Complete Guide to Cat Fur Patterns, Colors, and Markings

British Longhair kittens with different fur patterns, colors, and markings

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Domestic cats exhibit a wide spectrum of fur colors and patterns—from sleek solid coats to tortoiseshell, calico, and smoky variations. Each of these unique coat types provides a wealth of information about the cat’s genetic background and makeup. If you’ve ever admired a cat’s striking appearance and wondered about its color or pattern, this comprehensive guide will satisfy your curiosity.

1. Solid

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Solid cats have one consistent color throughout their coat without many markings, though some solid cats have small white markings on their chest, face, belly, or paws. Cats with larger white markings that make up more than 25 percent of their coat are generally considered to be bicolor rather than solid.

2. Bicolor

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Bicolor cats are at least one-third white and one other color, such as black, gray, brown, orange, or cream, with or without tabby or other markings. Bicolor patterns can be further broken down into specific variations depending on how much white appears on the body, and its placement:

3. Tuxedo

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Tuxedo cats are mostly solid colored, with white on their chest, belly, paws, whiskers, and possibly the face.

4. Mask-and-Mantle

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Solid colored on the top half of the body (back, head, and top half of the face), with white on the lower half face, chest, belly, and legs.

5. Cap-and-Saddle

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More white than mask-and-mantle coats tend to be, with color only on the top of the head and a smaller portion of the back.

6. Harlequin

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Mostly white (about three-quarters of the body) with large patches of color, which can appear anywhere on the body.

7. Van

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Mostly white with a solid-color tail and small patches of color on or between the ears.

8. Tabby

Tabby is the most common pattern seen in domestic cats. Tabby cats are generally thought of as striped, but tabby markings can also appear as swirls (marbling), spots, or ticking. All tabby cats have an M-shaped marking on their forehead. There are five different types of tabby markings, including:

Classic Tabby

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The classic tabby pattern consists of dark, bold, marbled swirls, whorls, or blotches on a lighter ground color, such as brown, gray, or orange. Classic tabby cats often have a bullseye or target marking on their sides and might have a butterfly-shaped marking over their shoulders and back.

Mackerel Tabby

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The mackerel tabby pattern is what many people picture when they imagine a tabby cat. The mackerel pattern consists of dark, vertical tiger stripes, which may be continuous or broken, on a lighter ground color. Mackerel tabbies usually have a dark stripe running down their back and a ringed tail.

Spotted Tabby

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Spotted tabby cats have dark spots of color rather than stripes or swirls, though the legs and tail might be striped. As with the classic and mackerel tabby patterns, the ground color of spotted tabby cats is lighter than the spots.

Rosetted Tabby Pattern

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A variation of the spotted tabby pattern is the rosetted tabby pattern seen in Bengal and Savannah cats. In this pattern, the spots are two-toned, with each spot outlined in a slightly darker color. The base color of the coat is lighter, usually gold, silver, or brown. Rosetted tabby spots look much like the markings seen in large wild cat species like the jaguar and leopard.

Patched Tabby (Torbie)

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Patched tabby, also called torbie, combines two color patterns: tabby and tortoiseshell. The result is a two-toned tabby cat with patches of two colors, for instance, brown or gray tabby with patches of orange or cream intermingled in the tabby pattern.

Ticked Tabby

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Although it does not consist of stripes, swirls, or spots, the ticked tabby pattern is genetically a tabby pattern. A telltale sign is the M-marking seen on the foreheads of all tabby cats, including ticked tabbies.

The ticked tabby pattern, which is seen in several breeds, including the Abyssinian, Somali, and Singapura, is the result of the agouti gene, which creates alternating dark and light bands of color on each individual hair, causing a ticking effect. The base color of the coat is lighter (red, cinnamon, beige, grey, or brown), with darker ticking on the hairs.

Grizzled Tabby Pattern

A variation of the ticked tabby pattern is the grizzled tabby pattern seen in Chausie cats. The ground color is light with dark tips on each hair, which gives the cat a grizzled or frosted appearance.

9. Tortoiseshell

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Tortoiseshell is a beautiful color pattern that’s a mix of two colors—black and orange—which are mottled together in an asymmetric pattern that resembles a tortoise’s shell. As unique as fingerprints, no two tortoiseshell cats will have exactly the same pattern. Due to the genetics that create the tortoiseshell pattern, torties are almost always female.

Dilute tortoiseshell

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A variation of the classic tortoiseshell pattern, dilute tortoiseshell is a mix of blue (cool grey) and cream, rather than black and orange. It is the result of a fading gene that creates lighter colors.

10. Calico

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Calico is a tricolored pattern made up of large, irregular patches of black, orange, and white. As with the tortoiseshell pattern, calico cats are almost always female because the genes that create the color pattern are sex-linked.

Dilute calico

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A variation of the classic calico pattern, the dilute calico is a mix of blue (cool grey), cream, and white, rather than black, orange, and white. Like dilute tortoiseshell, dilute calico is the result of a fading gene that creates lighter colors.

11. Colorpoint (Pointed)

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Colorpoint is the pattern seen in Siamese cats and related breeds. Colorpoint cats have a lighter colored body with darker “points” of color on the extremities (the head, tail, and feet). The original pointed colors recognized in Siamese are known as traditional or classic point colors. Traditional point colors are solid and include seal point, blue point, chocolate point, and lilac point.

In later years, other solid point colors, as well as patterned point colors, were introduced into Siamese and related breeds like the Colorpoint Shorthair, Colorpoint Longhair (Javanese), Balinese, Tonkinese, and Himalayan.

Seal point: An ivory, cream, or fawn body with dark-brown points.
Chocolate point: A cream or fawn body with brown points that are lighter than seal point.
Blue point: A pale, blue-white body with blue-gray points.
Lilac point: A pale cream body with pinkish-gray points.
Red point/flame point: A creamy-white body with orange points that can range from dark to light shades.
Cream point: A creamy-white body with very light, cool-toned orange points.
Cinnamon point: A light cream body with warm, reddish-brown points.
Fawn point: An off-white body with warm, rose-pink mushroom points.
Tortie point: A light body with tortoiseshell-patterned points.
Lynx point/tabby point: A light body with tabby-patterned points.
Tortie lynx point: A light body with tortoiseshell-patterned points.

12. Mink

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The mink pattern is similar to the colorpoint pattern, but the contrast between the body and the points is more subtle. Mink cats should have aqua eyes. The mink pattern, which is seen in Burmese and Tonkinese, comes in several warm-toned colors, including natural (sable brown), platinum, champagne, and blue.

Bengal cats also come in a mink color pattern, which is a cream, ivory, or beige base color with brown, chocolate, or charcoal spots and aqua eyes.

13. Sepia

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The sepia pattern is also related to the colorpoint pattern, but a different version of the colorpoint gene results in solid, even color throughout the body with very little contrast between the body and the points (compared to colorpoint cats, which show much more contrast between a lighter body and darker points of color on the extremities).

The sepia pattern, which is seen in Burmese and Tonkinese, comes in several warm-toned colors, including natural (sable brown), platinum, champagne, and blue.

14. Smoke

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The smoke pattern is a lovely two-toned pattern. At first glance, a smoke cat might appear to be a solid color, but if you part their fur, you will reveal that the coat is white or silver at the base. The color only affects the outer part of the coat, with approximately 50–80 percent of the hair shaft being colored.

Smoke colors, which are commonly found in Persians, Exotic Shorthairs, British Shorthairs, Maine Coons, Norwegian Forest Cats, and Siberians, include:

Black smoke: A white or silver undercoat with black-tipped hairs.
Blue smoke: A silver undercoat with blue-gray tipping.
Red smoke: A creamy white undercoat with red-tipped hairs.
Cream smoke: A white or silver undercoat with cream-tipped hairs.
Chocolate smoke: A white or silver undercoat with brown-tipped hairs.
Lilac smoke: A silver undercoat with pale grayish-brown tipping.
Cinnamon smoke: A white or silver undercoat with light reddish-brown tips.
Fawn smoke: A white or silver undercoat with pale, warm beige or taupe tips.
Black tortie smoke (tortoiseshell smoke): A white or silver undercoat with a mix of black and red-tipped hairs.
Blue-cream smoke (dilute tortoiseshell smoke): A white or silver undercoat with soft blue and cream tips.
Silver tabby smoke: A white or silver undercoat with black tabby markings on the outer tips of the coat.
Brown tabby smoke: A pale silver undercoat with brown tabby markings on the outer tips of the coat.

15. Shaded

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The shaded pattern is similar to the smoke pattern, but less of the outer part of the coat is colored. Compared to smoke cats, in which 50–80 percent of the hair shaft is colored, shaded cats have 25–50 percent of color on the outer part of each hair shaft.

As a result, the color of shaded cats has a gradient, with more concentrated color on the back, flanks, and tail, and lighter color on the belly. Shaded colors, which are commonly found in Persians, Exotic Shorthairs, British Shorthairs, Maine Coons, and Siberians, include:

Shaded silver: A white or silver undercoat with black-tipped hairs.
Shaded golden: A warm, golden undercoat with black or brown tipping.
Shaded blue: A silver undercoat with blue-gray tipping.
Shaded cream: A white or silver undercoat with cream-tipped hairs.
Shaded lilac (lavender): A silver undercoat with pale grayish-brown tipping.
Shaded chocolate: A white or silver undercoat with brown-tipped hairs.
Shaded cinnamon: A white or silver undercoat with light reddish-brown tips.
Shaded fawn: A white or silver undercoat with pale, warm beige or taupe tips.
Shaded tortoiseshell: A white or silver undercoat with a mix of black and red-tipped hairs.
Shaded golden tortie: A warm, golden apricot or buff undercoat with tipping in black and red, or or chocolate and cream.
Shaded silver tabby: A white or silver undercoat with black tabby markings on the outer tips of the coat.
Shaded golden tabby: A warm, golden apricot or buff undercoat with brown tabby markings in black, chocolate, or blue.

16. Chinchilla

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The chinchilla pattern is similar to the smoke and shaded patterns, but only the very tips of each hair shaft are colored—about one-eighth—giving these light-colored cats a beautiful shimmering or frosted effect. Chinchilla colors, which are typically seen in Persians, Exotic Shorthairs, and British Shorthairs, include:

Chinchilla silver: A white or silver undercoat with black-tipped hairs.
Chinchilla golden: A pale honey to bright apricot undercoat with black-tipped hairs.
Blue chinchilla silver: A silver undercoat with blue-gray tipping.
Blue chinchilla golden: An ivory to pale honey undercoat with blue-gray tipping.

17. Salmiak (Grey Tuxedo)

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The newest coat pattern found in cats, called salmiak, popped up in feral cats in Finland in 2007. Cats with the pattern are black or tuxedo, but each hair shaft is dark at the base and white at the tips—essentially the reverse of the smoke pattern.

The pattern makes the cat’s black fur look like it’s sprinkled with salt or sugar, which led to the name salmiak, which is a brand of Swedish salty licorice. Researchers at the University of Helsinki identified a gene variant that creates the salmiak pattern in 2024.

18. Cat Fur Colors

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Cats can come in many different colors—whether solid or patterned—with or without white markings. Different breeds have specific names for colors, as described in their breed standards. Some of the many colors found in cats include: