Ticked Tabby?

clynn11

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I figured breeders know more about coloring and markings. I had never even heard of the term ticked tabby until I joined TCS. I've read about it but am a bit confused. The two kittens I am wondering about have some faded stripes on the limbs and verrrry faint stripes on their lower sides/belly when they stretch out, but the rest of their coat seem almost a solid black with ticks at the end. I was reading that with stripes all the way through, even when ticked they are still considered mackerel. Just wondering if they actually fall into the ticked category or if they are considered mackerels. Here's pics!! Hercules is darker, with the tips of his fur being silver and the line down his back going completely black. Ares tips are mainly silver but are golden down the line on his back.

Ares:









Hercules:







 

missymotus

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Ticked is ticked, mackeral is striped. These are ticked tabbies, not silvers. They're brown. Tabby barring isn't unusual, especially in a mixed breed/moggie.
 
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clynn11

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I've just seen mackerels that also have the 'ticking' through their stripes, but are considered mackerel because of the stripes. Since they had faint stripes on their sides when they stretched out I wasn't too sure which category they fell under. I was confused. Thanks for clearing it up!
 
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missymotus

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All tabbies have ticking :) 

Also the difference between brown/black and silvers. 

Tawny (brown/black)



And the silver version of tawny



 
 
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clynn11

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Oh! Haha well silly me then. I totally didn't realize all tabbies have ticking


Wow they are both absolutely gorgeous!!! Their colorings are stunning. And gotta love those spots!!!
 

missymotus

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And you won't know if you don't ask :) Correct term is Agouti - bands of colour on a single hair shaft.

The coloured tips form the pattern.
 
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jezahb

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I knew all tabbies have ticking, but wow your babies are really interestingly colored! My girl I posted about is like yours, but she has very defined black stripes spaced between very ticked stripes. People can say tabbies are common but the amount of variety in their coloration makes them very special in my mind!
 

orientalslave

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Oh! Haha well silly me then. I totally didn't realize all tabbies have ticking


Wow they are both absolutely gorgeous!!! Their colorings are stunning. And gotta love those spots!!!
Missymotus mentioned the ticking is called Agouti, you get a black (or blue or whatever) can when they have two copies of the non-Agouti gene.  Except - on Ginger / Red / Cream it doesn't work as well and the pattern is still obvious.  You see that in a tortie & white - her black patches are black, her ginger ones show tabby pattern.  In a tortie tabby & white the tabby pattern runs seamlessly across the coloured patches.

And yes, her cats are gorgeous!
 

nekochan

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This might help to show the difference between a ticked tabby and mackerel tabby with "ticking", these are photos of some of my cats who are littermates. Spot is a ticked tabby, Mr Grey and Blaze are mackerel tabbies who have a lot of ticking in their coats.  They all also have white markings.

.

As you can see Spot does have some stripes on his face and legs, even though he is a ticked tabby. This is not unusual in random-bred cats, since they were not bred to have the "perfect" ticked coat with little to no striping, like a purebred cat (say an Abyssinian) would be.

Spot (ticked):





Blaze (mackerel):



 
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nekochan

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I forgot to add, mine are all brown tabbies, which is also know in some places as black tabby; and of course they all are "with white" as they all have white markings.

Also here is Blaze with two of their other littermates, Mr Grey and Harley. Harley, on the left, is a ticked torbie (torbie is also known as "patched tabby" or "tortie tabby"). Mr Grey, on the right, is also a mackerel tabby with a fair amount of "ticking":

 
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clynn11

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Awe, all of your kitties are gorgeous Nekochan!!

Thank you all so much for your help and explanations. It's really interesting learning about the colorings and markings, and technical terms for them (like agouti, which I had never even heard before.) Super interesting!
 
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