Colour Transformations I

Breeders are often heavily focused on achieving physically appealing characteristics in their cats. Selective breeding plays a huge role in the outcome through probability and genetic pool mixing. As explained in other posts, breeders will benefit from familiarising themselves with the potential genetic compatibility. Beyond this, understanding the recessive and dominant genomes will also help to realise some of the more unusual characteristics that are sometimes dormant within a lineage. Despite breeding being a calculated selection process, there is no guaranteed way to ensure the exact genetic combination in a kitten. All of the kittens will be unique and it will be a matter of probable luck for the desired characteristics to manifest. Having an understanding of the various colour mutations does however at least create the chance for desired traits to manifest.

Colour mutations have come about as a result of a number of factors. The combination of genetic pool mixing, genetic dominance along with external factors have created a broad spectrum of colour transformations. For instance, one of the most common colours within cats is pure black or darker shades. This is actually a derivative of an early grey that darkened into a shade that was later seen as black.