Black Cat - Coat

Coat

See also: Cat coat genetics

Any cat whose fur is a single color, including black, is known as a "solid" or "self". A "solid black" cat may be coal black, grayish black, or brownish black. Most solid colored cats result from a recessive gene that suppresses the tabby pattern. Sometimes the tabby pattern is not completely suppressed; faint markings may appear in certain lights, even on a solid black cat. A cat having black fur with white roots is known as a "black smoke."

Black cats can also "rust" in sunlight, the coat turning a lighter brownish shade.

In addition to the Bombay, The Cat Fanciers' Association allows solid black as a color option in 21 other breeds. The color description for those breeds is:

BLACK: dense coal black, sound from roots to tip of fur. Free from any tinge of rust on the tips. Nose leather: black. Paw pads: black or brown.

The exceptions are:

  • Oriental - EBONY: dense coal black. Free from any tinge of rust on tips or smoke undercoat. Nose leather: black. Paw pads: black or brown.
  • Sphynx - BLACK: black. One level tone from nose to tip of tail. Nose leather: black. Paw pads: black or brown.
  • Ragamuffin - Although black is not specifically mentioned, the standard allows for "any color, with or without white," so technically speaking, an all-black Ragamuffin would be allowed under the breed standard.

Read more about this topic:  Black Cat

Famous quotes containing the word coat:

    “While yet it is cold January, and snow and ice are thick and solid, the prudent landlord comes from the village to get ice to cool his summer drink; impressively, even pathetically, wise, to foresee the heat and thirst of July now in January,—wearing a thick coat and mittens! when so many things are not provided for. It may be that he lays up no treasures in this world which will cool his summer drink in the next.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “Want is a growing giant whom the coat of Have was never large enough to cover.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    “The old coat that I wear is Concord; it is my morning robe and study gown, my working dress and suit of ceremony, and my nightgown after all. Cleave to the simplest ever. Home,—home,—home. Cars sound like cares to me.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)