Colours, patterns and coat lengths

Here are my 3 lovelies:

Lilly: I'm not sure if she's considered calico or tortishell and white?




Phoebe: I guess she would be considered a DMH? But really her coat is short on top and longer underneath and she has a bushy tail:



Moses: Is his pattern called tuxedo or is he just black and white? He is still a baby but I think he will be long haired



All 3 together:

Lovely to see Moses again he is growing
My Ruby


My Tallulah

Thanks @Merlin2000! Your cats are gorgeous and we do have very similar cat families Is Tippi the "boss"? Lilly is in charge of our household hehe

Moses is certainly growing! Here are some pics from this morning (I like taking their photos on the cat stairs)

There is no such thing as a medium hair, just FYI...
A cat genetically can only be a long hair or short hair. The length of the hair varies on the long hair gene but it's basically any length longer then short...

From your pics it seems you have
DHS Calico. yes some would say Torti & white but I like Calico best as her description.
DLH Black & White and
DLH Black...

jmho

NewDestinyCats said:

There is no such thing as a medium hair, just FYI...
A cat genetically can only be a long hair or short hair. The length of the hair varies on the long hair gene but it's basically any length longer then short...

From your pics it seems you have
DHS Calico. yes some would say Torti & white but I like Calico best as her description.
DLH Black & White and
DLH Black...

jmho

Click to expand...

Wouldn't saying that a cat could not be called a "domestic medium hair" just because genetically they are either long or short haired (even if the hair is in between) be the same as saying we cannot call a cat a brown tabby, or seal point, because they are genetically black? Or that we can't call a cat blue because really that is just black with a dilute gene? Or not chocolate either because that is just the same old black gene with alternate alleles? They are all...black.

While a cat either is genetically long or shorthaired, they could be heterozygous for the longhair gene...and that would result in more of a medium length hair. They could also have other genes affecting it the way the agouti gene makes for a brown tabby instead of a solid black. Still a black cat but we don't call it that.

Sandrak7761, your cats are adorable! 

Lilly looks like a DSH Calico. I have one too! I don't know why people are saying calico and white to describe cats like her. A calico has defined patterns of white, black and orange(red). The ratios of color will vary so adding "and white" or "and black" is just redundant. They have to have all 3 colors to be a Calico. Torties will have just black and orange(red). 

Phoebe looks like a DSH black. I have one too! Her hair doesn't look that long in the pics to me.

Moses looks like DSH black and white. I think to be called a tuxedo, the black must be solid and the white peaks out on the belly, face and feet. That's what I picture a tuxedo cat anyway.

There is some disagreement about what makes a calico not a tortie/white. Calicos definitely must have white, red, and black, but some people call any cat with over 75% white a calico.  Others say that calicos have distinct black, red, and white patches that do not mingle like in a tortie.  I usually combine the definitions...if the cat is tri-colored, over half white, and not really mottled, I'll call it a calico.  But if it's just a white strip on the face and maybe the chest, I call it a tortie and white.

But you are right, @CatMinionJess, that the label "calico and white" doesn't make sense. 

Black and white cats can be called tuxedos if you like, that is usually reserved for the classic white chest and paws, sometimes with a white strip or blaze on the face.  I just call them black and white.  The moniker tuxedo just comes from the resemblance to the formal wear.

As far as medium hair goes, since domestic cats are commonly classified as DSH, DMH, or DLH, while it may not be a distinct genotype (I don't know for sure) it certainly is a phenotype that one sees.  But it can be very difficult in a kitten to distinguish between DMH and DLH since they haven't developed a full coat yet.  There is also some thought that the loss of hormones associated with spaying/neutering may alter the coat texture if not length.  But since one is generally not breeding domestic cats for a certain trait such as coat length or texture, it doesn't matter.

I agree it's hard to tell if a Domestic cat is short or long haired when they are a kitten , I was 70% certain that Ruby was her fur just seemed that bit longer even with normal kitten fluff .

I look at the tail that's usually the place where the long haired gene shows it's self in a Domestic cat , by six month Ruby's tail had developed into a bushy tail.

Thanks for the responses everyone! I'm very very curious to see how Moses develops... Phoebe was a surprise. When we found her she was really ill and starving. I thought she was less than a year old, but the vet suggested she could be up to 3 years old and just small due to malnourishment. Her coat was in really poor condition and she had big patches of fur missing. The patches grew back and she seemed like a regular dsh. Then suddenly one winter she grew a "beard" and her tail fluffed out hehe! This is an old photo that kind of shows the beard (she's difficult to photograph)... I'd say that since this picture (it's more than 2 years old) her coat has had another drastic change and is much much more black, smooth and silky... she was over-grooming and we found out food allergies were making her itchy, so it's probably being on the prescription food long term that has helped improve her coat?

Phoebe's fur does look much fluffier in that last picture. Only her tail looked a little fluffy on the stairs. No girl wants to grow a beard! My 2 black cats are hard to photograph as well. I've designated a green collar to one and yellow or orange to the other so I can be sure which one it was later. If the lighting isn't super bright, it will look like they have no face or are just a blob of black something. For those times, I use a photo editor app to correct the lighting so you can see them clearly in the picture.