![]() In the Spotted Tabby the spine line must be broken into spots and a solid spine line in an adult is severely penalised. In different breeds, the Breed Standard will describe the desired shape of the spots which may be round, oval, lozenge, arrow-shaped or some other description – these are achieved through selective breeding. The spots may vary in size and should not be linked or joined or resemble broken bars. The pattern should consist of spots of solid colour on an agouti background. The Spotted Tabby in its very best form is a cat of outstanding beauty. No Ticked Tabby should ever show any ghost markings to the body. These 'pseudo-ticked' are in reality most likely to be 'standard shaded' and are not Ticked Tabbies. In the majority of cases the body markings do not totally disappear even in adulthood but are visible as ghost markings. Some breeders produce kittens which they believe are Ticked Tabbies, these kitens are born as patterned or spotted kittens, and the markings fade as the kittens grow with agouti hairs predominating. ![]() ![]() There should be NO ghost tabby markings on the body As the kittens grow to adulthood the ticking becomes more distinct showing greater contrast to the tail, leg and facial markings. The facial markings should be clear and distinct, in addition there will be a scarab or more likely a skullcap on the top of the head.Īt birth a good Ticked Tabby is almost solid in colour with only minimal markings visible on the face to indicate that they are not Selfs but Tabbies! As the kittens develop the ticking begins to show through and by about three months old the kittens are miniature Ticked Tabbies with ticking showing all over the body. The tummy of the Ticked Tabby will show clear and distinct spots. Breed Standards generally recognise the character of the Ticked gene, and accept that a fully ringed tail is not a realistic requirement in the Ticked Tabby, and also accept that the necklaces, of which there must be at least one, may be broken, in other words not completely joined on the chest. In the heterozygote the tail markings are not complete rings as in the other Tabby patterns, but tend to be on the upper surface of the tail, though like all tabbies the tail tip is of solid colour. An incomplete or broken necklet is also accepted. ![]() The only vestiges of 'tabby pattern' which remain in the Abyssinian & Somali are a solid tail tip, dark fur to the back of the feet, and 'eye liner'. Both the homozygote and the heterozygote will develop a darker dorsal are along the spine and may run along the tail to the solid tip.Ībyssinian & Somali breeders have, over very many years, selected for the homozygous form and animals showing any barring are severely penalised. ![]() In the homozygous form Ticked Tabbies will have a dark tip to the tail, dark fur to the backs of the feet, tabby markings to the face and maybe a darker ‘skullcap’ and possibly a partial necklet, all other parts of the body will be covered by agouti hairs. Because the Ticked gene is incompletely dominant to the other alleles in the series the heterozygous form shows a greater degree of head, leg and tail markings than the homozygous form which has a remarkable absence of barring on the limbs, both having an evenly ticked body. The Ticked Tabby is a peculiar variety in that it has two forms depending on the genotype. The ideal cat would have two or three bands of both the ground colour and the pattern colour, but in reality, this seldom happens and in most breeds, the evenness of ticking is deemed more important. The body fur itself is true agouti, consisting solely of evenly banded hairs. The entire body coat consists of ticked or agouti hairs, and the tabby barring appears only on the head, legs, and tail. It was unknown in the feral population in Europe, though is relatively common in many Asian countries. The gene responsible for the Ticked Tabby pattern is the same as that producing the pattern in the Abyssinian cat, and it is generally from that breed the gene was introduced. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |