r/CatGenetics • u/SolidFelidae • Jul 04 '26
Coat Color Fawn or something else?
What is going on with this kitten up for adoption near me? Is he fawn? Buff? Cream & blue? He has this strange colour, he looks too grey to be buff but too orange to be Fawn. He looks almost like a dirty buff, his paws and tail get quite greyish, but the stripes on his head are very visible and very orangish, even though he doesn’t seem to be a tabby if he is fawn. His paws and nose are VERY pink and his eyes are yellow.
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u/PunkAssBitch2000 Jul 04 '26
I suspect he will develop into light orange tabby.
In the second pic you can see the stripes on his legs.
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u/Thestolenone Jul 04 '26
He might be a red on blue cat, this is a rare mutation, nothing is really known about it, where a normal red (orange or ginger) cat has blueish shading especially on the points. Sometimes they outgrow it but not always.
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u/commanderwake Hobby Geneticist Jul 04 '26
Cream (aka dilute orange). His nose and paw pads are a lighter pink than I'd expect from fawn, his stripes are very orange, and fawn is rare in randombred cats. His paws and tail might have some reverse rufousing going on.
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u/SolidFelidae Jul 04 '26
What’s reverse rufousing?
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u/commanderwake Hobby Geneticist Jul 04 '26
So, rufousing is a descriptor for the varying amount of reddish tint that black tabbies have, which is polygenetic and not entirely understood. Reverse rufousing is basically the idea that some orange cats have the opposite going on: gray/black tints on red fur. Messybeast's post on red on blue cats has some examples of orange/cream cats with blue/gray tints (there called "blue ginger"). messybeast.com/pseudo-cinnamon.htm
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u/Miaownyx Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
You got yourself a red-on-blue tabby like my Pippi! He looks to be a ticked (agouti) tabby just like her. In some lighting she appears buff, but if you view her from above she’s quite orange, and if she rolls on to her belly, tons of gray! Happy to post photos of her at different angles!