So that's what she is...! (found out my cat's coat color)

[Ryuukokoro]

So you may or may not know Mango, the cute little girl kitty who came to live with me after getting stuck in the wall of someone's house last winter. She is so gorgeous, words cannot describe! Well I mean, it is difficult lol. But I shall try: She's sort of a brown/orange tabby with black markings, but the stripes are on her tail and legs, while they break up into sort of stripy-spots on her body. Her brown/orange is closer to brown on her body, but closer to orange around her face and ears, and also lightens to cream on her muzzle and underbelly, while the bottoms of her feet (fur included, not just pads) are completely black. Also, if you part her hair you can see she has two coats, because the brown/orange color stops halfway down and the fur close to her skin is completely black, like she has a black undercoat. Also a weird thing: when she sheds, if you pick up one of the hairs and looks closely, you will see there are layers of color! Usually the bottom is black, then a band of lighter color, then another band of black, then another band of lighter color. It's really neat!

Well I've never seen a cat like this before and didn't know if it was an official coloring or not, but either way she sure is pretty! I was just calling her a spotted tabby until now. But when I came home from camping today my dad said he was googling around and he found out what she is: agouti!

I don't have any clear photos of her (cell phone pics do not do her justice) so here is some google pics:

[Sunchaser]

hmmm makes me wondr if thats my cat but i think she has more stripes then spots >.>

[springacres]

Actually, all tabby cats are agouti no matter the pattern.  Yours sounds to me like a spotted tabby, but here are a few examples of different types of tabby:

http://www.messybeast.com/images/wild-abyssinian.jpg (ticked tabby)
http://fr.academic.ru/pictures/frwiki/66/Brown_spotted_tabby_bengal_cat.jpg (spotted tabby as sometimes seen in the Bengal breed)
http://www.enchanted-tails.com/Vasilisa_IlluminatiLftProfile_5monsmr.JPG (another example of Bengal spots)
http://aargeeem.com/mimages/oGRCBraxisPic.jpg (spotted tabby Egyptian Mau)
http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/873/65007266.JPG (mackerel tabby)
http://www.seregiontica.org/Colors/tabby/brclassictabby2.jpg (classic tabby)

*not a genetics freak, honest! -lol-*

[Ryuukokoro]

Ah, thanks, spring! She looks closest to this:




But with a bit more black markings on her.

So agouti isn't that special, eh? It's just a fur type? Nuts, I was thinking of maybe entering her in those cute little cat shows. (Not the professional ones, obviously, since she was a stray and I don't know her pedigree, but there are fun cat shows around for pet owners who have pretty pets.)

Well either way, she is still a pretty girl. ^^

[Keilin Alyr]

I wanted to say something about that actually. I didn't think agouti was a color in cats. I thought it was the gene that caused tabby striping in cats. She does sound really pretty though.

EDIT: Actually, is the brown and orange distinct on her coat? Maybe she's a torbie, a tortoiseshell tabby: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3446/3222030910_4486401256.jpg

From my limited understanding, black is a common base coloration in cats, dogs, horses, and other animals. The basic agouti gene modifies and restricts the placement of that black pigment on another color coat, whether the markings shows up as banding (dogs), tabby stripes (cats), or... what appear to be points (horses).

I probably botched that explanation horribly and I know I overcomplicated it, but it's what little I remember from high school biology. XD

But I find it interesting that agouti is considered common because the markings provide camouflage. Then breeders come along and encourage flashier variants of the traits, like shaded sable, classic tabbies, and perlino dun roans. It's amazing what beauty can come from simple natural designs. =)