Abyssinians Colours

A Little About Abyssinian Colour Genetics

 

Often referred to as "Abys", and Abyssinian is immediately recognizable by it's "ticked" coat that comes in a number of different colours. Ticked means that the coat lacks most of the classic tabby stripes, except for a few around the face. Without the stripes the coat has a clean, even appearance. The most common colours found are ruddy, cinnamon (red), blue and fawn.

At it's heart, an Abyssinian is a tabby cat with multiple genes that change this basic colour and pattern into the aby coat and colour we see today. A few of these gene are:

• The “Agouti” (A) gene creates the alternating bands of light and dark colour on each hair. Agouti is wild type and is dominant to non-agouti (a).
• The “Ticked” (Ti) gene removes the stripes from the coat, but leaves behind the base agouti pattern. This gene is uncommon in most cats, but has been refined in Abyssinians and Somalis.  
• Rufousing is the enhancement of the base colour caused by rufousing polygene(s) and creates the rich, warm under coat.
• Dilute impacts the intensity of the pigment of both the eumelanin and phaeomelanin of a base colour such as Ruddy and Cinnamon. The dilution of black results in a grey ("blue"), while dilute combined with orange appears as a cream colour, chocolate results in lilac, and cinnamon results in fawn. Dilute is recessive, so the dominant form is called non-dilute (D). Recessive dilute (d).
• Wild type, dominant black (B) creates Ruddy.
  • BB = Homozugous Ruddy
  • Bb = Heterozygouse Ruddy carrying recessive chocolate
  • Bb¹ = Heterozygouse Ruddy carrying recessive cinnamon
• Chocolate (b) is recessive to black, but dominant to cinnamon. bb creates the chocolate Abyssinians. Although chocolate is a genetic possibility, it is not a recognized colour in most breed registries for Abyssinians, but is gaining popularity in some parts of the world.
  • bb = Chocolate
• Cinnamon (b¹) is recessive to both black and chocolate and creates the cinnamon (red) Abyssinian.
  • b¹b¹ = Cinnamon
• Adding recessive dilute (d) to the Ruddy colour produces Blue.
• Adding recessive dilute (d) to the chocolate colour creates lilac or lavender.
• Adding recessive dilute (d) to the cinnamon colour produces Fawn.

 

Ruddy:

Coat: Rich orange brown.
Undersides: Body, chest and inside of legs are clear, even, orange-brown. Deeper, warmer shades are preferred.
Ticking: Dark brown or black.
Ears: Tipped with black.
Nose Leather: Brick Red outlined by a narrow black line.
Paw Pads: Black or dark brown. Hair between the toes and up the back of the calf is black.
Eye Colour: Gold, green, hazel or copper.
Genetics: Ruddy is dominant to both chocolate and cinnamon. Symbolized as B = Wild-type black.
BB = Homozygous Ruddy
Bb = Heterozygous Ruddy carrying chocolate
Bb¹ = Heterozygous Ruddy carrying cinnamon

Above: Ruddy kitten Fynn, now living in New Brunswick, Canada

 

Cinnamon (Red or Sorrel):

Coat: Warm sorrel-Red to rich cinnamon. Undersides: Body, chest and inside of the legs are a warm peach to apricot colour. Deeper, warmer shades are preferred.
Ticking: Chocolate brown.
Ears: Tipped with chocolate brown.
Nose Leather: Salmon pink.
Paw Pads: Salmon pink. Hair between the toes and up the back of the calf is chocolate brown.
Eye Colour: Gold, green, hazel or copper.
Genetics: Cinnamon is recessive to Ruddy and chocolate. b1 = recessive cinnamon
b¹b¹= Cinnamon

Above: Cinnamon (Red) Abyssinian. Double Trouble - 2005 - 2021

 

Blue

Coat: Warm, soft Blue-grey. Undersides: Body, chest and inside of the legs are to be a warm cream to beige which harmonizes with the undercoat colour. Darker shading along the spine is allowed, if fully ticked. Tail is tipped with slate Blue and is without rings.
Ticking: Various shades of slate Blue. Outer tip to be darkest with a warm undercoat.
Ears: Tipped with slate Blue.
Nose Leather: Dark pink.
Paw Pads: Mauve, with slate Blue between pads extending slightly beyond the pads.
Eye Colour: Gold, green, hazel or copper.
Genetics: Blue is a Ruddy with the addition of the recessive dilute gene in the homozygouns form.
BB dd = Ruddy with the addition of the dilute gene creates Blue

Above: Blue Abyssinian. Photo curtesy of Kathleen Christopher.

 

Fawn:

Coat: Warm, pinkish buff with powder Red effect. Undersides: Body, chest and inside of legs to be a pale oatmeal. Spine shading to be a darker shade of body colour. Tail is tipped with a deep shade of pinkish buff.
Ticking: Ticking is deeper shade of pinkish buff. Preference is to be given to good even ticking. Ticking is slow to develop and could take two years.
Ears: Tipped with deeper shade of pinkish buff.
Nose Leather: Pink-mauve.
Paw Pads: Pink-mauve with a deep pinkish buff between the toes extending slightly beyond paws.
Eye Colour: Gold, green, hazel or copper.
Genetics: Fawn is a cinnamon with the addition of the recessive dilute gene in the homozygous form.
b¹b¹ dd = Cinnamon with the addition of dilute creates Fawn

Above: Fawn Abyssinian, Izzy. Photo curtesy of Lora Lora.