Tagged: tabby

Stunning black mackerel tabby male cat

Are all domestic cats tabbies?

When you look at domestic cats today, you see a very wide range of coat types and colours. You would be deceived into believing that all domestic cats are not tabbies but technically they...

Common agouti

What does ‘agouti’ mean in cats?

We see the word ‘agouti’ used a lot in the world of cats, particularly the world of cat breeders. This is because it is a word that indirectly refers to a very common type...

Melanin granules in a hair shaft

What is eumelanin in cats?

Eumelanin is a pigment in domestic cats and other animals (and humans). It is often referred to as melanin but in fact there are three different types of melanin: eumelanin, pheomelanin and neuromelanin. The...

Spinning wheel cats image

What is a tabby cat?

A tabby cat can be any one of the following: a random bred domestic cat, a feral cat, a stray cat, a community cat or a purebred, pedigree cat and even a wild cat;...

Picture of striped tabby cat

Pictures of striped tabby cats

Striped tabby cats are also called mackerel tabbies in reference to the skin of the fish by the same name. This is the ancient type of tabby pattern close to the one we see...

Campus Kitty Banned

What types of tabby cats are there?

There are five types of tabby cat coat with many variants due to selective breeding over many years. On this page you will see illustrations of the five types of tabby coat together with full descriptions and some history.

Why are tabby cats called tabby cats?

Why Are Tabby Cats Called Tabby Cats?

Tabby cats are called tabby cats because of the description of their coat which is derived from the name of watered silk called ‘Atabi’ from the Attabiah district of Baghdad, Iraq. The silk has a similar appearance to the mackerel tabby coat.

Tabby Hair Strand

Agouti Cat Color

The agouti cat color refers, in fact, to a coat pattern; a type of cat coat and in fact the most common cat coat. The word “agouti” is the name given to a coat...

Are tabby cats male?

Are tabby cats male?

No. People ask, “are tabby cats male?”. They should ask “are red tabby cats male?”. To which the answer is: there are more male red tabby cats than female tabbies. To an informed cat...


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