Tabby Cat Gifts 

The tabby cat is not a breed of cat, nor is it a coat colour. It's simply a coat pattern. It can show up in combination with a variety of coat colors. A cat's coat can be described as red tabby or gray tabby. Black and blue are colors that usually show up without tabby markings, but with some cats, a faint tabby pattern can actually be noticed. White is the only color that does not have any tabby markings. We have a lovely selection of tabby cat merchandise available to buy on our web site.

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Tabby Cat Products Currently Available

Brown Tabby Cat Shoulder Bag

Brown Tabby Cat Tapestry Cushion

Ginger Tabby Cat Shoulder Bag

Ginger Tabby Cat Tapestry Cushion

Ginger Tabby Cat Throw

Grey Tabby Cat Doormat

General Information On The Tabby Cat

A tabby cat is a cat with a distinctive coat that features stripes, dots, or swirling patterns. Tabby Cats are often mistakenly assumed to be a breed of cat. In fact, the tabby pattern is a naturally occurring feature that may be the original coloration of the domestic cat's distant ancestors. Tabby Cat colour is found in many breeds of cat, as well as among the general 'moggy' (mixed-breed or mongrel) population. When cats are allowed to breed randomly, the coloration of the population tends toward brown mackerel tabby cats with green eyes, leading geneticists to believe that this is the common wild phenotype of the domestic cat. The tabby cat usually has an "M" mark on its forehead.

There are four patterns of tabby cat that have been shown to be genetically distinct: mackerel tabby cats, classic tabby cats, spotted tabby cats and ticked tabby cats.

The mackerel tabby cat pattern has vertical, gently curving stripes on the side of the body. The stripes are narrow, and may be continuous or broken into bars and spots on the flanks and stomach. Often, an 'M' shape appears on the forehead. Mackerels also feature a 'peppered' nose, where black spots appear along the pink tip of the nose. Mackerels are also called 'fishbone tabbies'. Mackerel is the most common tabby pattern.

Classic (or 'blotched') tabby cats have a similar 'M' pattern on the head, but the body markings are different, having a whorled and swirled pattern with wider stripes that make what are referred to as "butterfly" patterns on their shoulders, and usually a bullseye or oyster pattern on the flank. The legs and tail are more heavily barred and the pattern is variable with respect to the width of the bands.

The ticked tabby cat pattern produces hairs with distinct bands of color on them, breaking up the tabby patterning into a salt-and-pepper appearance. Residual ghost striping or "barring" can often be seen on the lower legs, face and belly and sometimes at the tail tip.

The spotted tabby cat may not be a true pattern, but a modifier that breaks up the mackerel pattern so that the stripes appear as spots; the stripes of the classic pattern may be broken into larger spots. Both large spot and small spot patterns can be seen in the Australian Mist, Bengal, Egyptian Mau, and Ocicat breeds.