What color is he?

Hmmm...that's weird, I thought I'd just posted a thread, but it seems to have disappeared. :\\ Oh well, lol. Here it is!

There's a kitty that was abandoned by his owner and I'm going to catch and neuter him. He's super friendly, but I have to wait til hubby's work schedule changes to the evenings(in a couple weeks), so, for now, I'm feeding the kitty so he'll trust me and I'll be able to catch him when the time comes.

Anyways....

I was wondering what color he would be called? He's a dark chocolate color, but he has tabby markings. I googled it and the only thing I could find that was relatively similar was the Havana Brown cat, but this boy's tabby markings are more obvious.

What do ya'll think? Here are pics I just took of him:









Isn't he the most beautiful kitty ever?! I hope he adjusts to being an indoor kitty so I can have him all to myself, lol.

He looks kind of Burmese colouring (sorry not familiar enough with the breed to give exact names for the various colours) because he's darker on the face, legs, and tail than the rest of his body, it's difficult to tell though as the lighting is dark. The tabby markings look like ghosting rather than proper tabby, like the tabby markings you can sometimes see on some solid black cats if you catch them in the right light - they are more obvious in kittens, if he is still young they may fade, but I wouldn't call him tabby from those photos, if he were a true tabby he would have much paler fur between the markings, they are too faint to be a tabby IMO.

I tried to get pics of him without the flash, but they turned out blurry like the one I posted that shows him darker. :/

I've had black kitties with "ghost" markings and that's not what he has, they're REALLY obvious when you look at him in person, it's not just the flash making them stick out.

The first thing that came to my mind was when I was told once that black cats couldn't have stripes(I asked about it when I had a black kitten with the "ghost stripes") and with all the black kittens I've raised all the stripes faded, just like I was told. This boy's markings won't fade, they're really obvious in person. Also, I think it's safe to say that he's at least a year old.

Well ghost tabby markings are caused by the fact that most solid coloured cats are red tabbies underneath, but wearing a different coloured coat on top - black cats produce both red and black/brown pigment, whereas a red cat can't produce any brown/black at all. If they genetically have a red tabby pattern with strong contrast between the pattern and the background, then the pattern shows through, especially in chocolate, blue, and lilac cats. It's like if you took red paint and painted stripes on white walls, then painted over it with one coat of brown paint, the stripes you painted before in red would be darker than the areas with just brown paint, even though they're all painted over. Kittens produce less dense black/brown pigment, which is why it can fade as they grow up and get their adult coat, but it doesn't always.

It would be good if you had some pictures in daylight. Beautiful cat anyway

Thanks for that explaination!

I'll try and get some daytime pics next time I go to visit/feed him.

I think he is beautiful! I would want to keep him and give him lots of lovin too!!

His eyes don't look aqua, but otherwise, he looks like a natural mink Tonkinese.

His eyes are light green, not aqua. I guess he's a "mutt" cat, lol.

Originally Posted by Arlyn

His eyes don't look aqua, but otherwise, he looks like a natural mink Tonkinese.

Click to expand...

Actually I think you might be right. I've seen some cats ('Muffins) that are natural mink without the aqua eyes. This cat may not be a specific breed, but he sure does look like a natural mink color.

He's a beauty for sure, though!

I don't know the name of his color but I do know that he is absolutely gorgeous.

So do you think maybe he's a tabby/tonk mix? The tonk would explain the beautiful chocolate coloring and the tabby wopuld explain the stripes. I breed sugar gliders so I understand a bit about genetics. In gliders they are able to carry and show more then 1 trait at a time,t he same as this cute guy is showing the traits of 2 types of cats at once.

What color he is doesn't really matter to me since he's getting snipped as soon as he gets here, lol, but genetics and such always peek my curiosity. Besides, I have no idea what to call him, haha.

BTW, what do ya'll think of as far as names? I was thinking about calling him Phantom, because of his "phantom tabby" look. Any better suggestions?

Genetically, all domestic cats are black or red and all are genetically tabbies, it's not a breed just a pattern.

I would not say he's a Tonk, I'd just describe his color as Natural Mink with ghost markings.

Oh, he's gorgeous!!!! I hope you can catch him and teach him that indoor is good!!

Domesticate him? He's already 110% domesticated, lol, I've just got to get him to set aside his need to spray everything so he can be indoors, lol.

Keep your fingers crossed that between the neutering and bringing him indoors I will be successful in completely de-masculizing him!

I could be wrong, but i'm going to say he's a gorgeous Mink!

Well, he's gorgeous, that much is agreed upon, lol.

UPDATE!

I went over to my in-laws this morning to give Phantom a new collar and tag that I bought, that way no one would snatch him up because they thought he was a stray.



Well, I got there and Phantom wasn't there, so I went home and decided to try back later.

I went back around 9pm and saw him at a nearby house so I called him and he came over. It started to sprinkle so I hopped in the car to drive home and Phantom jumped in the car too, lol. Soooo....I went ahead and brought him home with me.

Now he's sleeping in the bathroom after getting his fur brushed out(to check for fleas, thankfully I saw none, phew!) and filling his tummy with wet food and treats.

Here's a new pic of the cutie:



I made him a bed with the bottom half of a crate and a thick fleece blankie, but he prefers the tile.

I'm going to be making a wee change in the plans and will be calling my vet tomorrow to see if I can get him FIV tested, rather then waiting a couple weeks when he gets neutered. That way, if he's negative, then I can consider doing intros with my 2 kitties(after he gets his flea meds and is dewormed).

Please pray that he's FIV negative and that everything checks out at the vet! Also, that he doesn't spray the apartment before we can get him neutered. :\\

***Also, his eyes aren't a "normal" light-green. I don't think they're aqua, but they're not plain green. They seem to be in between green and aqua! So, it's very possible he's half tonkinese!

I'll try and get a good eye pic, but right now he won't open them all the way and they're too dilated to show the color well.

Wow, he is just gorgeous!! I don't know what that color is called but it is really beautiful.

If it was me I would probably name him something like: Chai, Mocha, Cider, Cappuccino, Spice, Espresso, Kopi (Indonesian word for coffee), Kafe, Java, Kava....

I like Chai.
What a cool looking cat. I can see the tabby markings in the pic where he is in the bathroom.