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Ocicat Information
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Oci-Colours Like many breeds of cat, Ocicats come in a variety of colours. The following information gives you a brief insight into how to tell which colour from which, as there can be quite wide variations within the same colour. There is also a simple guide into how the colours are passed down from parent to kitten. It gets about as complicated as you want to make it, but we'll TRY and keep it as simple as possible. Here goes... There are 3 main colours that an Ocicat can be; tawny, chocolate or cinnamon. Each colour has their own 'definition' which is summarised in the table further down. There are also 'dilute' versions of each colour, adding 3 more colours that an ocicat can be registered as. The dilute of tawny is blue, the dilute of chocolate is lilac, and the dilute of cinnamon is fawn. Again, the description of these colours is summarised in the table lower down. Then add to this the option for a silver background colour to the coat. Each of the six colours has a silver version, so that's 12 colour variations possible! The colours each have a code number that all begin with '73.' So when you read an Ocicat's pedigree, or things like show results, you can tell the official colour of the cats. So, there are 12 colours of ocicat, but how can you tell which is which? It can be more difficult than you'd think, but the first step is to look at the colour of the cat! (Talk about stating the obvious!!) The table below gives a brief, but not exhaustive checklist. It is a summary taken from issue 20 of The Ocicat Muse, a magazine sent out to members of the Ocicat Club. You can find a more detailed description on the club website (see links page).
Well hopefully that makes sense. There is an assumption that you understand what certain colours look like, but it's a start! It can still be very difficult to tell the exact colour of a cat simply by taking a quick look. A good example of that can be seen in two of our cats. Freya has brown spots and Skadi has black (see below). Freya's background colour is also much yellowier than Skadi's. They are both tawny however. When we saw pictures of chocolate Ocicats, some looked very much like Freya, so is she chocolate and did her breeder make a mistake when registering her? Well the answer is no! The breakthrough for us was realising that the tail tip colour is a good indicator. Freya and Skadi have black tail tips and are therefore both tawny!
It is still very difficult in some cases, so another way to decide what colour an Ocicat might be is to look into the colours its parents 'carry.' (Now concentrate, here come the science bit!!)
The 3 Main Colours: The first thing to remember is that each cat carries two 'colour genes' from its parents, one from its mum and one from its dad. If it gets a tawny colour gene from them both it will be tawny, but what if it gets two different ones? Well the second thing to remember is that tawny is dominant over chocolate, which is in turn dominant over cinnamon. So, if a kitten gets a tawny gene and a chocolate gene it will be tawny. If it gets a tawny gene and a cinnamon gene it will be tawny. If it gets a chocolate gene and a cinnamon gene it will be chocolate. Only if a kitten gets 2 cinnamon genes will it be cinnamon. (With me so far?!?) Don't forget that a cat can still 'carry' a colour, even if it is not that colour itself. For example, a kitten that has a tawny gene and a cinnamon gene will be tawny, but it still has the potential to pass on the cinnamon gene to its kittens. What About the Dilute Colours? Besides inheriting a colour gene from each parent, a kitten also gets a 'dilute' gene or a 'not dilute' gene. I found it easiest to think of these as 'D' for dilute and 'd' for not dilute. To be the dilute version of the colour it has inherited, a kitten must get a 'D' from both parents. 'Dd', 'dD', or 'dd' would result in the main colour. Only 'DD' would make a kitten the dilute version. So, for example, a kitten inherits tawny and chocolate from it's parents. This would mean it will be ....... yes, you've got it, tawny. UNLESS it also inherited the dilute gene from both parents as well. Then, and only then, would you get a blue kitten. The dilute colours are known as 'Recessive' because they need both parents to pass on the dilute gene. As with the main colours, a cat can still carry the dilute gene even if it is not a dilute colour (Dd or dD). Our tawny ocicat Freya is a good example of this. She is not a dilute colour herself, but she carries the potential to have dilute kittens (Her mother was dilute (fawn-silver) and therefore she MUST have the dilute gene from her). And Then There's Silver! Actually, silver doesn't complicate things too much. Basically, if at least one of the parents is silver, silver kittens can be produced. If neither parent is silver they cannot have silver kittens. Silver is never 'carried' by a non-silver cat. If two silver cats are mated, they MAY have non-silver kittens. There, I hope that wasn't too painful! Even long established breeders will make mistakes from time to time, but following these guidelines (and looking into the pedigree of your cats) helps breeders to predict what kittens they can expect, or what colour kittens they breed. Sometimes you can be sure what colours you will breed, whilst other times you can end up with a 'rainbow' litter, where all the kittens are different. Our thanks go to Rosemary Caunter, who explained much of this to us. Rosemary is our national expert on the Ocicat, and has done much to establish lines of the rarer colours in our country.
*** Ocicats with 'Classic' Markings Ocicats are spotted aren't they? The answer to this question is usually yes; but not always. Breeders can occasionally come across Ocicats that have the beautiful 'classic' tabby markings. These markings are a mixture of swirls and patches that conform to a set design. In some countries, New Zealand in particular from our research, the Classic Ocicats are officially recognised and even have their own name; JUNGALAS or CLASSICATS. Jungalas are pure Ocicats but with classic markings and as such they share the same temperament and intelligence as their spotted counterparts. Some breeders prize Jungalas for breeding purposes as they tend to produce kittens with big spots. They are highly prized by most people for their distinctive beauty. They can come in all the colour variations of spotted Ocicats although their rarity means that photographs of them are few and far between. We will add a few photo's of our first 'Jungala' kitten (a blue boy) as he grows.
Aged between 1 and 2 weeks. ***
Aged about 5 weeks. ***
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