Cat Coats Torbie


Brown Classic Torbie Photo copyright Helmi Flick

Cat Coats Torbie? What's that? I don't know about you, but I find the myriad of combinations of cat coat types and descriptions confusing. One such confusing coat (I think) is the "Torbie". This is a combination of 2 coat types; the Tabby, which I have talked about on this page, and the Tortoiseshell. I have talked about the Black Tortoiseshell on this page.

We know that we get blotchy or striped markings with Tabby cats. We know that we get a mixed random effect of orange and black for tortoiseshell, the black color being the dominant color almost always. So we get one overlapping the other for Torbies.

If you overlay that further with dilution you get a massive range of possibilities. Here are some examples:


Silver Classic Torbie


Brown Mackerel Torbie


Brown Mackerel Torbie - there is comment about this coat, see below.

All photographs copyright Helmi Flick
Thanks too to Beth Hicks for her article on the same subject.

Comments

Anonymous said…
That last kitty's a spotted tabby, not a mackerel. ;)
4 January 2009 at 04:58
Anonymous said…
hi.......i have a torbie kitten.....it's so beautoful.....i think it's going to be a brown classic torbie....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
19 June 2009 at 10:46
Anonymous said…
I have a long haired torbie, she actually has more of Tortie in her with the tabby markings on the brown tabby colorings, she has red , white, black, brown, tan, and even a fox like tail lol.Even a light creme beauty mark on her face.
4 May 2010 at 07:32
Anonymous said…
What kind of kitty would i get if I bred a brown Mackerel tabby and white male,,,with a shaded silver female?
1 October 2011 at 00:34
Anonymous said…
With so many Displaced Companion Animals, Cats especially, why breed, when there are so many which need homes...Even kittens...some such as one I recently rescued which is a declawed and spayed American Shorthair with a Dilute Torbie coat.
And some idiot tossed her out whent they moved.
2 December 2012 at 09:49
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