- agouti
- a coat pattern in which the individual hairs are banded with various colors, as in the Abyssinian cat
- albino
- an animal which lacks pigmentation in the hair and skin; the eyes of an albino are usually pinkish
- barring
- a form of tabby marking, a striped pattern; this is a fault when it occurs in self-colored cats
- bi-color
- a cat with a coat of two colors, one of which is white
- blaze
- a light, usually white marking running down the cat's forehead to its nose
- blue
- in describing cat coats, a color within the blue-grey range
- break
- see stop
- brindliing
- hairs of an incorrect colour scattered among those of the correct shade; this condition sometimes develops in hot weather in cats with otherwise good coats
- calling
- the making of repetitice and distinctive cries by a female cat which is in season; this unmistakable sound attracts the attention of local toms over a wide area and signals the female cat's readiness for mating
- chromosome
- a thread-like structure in the nucleus of animal cells which carries genetic material
- cobby
- having a low-lying body on short legs
- dilution
- variation in color which produces a weaker shade of coat
- dominant
- a characteristic which appears in the first generation of breeding, although it has been inherited from only one parent
- double coat
- fur consisting of a thick, soft undercoat, which has another thick topcoat of long hairs over it, as in the Manx cat
- feral
- a once domesticated animal (or its descendants), now living wild
- frill
- the hairs around the head which form a frame to the face in long-haired cats; it is also called a ruff
- gene
- the part of a body cell which passes an hereditary characteristic from one generation to the next
- gloves
- white patches on the feet of some cats, as in the Birman
- haw
- a term used to describe the condition of a female cat when in season, that is, when the female is ready to accept a male for mating when she is said to be 'on heat'
- hot color
- too reddish shade in cream-colored cats
- hybrid
- a type of cat which results from breeding one breed with another
- infertile
- unable to breed
- laces
- white markings rising from the paw on the back of the rear legs, as in the Birman
- leather
- see nose leather
- litter
- (1) kittens born to a female cat at the same time; (2) clay granules, sand etc., used to fill a sanitary tray
- mask
- the darker coloring on the face which is seen in cats with a pattern of contrasting points, such as the Siamese
- mittens
- white patches on the fron of the paws, as in the Ragdoll (see also gloves)
- moggie
- a mongrel cat
- mongrel
- a cat of mixed, unknown parentage
- mutant
- an offspring which shows a genetic change from its parents; mutants are sometimes a random occurrence; they can also result from exposure to X-ray or nuclear radiation
- neuter
- a castrated male or spayed female which is, therefore, unable to reproduce; it is also known as 'alter' or 'altered' cat in North America
- nictitating membrane
- the haw, or third eyelid
- nose leather
- the skin of the nose
- pads
- the fleshy cushions on the soles of the paws
- parti-color
- a cat with a coat composed of two distinct colors, a bi-color
- pedigree
- a genealogical table recording ancestry
- Persian
- a type of cat which is now officially known in Britain as a Long-hair
- points
- darker colored, contrasting areas on the head, ears, legs and tail, as in the Siamese
- pricked
- a term referring to ears that stand upright and high pure-bred with parentage and ancestry of the same variety
- rangy
- long-limbed and long-bodied
- recessive
- a characteristic which is passed on from one generation to another, but
which may not show in the first generation
- recognition
- acceptance by the governing body of a cat association of the standard
describing a new variety of cat
- ruff
- see frill
- rustiness
- a reddish-brown tinge in the coat of a black cat; it is sometimes caused
when cats bask in the sun for long periods
- seal
- a rich dark brown, almost black color, of which it is a slightly dilute form, as in the Siamese
- season
- the mating season, the time when a female cat is in oestrus and ready to accept a mate
- self or self-color
- of the same color all over, without markings; it is also known as Solid or Solid-Color
- solid
- see self
- spaying
- the neutering of a female cat
- spraying
- marking with urine
- standard or standard of points
- these are the characteristics required for a recognized variety of cat and the ideal description of the variety against which cats are judged in shows
- sterile
- (of cats) infertile
- stop
- a break in the smooth line of the profile between the nose and the skull
- ticking
- bands of colour on a single hair, see agouti
- tipping
- contrasting colour on the tip of the hair, as in the Chinchilla
- tri-colour
- a cat whose coat is made of three distinct colors
- undercoat
- soft hars which lie below the longer hair of cats with double coats
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