GENETICS OF COAT COLOUR INHERITANCE
AGOUTI – TABBY PATTERNS
Rufous polygenes affect base coat. Cats shown are all Agouti (AA) and genetically Black.
| Ticked (m) Mackerel Ticked (m) Mackerel ~ Classic Ticked (m) Classic Ticked ~ non-ticked (m) Mackerel Ticked ~ non-ticked (m) Mackerel ~ Classic Ticked ~ non-ticked (m) Classic Mackerel Mackerel ~ Classic Classic |  Choose Colour of Sire | Ticked (m) Mackerel Ticked (m) Mackerel ~ Classic Ticked (m) Classic Ticked ~ non-ticked (m) Mackerel Ticked ~ non-ticked (m) Mackerel ~ Classic Ticked ~ non-ticked (m) Classic Mackerel Mackerel ~ Classic Classic | Choose Colour of Dam |
Males and Females Symbol ~ denotes “carrying”, (m) denotes “masking”
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NON-TICKED TABBY
Non-Agouti eumelanin masks Tabby Pattern. See Examples below:
 aaBBDDtataTtb non-Agouti nonTicked Black (m) non-blotched ~ blotched | X |  AaBBDDtatatbtb Brown Classic Tabby ~ non-Agouti | = | ||
 AaBBDDtataTtb Brown Mackerel Tabby |  AaBBDDtatatbtb Brown Classic Tabby |  aaBBDDtataTtb aaBBDDtatatbtb Black |
 | AaBBCCDDtataTT Brown Mackerel Tabby ~ non-Agouti | X |  AaBBDDtatatbtb Brown Classic Tabby ~ non-Agouti | aabbcscsDDtataTT non-Agouti nonTicked Chocolatepoint (m) non-blotched | = |
AaBbCcsDDtataTT Brown Mackerel Tabby | aaBbCcsDDtataTT Black |
Note 1: Non-Agouti kittens may be be born with Tabby Markings which disappear with maturity.
Note 2: Phaeomelanin does not effectively mask Tabby Patterns so that a non-Agouti Red may be indistinguishable from an Agouti Red.
SPOTTED TABBY
Dominant Spotted gene (or group of genes) breaks up non-ticked Tabby Patterns. See example below.
 | SpsptataTtb Spotted Mackerel ~nonSpotted & Classic | X | | spsptatatbtb nonSpotted Classic | = |
Mackerel |  Spotted Mackerel | Classic |  Spotted Classic |
