A Michael Broad Blog
In summary, the tabby pattern is the result of agouti-banded hairs clustering in specific regions, directed by genetic factors, and creating visible markings on the cat’s coat. The tabby pattern in a domestic cat’s coat is created by the arrangement of individual tabby hair strands, which exhibit a unique banding pattern of pigmentation. This …
This is an entirely new idea. No one has proposed it before and it is speculative but based on good science. It is known that domestic cats with ginger hair are almost 18 times more likely to develop skin cancer than your typical domestic cat with a different coat colour other than white cats …
Online currently there is a GeoBeats story about an adorable cat called Pugsley who when adopted from a rescue center was orange. It was an extreme case of tyrosine deficiency due to him being on a very unbalanced diet for a long time before he entered the shelter (on my assessment). Normally black cats …
What makes a cat’s fur white? And what makes a cat’s eyes blue? And white cats deaf? I am not referring to albino cats by the way. White fur White fur contains hair shafts in which there is no pigment called melanin. White is the absence of colour. Technically you might say that white …
Here are 9 facts about feline ‘freckles’ aka lentigo. Lentigo can infrequently cause alarm in cat owners. One asked on social media: “What is this all over my cat’s nose and mouth? And are there any possible treatments?”. They were referring to their ginger cat above. The words come from a Reddit.com user, and …
In the unlikely event that your black cat has turned a rusty red in normal lighting conditions, there is a possible cure: change his food. Food can alter the appearance of a cat, specifically the colour of his coat. You may have heard of this. It is an interesting topic but, if I am …
A fully illustrated page on the self, tipped, shaded, smoke and ticked (tabby) cat coat hair strands and the positioning of pigmentation which is called melanin (eumelanin). Melanin is created in pigment producing cells called melanocytes in the skin. Their operation is dictated to by the genotype of the cat. Here are the various …
Cobweb leopards exhibit a form of vitiligo which in humans produces patches of pale, white skin due to a lack of melanin being produced by pigment producing cells called melanocytes. Glasgow Zoo, Scotland acquired a 10-year-old black leopard from Dublin Zoo, Ireland in the early 1980s. She was a cobweb leopard as she exhibited …
