Amber Norwegian Forest CatĪnother way to find the yellow tabby cat pattern is through the Norwegian Forest Cat breed. So, to get that warmer, yellow tone tabby cat, the dilute modifier needs to be present. Without a dilute modifier, you will have a cream tabby cat. Just like the non-dilute tabby we looked at above, apricot tabbies can display different tabby patterns. Dilute genes turn orange tabbies into cream tabbies, and dilute modifier genes turn a cream tabby into a warmer toned, apricot tabby. Apricot TabbyĪpricot tabbies are orange tabbies with a special combination of dilute and dilute modifier genes – known as double dilution. So, if your heart is set on a very pale yellow tabby cat, you might prefer to look at the dilute tabby. Plus, your kitten’s coat color may change a little as it gets older. There will be some natural variation, even among kittens from the same litter. Some will be darker, and more similar to their orange and red counterparts. Not all yellow tabby cat coats will be the exact same shade.

You just might need to move away from show-breeders in order to find a yellow tabby kitten. But, yellow tabby cats are still possible. So, some breeders will selectively breed for this dark coat. So, yellow tabby cats are technically just very pale orange or red tabbies.Ī dark red coat is most popular for pedigree, show cats. The red color in cats is controlled by the pigment phaeomelanin. In fact, red tabbies range from pale yellow shades to the pedigree red. Red Tabbyĭespite the name, red tabbies don’t just come in a deep red tone. So, if the yellow tabby cat you have is actually an amber Norwegian Forest cat, it may be a little different to your standard recognized tabby personality. In fact, one study showed that the orange tabby cat is often seen as the friendliest type of cat, just from its appearance.īut remember, temperament can vary depending on breed, rather than being linked to color. They are known to be social, outgoing, and friendly. Tabby cats are famously great for families. The tabby markings can be classic, mackerel, or spotted. Patched tabbies, also known as torbies, are tortoiseshell-patterned cats, with tabby markings inside some of their patches. This pattern is also sometimes called ‘agouti’. Each individual hair has bands of light and dark coloration. They may have some tabby banding around their legs, neck and tail.īut you will find their main pattern on the individual hairs of this tabby’s coat. Ticked tabbies don’t have big bands of pattern like the spotted and mackerel variations. These spots are laid out in bands, just like the bands of stripes you’ll see in the mackerel pattern. Like the name suggests, this variation will have dark spots over a lighter background. The third type of tabby pattern you may have heard of is ‘spotted’. This type of tabby pattern can look a little like the skeleton of a mackerel fish – which could be the inspiration behind the name. Mackerel tabbies will have more of a striped pattern, unlike the circular ‘classic’ pattern. In fact, some people consider this to be the ‘original’ tabby pattern. The mackerel tabby is the most common tabby pattern. It can look like a marbled pattern on your tabby’s coat.

This coat variation has a swirling, circular pattern. The classic tabby pattern is also sometimes known as the blotched tabby. You could find any of these on a yellow tabby cat. In fact, even within the tabby pattern there are five recognized variations. This means that tabby cats can come in a wide variety of general appearances, and have very different personalities from one another. Tabby is just a type of coat pattern that can actually occur on a number of different breeds. It might surprise you to learn that ‘tabby’ is not a specific breed of cat.

White mackerel cat