(This was not at all what this base was intended for, but I needed tiny cats and these were perfect so I hope it's alright)
There are plenty of color charts out there already, but I wanted to make my own to cover the genes behind the colors too. If you have any questions or find anything confusing, please let me know and I'll try to update it to be clearer!
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Column 1: Dense
Column 2: Dilute
Column 3: Caramelized
Row 1: Black-based colors
Row 2: Chocolate-based colors
Row 3: Cinnamon-based colors
Row 4: Red-based colors
- (Phaeomelanin colors will always display tabby markings, even if they are genetically solid)
Color Key:
- Black = eumelanin ("black pigment")
Red = phaeomelanin ("red pigment")
Blue = dense (non-dilute)
Green = dilute
Orange/Yellowish = caramelized
Gene Key:
- Eumelanin alleles --
- [ B = black ]
[ b = chocolate ]
[ b1 = cinnamon ]
- [ O = red (displays phaeomelanin color) ]
[ o = not red (displays eumelanin color instead) ]
[ Y = Y chromosome (gene is sex-linked to the X chromosome, so the Y chromosome does not have a copy) ]
- [ D = dense (darker) ]
[ d = dilute (lighter) ]
- [ Dm = caramelized (will only affect dilute {dd} cats) ]
[ dm = not caramelized ]
"(Any eumelanin genes)" on the phaeomelanin colors means that those colors can have anything for their eumelanin alleles (BB, Bb, Bb1, bb, bb1, or b1b1). This is because the OO/OY makes the cat display their phaeomelanin pigment, which masks whatever their eumelanin pigment would have been. Think of it kind of like a dominant white cat. While a dominant white cat has a white coat, they still have the genes for colors and such. The colors/patterns are just masked by the dominant white gene turning the entire cat solid white.
Extra notes:
- Blue in cats does not mean sky blue; it means gray.
- Lilac in cats does not mean purple; it means grayish brown.
- Fawn-based caramel has a question mark because I guessed at the color and it may not be very accurate.
- Phaeomelanin is also spelled as pheomelanin.
- Caramelized is also called double dilute.
If you can't read my messy handwriting (don't worry, sometimes I can't either), here is a version with text boxes:
Please do not repost / redistribute either version offsite without my permission!
You may use this as a reference on CS, provided you link back here and credit myself and the base creator (Ratyr).
