Identifier Cats
Cat coat and pattern decoder
Pick the color, the pattern, how much white there is and the hair length, and get the name of the coat.
Step 1 of 4
Base color
Orange mackerel tabbyTabby · no white · short hair
How the decoder works
The decoder names what you can see: base color, pattern, the amount of white and hair length. The terms follow the UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory pages listed below. It describes appearance and does not identify a breed.
- Feline Coat Color – UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory
- Agouti (cat DNA test) – UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory
- Colorpoint Restriction – UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory
- Dominant White & White Spotting – UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory
Questions
Is tabby a breed?
No. Tabby is a coat pattern that appears in many breeds and in most mixed-breed cats.
Can the decoder tell me my cat's breed?
No. Coat color and pattern describe how a cat looks, not its ancestry. Most cats are mixed-breed domestic shorthairs or longhairs.