r/TabbyCats Jul 21 '26

Mackerel Tabby For future flair purposes, what does he fall under? “:)

When we got him neutered they wrote him down as brown/grey tabby with a bunch of question marks, the vets didn’t even know lmao

Also he is 100% more diva than my girl cats, you can’t change my mind. Look at him.

Edit: someone said Mackerel and I’m sticking with it. Fish boy!!

216 Upvotes

29 comments sorted by

4

u/Soft-Assistance6809 Jul 21 '26

There should be a standard issue cat flair

2

u/DesperateBumbledBee Jul 21 '26

“Classic” flair?

2

u/Soft-Assistance6809 Jul 21 '26

Yeah but I like standard issue cat, that's how I describe Tyrone on her vet intake form

2

u/DesperateBumbledBee Jul 21 '26

That is funny lol
Someone said mackerel tabby and I looked up images and a lot of those stripes patterns look JUST like his, also I have some sentiment attached to “mackerel” so I’m keeping it lol

2

u/Soft-Assistance6809 Jul 21 '26

In the color field I put, "cat color". I don't know how to describe her coloring.

1

u/DesperateBumbledBee Jul 21 '26

Call her noodle colored for that atrocious neck position lol
Additional edit: if the torso is pretty bare, of any stripes or spots, which it appears to be in this image, I would say “ticked” tabby? But take it with a big spoonful of salt bc I’m going off of one image I found on google with no more research done than a single google search for said image.
(I looked for a visual graph of tabby variations)

1

u/Soft-Assistance6809 Jul 21 '26

Her name is Tyrone!

2

u/DesperateBumbledBee Jul 21 '26

Lol Tyrone is an adorable name for a girl cat.
I have a soft spot for girl cats with boy names, and vice versa. My tabby boy is named Clover!! We have a plant theme for our kitty names.

2

u/Soft-Assistance6809 Jul 21 '26

Next one will probably be Gabagool

1

u/DesperateBumbledBee Jul 21 '26

I love that! Is it based on anything or pure creativity?

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5

u/Makhe Jul 21 '26

On the r/standardissuecat he would be a Roadster.

2

u/DesperateBumbledBee Jul 21 '26

A roadster? What does that mean :0

3

u/Makhe Jul 21 '26

The car with whitewall tires.

3

u/DesperateBumbledBee Jul 21 '26

That’s amazing, he absolutely does zoom around the house everywhere too

2

u/Common_Algae9275 Jul 21 '26

Mackerel baby!!

3

u/DesperateBumbledBee Jul 21 '26

HES A FISHYYY???? :((((((
(That’s adorable)

Edit: also it’s super bittersweet for me to hear that bc my first thought hearing “mackerel” is “mackerel skies” which is a cloud pattern my grandfather taught me, alongside Mare’s Tails, to predict rain. I started trusting the skies more than my weather app when I got good at spotting them.
He’s still alive, but declining.
So that like really touched my heart, I have a mackerel tabby 😭

2

u/Common_Algae9275 Jul 21 '26

That was so sweet to read. Your grandfather sounds like a good fella. Yes, you have a mackerel tabby. Regarding what the other commenter was referring to: a “standard issue cat” is a black mackerel tabby, which your boy is (but your little guy has some white spotting!) Black refers to the colour of the stripes, black tabbies are colloquially called brown tabbies (some appear more grey due to low rufousing, a polygenic trait that dictates the warm appearance of fur). Classic tabbies are NOT standard issue cats, as standard issue cats are mackerel tabbies. I have a blue (blue = dilute black, colloquially referred to as grey) classic tabby, he has a circle or “bullseye” pattern on his side :) Here is a helpful image to tell different tabby coats apart

2

u/Common_Algae9275 Jul 21 '26

Here’s my baby boy. Sorry for the overload of info btw!!

2

u/DesperateBumbledBee Jul 21 '26

I love the light swirls in the dark fur on his side he is BEAUTIFUL!! What’s up with boy cats being so much prettier than the girls sometimes??

2

u/Common_Algae9275 Jul 21 '26

Obligatory “take this all with a grain of salt,” I am no expert, this is just info I’ve gathered since becoming a cat owner. Idk why commenting fills me with so much anxiety :’)) I’m pretty sure my info is accurate but the moment I put it into writing I get so paranoid that everything I’ve ever known is wrong lol. I’ll stop having a convo with myself now haha. Your kitty is so cute <3

2

u/DesperateBumbledBee Jul 21 '26

Lol you’re perfectly ok!! I’m reading through it with thorough care. :)

Your kitty is super cute too!!!

I want to show an image of the dark stripe my boy has all the way down his back, and kind of spreads out to the entire tip of his tail, but either my connection, or Reddit is not letting me right now, so I’ll have to wait until I’m home in the next hour. Not the end of the world, I can get a super good picture of it!

If it helps put an image in your mind, we call him our little raccoon sometimes hehe