Understanding the Color Wheel
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Here are some information on what our cats produced and can not produced based on their genetics and pedigrees. We will first start with what colors our Persians produced and can't produced and then what colors our Turkish Angora can produced and can't produced. Base 101 Cat Color Genetics OUR PERSIANS When we get requests for Persian kittens most common honest mistake happens is a person asking us if we have whites with green eyes or do we have a color that is not possible to produced like Himalayan colors or gray or black or red or cream. To save the person some time here's some basic cat color genetics information we will offer and make it fun and simple as possible. White is a masking of color meaning if you picture an orange (red) or gray (blue) or black cat dipped in bleach to make it white. In order to get a white you MUST have a white parent. Here's the color standard from CFA describing the color white. WHITE: coat pure glistening white. Nose leather and paw pads: PINK. Eye color: BLUE or COPPER. Odd-eyed whites shall have one blue and one copper eye with equal color depth. Now here's the color description of both chinchilla and shaded silver. CHINCHILLA SILVER: undercoat pure white. Coat on back, flanks, head, and tail sufficiently tipped with black to give the characteristic sparkling silver appearance. Legs may be slightly shaded with tipping. Chin, ear tufts, stomach, and chest, pure white. Rims of eyes, lips, and nose outlined with BLACK. Nose leather: BRICK RED. Paw pads: BLACK. Eye color: GREEN or BLUE-GREEN SHADED SILVER: undercoat white with a mantle of black tipping shading down from sides, face, and tail from dark on the ridge to white on the chin, chest, stomach, and under the tail. Legs to be the same tone as the face. The general effect to be much darker than a chinchilla. Rims of eyes, lips, and nose outlined with BLACK. Nose leather: BRICK RED. Paw pads: BLACK. Eye color: GREEN or BLUE GREEN Here are some photos between a chinchilla silver and a white Persians below.
As you can see they look similar BUT if you look closer you will see the silver has black rimmed eyes and silver tipped coat while the white has pink rimmed eyes and pure white coat. Silver and Golden Persian breeders must have the knowledge and genetic understanding of properly producing beautifully correct color silver and golden Persians but still keeping the cute persian look. We can't just breed these guys to any other color other then chinchilla and shaded silver or golden Persians. We will add another color persian once in a while to add strength to our lines but when we do that, it's like taken one forward and two steps back. We will have to wait about 2 generations in order to get the color back correctly including the green eye color which the silver and golden Persians are the only ones with this green or blue-green eye color among persians. Most silver and golden breeders will not breed Himalayans in their lines as well. Our persians don't have Himalayans close enough in our pedigrees to produce a Himalayan and you need both parents to have this in order to produce one. OUR TURKISH ANGORAS Our Turkish Angoras do come in a larger range of colors compare to our persians but our main focus is shaded silver, shaded tortoiseshell, silver tabbies and whites. Now remember with whites you must have a white parent in order to develop a white and at this time we do have white parents to produced white kittens. But keep in mind whites are very high demand especially the blue-eyes ones so a waiting list is possible during concern parts of the year. As to our silvers and tortoiseshells we do have a range of colors and shades but mostly in silvers since it's our focus. Here are some color descriptions below of what our Turkish Angoras could produce with some photos attached. CREAM CAMEO TABBY (Cream Silver) (classic, mackerel, spotted): ground color off-white. Markings cream. Lips and chin the same shade as the rings around the eyes. Nose leather and paw pads: pink. SILVER TABBY (classic, mackerel, spotted): ground color pale clear silver. Markings dense black. Lips and chin the same shade as the rings around the eyes. Nose leather: brick red. Paw pads: black.
SHADED SILVER: undercoat white. Mantle of black shading down the sides, face, and tail, becoming paler on the chin, chest, stomach, and under the tail. Face and legs may have darker shading than the body. Black outlining on rims of eyes, lips and nose desirable. Nose leather: brick red. Paw pads: black. BLUE SHADED SILVER: undercoat white. Mantle of blue shading down the sides, face, and tail, becoming paler on the chin, chest, stomach, and under the tail. Face and legs may have darker shading than the body. Blue outlining on rims of eyes, lips and nose desirable. Nose leather: rose. Paw pads: blue or rose. SHADED CAMEO (red shaded): undercoat white. Mantle of red shading down the sides, face, and tail, becoming paler on the chin, chest, stomach, and under the tail. Face and legs may have darker shading than the body. Nose leather, rims of eyes and paw pads: rose. SHADED CREAM CAMEO (cream shaded): undercoat white. Mantle of cream shading down the sides, face, and tail, becoming paler on the chin, chest, stomach, and under the tail. Face and legs may have darker shading than the body. Nose leather, rims of eyes and paw pads: rose. SHADED TORTOISESHELL: undercoat white. Mantle of black and red shading down the sides, face and tail, becoming paler on the chin, chest, stomach, and under the tail. Face and legs may have darker shading than the body. Nose leather, rims of eyes and paw pads: rose to black, may also be patched.
BI-COLOR: black and white, blue and white, red and white, cream and white or shades/patterns and white. White feet, legs, undersides, chest, and muzzle. Inverted "V" blaze on face desirable. White under tail and white collar allowable.
Like the whites explain earlier you must have a bi-color in order to produce more bi-colors. There are three types of bi-colors low bi-colors (see middle cat) meaning low white showing on the legs or just toes of the cat, medium bi-colors (see left cat) meaning medium white showing on all the understand of the cat including the chest and high bi-colors (see right cat) mostly white with patches of colors. The degree of white on a kitten will depend on the level of white the parents have or in their pedigree but most cases we breeders have very little control over of how much white we want on a kitten. When you look at a bi-color cat you think you are seeing a white cat with patches of color when actually it's the other way around. When a kitten is still in the womb they develop their color first being red, black, silver, cameo, blue, or cream and then at the final stages of the color genetics the white gene again is like bleach would start at the belly and then work it's way up the body starting with the legs and feet then around the chest area. Again it depends on mother nature to decide how much little or lot of white she wants on each kitten. You can have kittens in the same litter with bi-colors that are not bi-colors as well. Now you seen some of the patterns and samples of our Turkish Angoras. Let us explain some of the color genetics of how these colors are produced in the cats. Color Wheel of reds(cameos) and blacks(silvers) and the dilute colors meaning blues and creams varies. Just follow the chart and you will have a better understanding of cat colors. To determine the color of a shaded or smoke cat consider only the color of the tipping: Chinchilla or Shaded Silver = Black To determine the color of a tabby cat use the following: Silver Tabby = Black
Based on this chart it's easy to figure what color kittens will be depending base on the color of the parents. Now you have a better understanding of the color wheel. We hope this was helpful in what colors you are looking for and when you talk to breeders. If you still have some questions please feel free to ask us for more information.
References check CFA Website under Standards. |
