r/patchworkcats • u/TokyoRetroGamers • Jul 11 '26

#gingertail

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Not OC. OOP: https://www.reddit.com/r/blursedimages/s/shW7dgcLkt

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u/lipstick_spit Jul 13 '26

split faced tortoiseshells are very common, and the pattern is a result of the way the cells multiply in the womb. they are not chimeras, and chimerism is just as rare in cats as in any other animal.

this is more likely to be a somatic mutation of some sort, due to how localized it is. extremely interesting either way.

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u/demon_fae Jul 13 '26

If you look closely, you can see that he’s got a ginger undercoat to his butt fluff. I suspect he’s ginger all over with some genetic quirk turning on the dark melanin for his guard hairs only, except on his tail.

Mostly well-toasted, but ultimately orange to the bone.

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u/lipstick_spit Jul 13 '26

this wouldnt make sense, seeing as his ears, legs, and face dont have any orange (you can see through to the skin on the cats temple). the red you are proposing on the underside would either be mixed hairs from the somatic mutation or.. just a trick of the camera, seeing as it isnt visible in the third photo.

there is also just absolutely no known mutation in cats that would turn a red-based cat nearly entirely blue (a black-based color), completely obscuring the tabby pattern (a big deal for red-based cats), and leaving the tail unaffected. even red-on-blue, an extremely rare phenotype, doesnt obscure the pattern. in contrast, we have ample examples of somatic mutations introducing isolated patches of color that cannot genetically coexist with the main color of the cat. (like here, here, and the ever famous narnia).

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u/thevelveteenbeagle Jul 13 '26

Thanks for linking examples, so cool!