lili Chin
Kitty Coats is a NEW 18"x 24" poster of domestic cat coat colors and patterns. My main reference was Joumana Medlej's poster “Guide to Housecat Coat Colors and Patterns” which happens to be a thing that Mambo (our longhaired black cat with a white locket) is obsessed with. For some reason he visits this poster every day, sniffs and licks it.
My version of domestic cat coat colors and patterns is a simpler and more stylized chart, does not include every possible variation, but covers the most common colors and patterns. I was inspired by the amusing and endearing nicknames that go with some of these coat markings. (e.g. “calico” and “mask and mantle” are informal names rather than scientific ones)
Two things worth mentioning:
- Coat colors are not synonymous with breeds even though people often make the mistake of conflating the two. For example, Siamese (breed) cats are identified by their seal point coats and Burmese (breed) cats by their seal sepia coats. However, these two color point coats could also belong to any no-breed domestic cat. In other words, a Siamese is always a seal point but a seal point is not always a Siamese!
- An interesting tidbit: ALL cats are genetically tabby! Even solid colored cats. We don’t always see a cat’s tabby markings due to the presence of other genes that mask their tabby patterns. Our cat, Shimmy has very faint tabby markings on her tail, but she would be classified as a solid gray and white tuxedo kitty.
Both Kitty Coats and Catalogue posters are available to purchase in my shop. Look under CATS.
