In celebration for my post about cat eye colors getting 500+ notes, I made this!
Know several things:
In the process of simplifying and explaining things, I likely made some mistakes. Fellow genetics fans, correct me on anything I did wrong, just don’t be an ass about it.
This doesn’t cover everything about cat genetics because I like my sanity. I left out the silver series, agouti patterns, albinism, and the thousand oddities that break the base rules that are normally confined to specific breeds. This just covered the most common/basic of cat genetics. I probably won’t make any more of these since this is just a masterpost of sorts for basic cat genetics for those who can’t stomach the boring crap.
You can definitely take artistic liberties with the exact hues and shades of colors! I do it myself, so it’d be hypocritical of me to say otherwise. You can totally have a “gray” cat be bluish-gray or greenish-gray or purplish-gray - whatever helps make characters look distinct! Reds themselves can range from a deep rust to a light ginger, and don’t be afraid to throw in hints of other colors into your blacks and whites.
You don’t have to listen to me. If making cats without a care for genetics is what makes you happy, that’s fine. If you’re just using this to see if any of your OCs are plausible and have no intentions to change their designs, that’s fine too. I won’t judge you for it. But if you like what I’ve made and want to learn more about cat genetics, welcome! I and others would be more than happy to inform you of anything you want to know!
