Tabby Cat Species

The tabby cat is mistaken to be a breed of cat and the fact is that it is not a breed. Tabby is referred to the stripes, the coloring, and the spots on the body of the cat. A tabby cat can be any breed of cat with the tabby pattern coat. The term “tabby” has been derived from the Arabic word “attabiyah” means silk stripes. 

Found in Persia the cats coat was silky and they had stripes while some of the same breed did not have stripes. People found this very unusual and later it was found that it was more of a defect being passed on from the cat’s ancestors and hence started being called the tabby cat.

 

The common coloration found in a tabby cat is red and brown stripes or silver and grey stripes. They come in variations among different breeds of cats. Sometimes the coat is also spotted distinctively. Many tabby cats also have an M marked on their forehead seeing which you can easily tell it is a tabby cat. There are many misunderstandings among people about tabby cats and what they do.  

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Calico cats are house cats or pet cats commonly found in many homes. It is also a common belief that most of the Calico cats are females and not all. Many people think the calico cat is a female cat and this information is wrong. The majority of the calico cats are females. Cat experts have studied the cause for this and found that the reason is a genetic one.

 

Actually if you think about it the tabby patterns extends over a different kind of cat species. Like tigers are the striped tabbies, the leopards are the spotted tabbies and so on. The domestic cats are the ones that have the most common tabby patterns.

The tabby pattern becomes very clear when one takes a closer look at the cat, and they can see that it is actually the hair color pattern. No two tabby cats look exactly the same and if one takes a closer look they can clearly see that the differences in pattern are demarcated.

The pattern varies in many different ways like for example there are the striped tabbies that have vertical stripes all over their body and are also called the mackerel tabbies because of the fishbone kind of stripes on their body. Another variant is the blotched tabby that has stripes in a blotched pattern and sort of round stripes and circular stripes. This is also called the marble pattern in tabbies. The ticked tabby is variety that has subdues stripes all over their body and the markings cannot be seen very clearly.

Apart from the different kinds of tabby patterns the tabby cats also come in different color variations like tabby blue, red, black, chocolate, cream and other color variations. Calico cats are more specific in their color gradation but not the tabby cats. Sometimes it does get difficult to tell the difference between a calico cat and a tabby cat if not for the M marking on their forehead.