The tabby gene is one of the most common patterns which can be found on a kitten. This is because tabby is a dominant gene, meaning that if one parent is tabby, and no other coat pattern modifier is present, the kitten will have tabby markings as well.
The tabby gene will cause stripes along the face, legs and tail of the cat. Depending on the tabby markings, the cat will have patterns along the body.
The Agouti Series
Agouti is the gene that causes 3 tabby patterns; mackerel, classic (blotched) and spotted.
The hair follicle in an agouti tabby will have alternating stripes along the hair shaft and will cause complex patterning in your kittens coat.
Mackerel Tabby
Mackerel tabby will cause the typical M on the forehead, as well as the stripes along the legs and tail
Mackerel tabby displays striping along the ribcage and stomach.
This kitten is a silver mackerel tabby (ns 23)
Tabby pattern can be seen as soon as a kitten is born. Some coat patterns need time to grow out before you can truly identify what it is, but in the case of tabby, and more specifically mackerel tabby, it can be seen right at birth.
This kitten is a brown (black) mackerel tabby (n 23)
Classic (Blotched) tabby
Classic tabbies have a bullseye shape in the middle of their ribcage, while the rest of the pattern tends to be more random
this is a bimetallic with blotched tabby pattern (nus 22)
Classic tabby markings don’t always have a super prominent bullseye when adults. As kittens however, since the hair follicle is shorter, the bullseye is the first sign of a classic tabby.
This is a silver (black) classic tabby (n 22)
Spotted Tabby
Spotted tabbies will have stripes along the legs and tail, and will have the M on the forehead, however, as the name suggests will have spots along the back and ribs.
This kitten is a red spotted tabby (d 24)
Spotted tabbies can be hard to take pictures of, depending on how large the spots are along the back.
This is also a spotted tabby, however her spotting blends in to her coat color. In photo’s, she resembles a shaded tabby pattern, however because she has definitive stripes on her legs, she can’t be shaded.
She is a black sunshine with a spotted tabby pattern and mitts (nu 24 04)
