Trait: an inheritable characteristic

1. Trait: an inheritable characteristic • Heredity: passing of traits to offspring from its parents or ancestor • Allele: an alternative form of a gene • Phenotype: an organism’s observable characteristics or traits

2. Dominant: the expressed allele • Recessive: the unexpressed allele • Genotype: the genetic makeup of an organism • Homozygous: having an identical pair of alleles for a trait • Heterozygous: having two different alleles for a trait • Complete dominance: when the dominant allele completely masks the effect of the recessive allele • Co dominance: when two different alleles are both expressed

4. Cat Genetics

5. Agouti coat Agouti is hair striping. Dominant alleles produce hair that are dark with light bands. • AA or Aa = Agouti hairs • aa – solid hairs – no agouti

6. Stripes present – AA or Aa Scooter

7. No stripes = aa Miranda

8. Tabby Tabby is basically the background for the striping. It can be your basic stripes or in whorls or blotches. • TT or Tt – striped • tt - blotched

9. Stripes AA or Aa Tabby – TT or Tt Blitzen

10. Miki Agouti – AA or Aa Tabby - blotched tt

11. Black coat Fairly obvious, is there black in the cat’s coat. • BB or Bb – Black pigment • bb – brown pigment

12. Agouti – AA or Aa Tabby – TT or Tt Black – BB or Bb Buddy

13. Midnight Agouti – aa Tabby - ? Black – BB or Bb

14. Havana and Cuba Agouti – aa Tabby - ? Brown - bb

15. Dilute This codes for how the hairs are packed, or the distribution of the melanin in the hair. • DD or Dd – normal, color is not diluted • dd – less packing, dilute color

16. Baby aa, ?T, B(B or b), D (D or d)

17. Elliot A (A or a), T (T or t), B(B or b), dd

18. Spotting Spotting is when there is the absence of pigment cells. This is a co-dominant gene. The amount of white spots on the body is determined by the presence of the spotting gene. • SS – white spots on more than ½ the body • Ss – white spots on less than ½ the body • ss – no white spots

19. Cricket: AA or Aa TT or Tt ?B dd SS Cricket and Bliss Bliss: AA or Aa, tt, ?B, dd, Ss

20. AA or Aa, TT or Tt, BB or Bb, dd, Ss Furball

21. aa ?T BB or Bb DD or Dd ss Donner

22. Silver and White gene The silver gene makes it so that there is only pigment at the tips of hair, resulting in silver coloring. The white gene removes all melanin from a coat, reduces the pigment in the eyes – yellow or blue, and can even cause deafness. • II or Ii – silver • ii – normal coloring • WW or Ww – white • ww - nonwhite

23. Jasper A(A or a) tt B(B or b) D(D or d) ss I(I or i)

24. ?A, ?B, ?D, ?S, W (W or w) Albi

25. ?A, ?B, ?D, ?S, W (W or w) Simon

26. Tail Length The Manx gene reduces the length of the tail. • MM or Mm – short/no tail • mm – long tail

27. A(A or a) T(T or t) ?B dd ss ii ww M(M or m) Maggie

28. Catso - male A(A or a) T(T or t) ?B dd SS ii ww mm

29. Fur Length This is pretty self-explanatory, the length of the fur. • LL or Ll – short hair • ll – long hair

30. A(A or a) tt B(B or b) dd ss ii ww mm ll Murray - Kai’s other cat

31. Fizgig A(A or a) T(T or t) B(B or b) D(D or d) ss ww ii mm L(L or l)