flag for cat Every cat has a gene for black color (B/b/b1). Black based colors, that are determined by this gene (B/b/b1), in order of dominance over each other are Black, Chocolate, and Cinnamon. Dominant alleles will block out the recessive ones, so a cat with Bb genes will appear black but be able to pass down the chocolate gene to their child. While every cat has a gene for black color, cats that are orange have a gene that stops the production of the eumelanin that creates the black based color and allows the red pigment that is always produced, but blocked by this eumelanin in black cats, to show through and make the cat red, making the red gene (O/o) dominant over black. Every cat that is a red-based color appears striped even without the tabby gene (false tabby). Each color (red, black, chocolate, and cinnamon) come in a diluted color form when the recessive dilute color gene is present (D/d). The cat must have a dd to have diluted colors, which are cream (dilute red, OOdd), Blue (dilute black, looks grey, BBdd), lilac (dilute chocolate, bbdd), and fawn (dilute cinnamon, b1b1dd). Male cats will almost never have red-based and black-based colors at once, like a tortoiseshell or calico cat, because the red color gene is found on the X chromosome which male cats only have one of. To be tortoiseshell or calico a cat must have XX chromosomes, one with the red gene (O) and one with the non-red gene (o).
B is for black b is for chocolate b1 is for cinnamon O is for red o is for non-red D is non-dilute d is dilute A is agouti/tabby pattern a is non-tabby Sex- 1 XX 2 XY Black Based- 1 BB 2Bb 3 Bb1 4 bb 5 bb1 6 b1b1 Red Based ♀- 1 OO 2 Oo 3 oo Red Based ♂- 4 O 5 o Dilution- 1 DD 2 Dd 2 dd
