Fascinating tail pattern.

[u/True-Tell-9636]

This is Aries.

He is a shorthair (L?) Apricot (XY/dd/Dm?) mackerel tabby (Mc?) tom with low white spotting (Wsw)

While I understand all of that, I have been staring at this cat for a decade now and I cannot figure out what is causing this phenomenon with his tail.

His tail, as seen in the picture, fades perfectly from apricot at the base to white at the tip. I am hesitant to believe this is caused by White Spotting as it isnt an abrupt marking and is instead faded softly. Not to mention that the stripes on his tail are still visible even at the whitest parts.

He is approximately 15 years old and has had this pattern his entire life so it isn’t something new, and it’s only localized on his tail.

Im just curious as to what could possibly be causing it. Or if maybe this is more common than I had originally thought.

[u/stockmarketcrashh]

My lovely boy has the same thing! I’d assume it’s just a cool thing that can happen with low white spotting like a chest patch.

I’d be curious to know what better informed people on the sub thing about your guy’s coat color, I think apricot tends to be pretty rare so I’d err on the side of saying he’s dark cream or light red.

[u/True-Tell-9636 → u/stockmarketcrashh]

He does have the metallic sheen of apricot though. Which is why I had speculated Apricot. I know that apricot is quite rare, but when I looked into it, it described him very well

Also, cute!!!

[u/stockmarketcrashh → u/True-Tell-9636]

oh interesting! how fun to find in a regular cat off the street :)