Tabby is the most common cat pattern, but did you know that there are different kinds of tabbies?
There are five types.
Mackerel/striped tabby
Spotted tabby
Classic/marbled tabby
Agouti/ticked tabby
Patched tabby
Mackerel tabbies are the most common type of tabby. They have stripes all on their coat as well as along their sides, which is why some people call them striped tabbies.
Spotted tabbies might be the second most common. They have spots along their side, but stripes on their legs.
Classic/marbled tabbies have thick stripes that swirl together on their sides.
Agouti is a type of fur coloration that causes the individual hairs to possess a banding pattern. The agouti/ticked tabby has a body that appears light brown, tipped with black, with stripes on their legs, and face.
Patched tabbies are most commonly referred to as torbie, which is short for tortoiseshell and tabby. Patched tabbies possess both tabby and tortoiseshell markings.
Then there is the lynx/tabby point. They aren't considered a "type" of tabby but I thought I should include them. Lynx points have tabby markings on the cooler part of their bodies; their face, paws, the tip of their tail, and the tips of their ears.
All tabbies have the letter "M" on their foreheads.
There are three myths surrounding the origin of the "M' on tabby cats' foreheads. One of which is a story that tells of Baby Jesus in the manger; He was cold on that beautiful night so a little tabby cat jumped in the manger and cuddled up with Him to warm him up. (See? Cats aren't evil!). Mary was grateful so she bestowed upon the little cat the first letter of her name on the cat's forehead, the letter "M".
All red cats have tabby markings. Even the red spots and sploshes in calicos and tortoiseshell cats have tabby markings.
The tabby gene is dominant. Meaning that to produce a tabby kitten only one parent needs to display tabby markings.
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