What is a dilute coat color in cats?

by Michael Broad · March 1, 2020

Dilute tortoiseshell. Photo in public domain. You can see in her facial expression that she is female (nearly all torties are female).

The term ‘dilute’ refers to the weakening of the colours of a cat’s coat as if watered down. The colours are paler. Cat breeders can deliberately create this colour by selective breeding of pedigree cats.

Dilute Calico cat (Tortie-and-white). Photo: public domain now.

When the cat coat’s color is diluted it is due to the presence of two mutant recessive d alleles in the place of the dominant gene D (dd – called ‘maltese dilution’ after cats imported from Malta in the early years of the cat fancy).

These alleles have an affect on the production of pigment granules in the hair. The granules become enlarged and uneven. This creates a dilute appearance.

Diluted black produces grey (gray) as we know and in the cat world the colour is called blue as it is a blue/grey. Perhaps the best know blue cat is the blue British Shorthair.

‘Tawny’ a dilute torbie cat. Photo: Mark Swartz.

Below is a chart showing the diluted colours.

Solid color	Diluted	double dilution
black	blue	caramel
cinnamon	fawn	?
chocolate	lilac	taupe
red	cream	apricot

Dilute cat coats can be further modified by the dilute modifier gene (Dm). This could be called double dilution. This gene only affects dilute cats coats. The diluted black that became blue takes on a brownish colour and is called caramel (hence the term that this gene “caramelizes the colour). Lilac becomes taupe and cream becomes apricot.

Blue British Shorthair TYBA. Photo copyright Helmi Flick

Some examples of the use of the term ‘dilute are: dilute cameo, dilute cameo tabby, dilute tortoiseshell, dilute calico (tortoiseshell-and-white), dilute tricolour (blue + cream + white). The word ‘dilute’ is used when describing a coat with a pattern which is paler as opposed to a solid colour when the new colour only becomes the description as follows:

Diluted chocolate becomes lilac, cinnamon becomes fawn and red becomes cream. The color of the cat’s eyes remain unaltered.

Donna Andersen says:
April 1, 2021 at 10:38 pm
I am trying to figure out my kittens proper color. She is a torbie with white. Am told mink. However, I can’t find what mink is diluted from….I’d guess chocolate. ???? Her mink is two-toned, meaning some is darker and the rest lighter, and her orange is very dilute….a soft peach. I’m wondering…..in her descriptive color, do I use “Dilute Mink Torbie with White?” or, is the color mink already explaining that she is “dilute” in both mink and cinnamon/red???
Thank you!!
- Michael Broad says:
  April 2, 2021 at 5:51 am
  Wow, she is special 🙂 . Are you sure that the color mink is a dilute form of another colour? Sarah Hartwell says: Mink (Colour Restriction) – Intermediate between sepia and pointed; the points (face, legs, tail) are a darker version of main body colour.