Hello students! Today we are going to learn about cat coat patterns and since Harley is our test subject, we will focus on bicolor cats. A bicolor or piebald cat is caused by the white spotting gene, resulting in a coat that is white and one other color. When the spotting is black, these cats can be referred to as cow cats or when the black is dominant, tuxedo cats.
Bicolor cats come in many different patterns and varying degrees of spotting as this diagram demonstrates:
Here is Harley, showing off his black and white bicolor coat. He is especially proud of his black mask and the “guyliner” around his eyes.
Let’s examine his coat and see if we can determine which pattern Harley’s coat most closely resembles. I think he would be considered a “Mask and Mantle” coat pattern. What do you think?
You could also refer to Harley as a cow cat. The fact that he sometimes wears a cheesehead hat is even more proof that he’s a cow cat, in my opinion. So far, I have not heard him moo.
And look what I found when I examined the underside of Harley’s paw! He’s a cow cat for sure!
What is your favorite kind of cat coat pattern?
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2 Comments
Oh we love cow cats! I think his paws show that he is. My human never thought to look for the little cow on the toes!
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Daisy the Curly Cat Reply:
February 25th, 2013 at 2:10 pm
Harley is very proud of the cow on his footpad!
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Maybe he is distantly related to the cowGOATS we have here on the Farm. What do you think?
I will have to have the publicist examine Harry the Farm cat to see what he is.
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Daisy the Curly Cat Reply:
February 25th, 2013 at 2:11 pm
Wow Pricilla, maybe he is!
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