Traits

Hairless, aka Sphynx, is a gene that causes a cat to have little to no hair on their bodies. "Peach fuzz" around the extremities, particularly the nose bridge, is common.

A cat who presents Hairless should have 80% or more baldness/skin showing. For partial baldness, see Lykoi.

Additionally, Hairless has a unique interaction with Rex fur. Although more uncommon than Rex fur, Hairless will present over Rex fur when both are present. A cat with Rex and Hairless is allowed a larger variation in baldness, but must be at least 50% bald.

Examples:

• ReRe: Normal fur
• hrhr: Hairless
• rehr: Hairless, carrying the Rex gene.
  
• Rehr: Normal fur, carrying Hairless gene.

Angora is a mutation that causes the fur of a cat to grow even longer than a longhaired cat, regardless of their Fur Length gene. This may occur in patches (creating a flowing tail or a "hair style", for example) or all over the body.

The Agouti gene controls the color banding in a cat’s fur. In Pigmented cats, Solid still presents with tabby markings, but these can be made more subtle for artistic interpretation. 

This gene determines whether a cat is Tabby (AA or Aa) or Solid (aa). Tabby is dominant over Solid.

Design Note: A Black cat with Tabby will present as a Brown cat with Black striping.

See also: Charcoal

There are two default varieties of Tabby that can be further modified by other genes.

Tabby comes in Mackerel (McMc/Mcmc) or Classic (mcmc). Mackerel is thinner striping that typically runs perpendicular to the fur, whereas Classic is thicker, more swirled striping.

There is a rare Agouti variation called Charcoal (APbAPb), which is partially dominant over Solid (aa), and will only present if there is no dominant Tabby (AA). Charcoal is a darkening and bleeding of the tabby markings especially around the face and back striping, producing a more striking contrast between the base coat and the tabby markings.

Examples:

• APbAPb: Charcoal
  
• aa: Solid
• AAPb: Tabby carrying Charcoal
• APba: Charcoal carrying Solid.

Spotted (SpSp or Spsp) is a dominant gene that breaks Mackerel Tabby stripes into spots. A cat with only one copy of this gene will have their tabby stripes broken up, refered to as Broken Tabby, but not fully spotted.

Only visible on Mackerel cats, though Classic cats can be carriers. 

Examples:

• spsp: Normal Tabby
• Spsp: Broken Tabby
• SpSp: Spotted Tabby

Normal Tabby vs. Broken Tabby vs. Spotted Tabby

Ticked (TT or Tt) is a dominant gene that overrides any Tabby pattern with Ticking, usually presented as fine speckling on the main body. Face markings remain untouched, and some striping may still occur on the neck, legs, and tail.

Heterozygous Ticked (Tt) may optionally "mask" less of the the Tabby pattern underneath it.

Examples:

• McMcTt: (Het) Ticked Mackerel Tabby
• mcmcTt: (Het) Ticked Classic Tabby

The Bengal Modifier (BmBm or Bmbm) is a dominant gene that alters Tabby markings. It turns the tabby markings into a two-tone marking and generally looks more like wild cat markings. Turns Mackerel into Braided, Classic into Marble, and Spotted into Rosettes. 

Examples:

• McMcBmBm: Braided, aka Mackerel Modified
• mcmcBmBm: Marbled, aka Classic Modified
• McMcSpSpBmBm: Rosettes, Aka Spotted Modified
  
  Edge cases:
• mcmcSpSpBmBm: Marbled (Rosettes Carried due to Spotted only modifying Mackerel)
• McmcBmBm: Braided (Marbled Carried)
• McMcSpsp: Braided/Rosettes mixture, Broken Mackerel Modified.
• McmcSpspBmBm: Braided/Rosettes mixture carying Marble!

Braided (Mackerel) vs. Marbled (Classic) vs. Rosettes (Spotted)

Also known as Karpati, Roan (KK/Kk) is a Dominant gene that causes a cat to be born with extra white hairs that darken over time.

Roan cats can become fully colored with only occasional white speckling, present as salt and pepper (black/gray with white speckling), or present white points (like an inverse Siamese/Colorpoint.)

White genes overlap all other markings. There are several different kinds of white genes.

White Spotting is the most common white gene. A cat can either have no white (ww), low white spotting (WSw which has 1-50% coverage) and high white spotting (WSWS which has 51-100% coverage).

These are basic ranges for Low Spotting (Left 2) and High Spotting (Right Two). These are only guidelines to give you a rough idea of how much a cat with White Spotting should have.

See Also: Dominant White, White Spotting, White Gloves, Albino

White genes overlap all other markings. There are several different kinds of white genes.

Dominant White (WDWD, WDw, WDW,  WDwg) is a dominant gene (surprise!), that presents as a 100% white cat, covering all markings. These cats often have blue eyes and are more likely to be deaf than their counterparts, but are not required to have either.

See Also: White Spotting, White Gloves, Albino

White genes overlap all other markings. There are several different kinds of white genes.

White Gloves (wgwg) is a recessive gene that results in white paws. A carrier of this gene that also has White Spotting will have white paws and optionally any amount of white spotting, while a cat who has two copies of this gene will only show white on their paws.

Examples:

• ww - No white (unless Albino is present)
  
• wgw - No white
  
• wgwg - White gloves
• WSwg- White Spotting with White Gloves
• WDwg- Dominant White carrying White Glove

See Also: White Spotting, Dominant White, Albino

Curled Ears (AcAc or Acac) is a dominant gene that causes the ear pinnae to curl or sweep back on themselves, and are rigid to the touch.

Folded Ears (ScSc or Scsc) is a dominant gene that causes the ear pinnae to be weak, resulting in ears that fold over on themselves.

In New Paths, having two copies of this gene results in a cat being stillborn.

Absent Pinnae (apap) is a rare, recessive mutation that causes cats to be born without ear pinnae.

Duplicate Pinnae (dpdp) is a rare, recessive mutation that causes cats to be born with a second, smaller, pair of ears behind the normal ears. These are apparently non-functional and may be no more than ear flaps with no middle or inner ear section. This can also manifest as “butterfly” ears, with lobbed pinnae.

Asian Bobtail (JpJp or Jpjp) is a Dominant gene that causes tail kinking and shortening. A cat with one copy of this gene will have a slightly shorter than normal tail with a kink, known as Kinked Tail, while a cat with two copies will have a kinked bobtail. This most resembles a rabbit’s “cottontail” tail. 

"jp" is the gene for a regular tail and is used with all tail mutations that interact with each other.

See also: Manx Bobtail

Kinked Tail (Jpjp) vs. Asian Bobtail (JpJp)

Manx Bobtail (Mbjp) is a dominant gene that causes a cat to have a shorter tail or no tail at all. The main difference from Asian Bobtails is that Manx tails do not have natural kinks.

Additionally, in New Paths, having two copies of this gene results in a cat being stillborn.

"jp" is the gene for a regular tail and is used with all tail mutations that interact with each other.

See also: Asian Bobtail

The Ringtail gene (rtrt) causes a cat’s tail to curl towards its back. This has several variations, with some cats able to uncurl their tail, others being almost prehensile, or partially stiff and unable to uncurl.

This is a recessive gene, so a cat with (jptr) would be only a carrier of the gene.

Munchkin (Mkmk) is a dominant gene that causes a cat to be born with smaller legs in proportion to the rest of their bodies.

Additionally, in New Paths, having two copies of this gene results in a cat being stillborn.