There are many breeds of tabby cats, which have stripes, rounded spots, or patterns similar to marble. Collectively, tabby cat breeds are known as the tabby or brindle pattern and are the most common in cats, both wild and domestic. It is because it gives them a great evolutionary advantage. they camouflage and hide much better, both from their predators and from their prey.
However, if you have a kitten, it is important to wait a bit before you can put a name on its coat, as generally most kittens are born tabby. In some, the stripes will last, while for others, they will fade before he reaches adulthood.
Also, in the last century, many breeders have strived to come up with unique patterns that will give their cats a wild look. Today there are breeds of cats that look like tigers and even miniature ocelots. Do you want to know them? Don’t miss this article, where we have gathered all the tabby cat breeds.
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Bobtail Americano
The American Bobtail is one of the best-known tabby cat breeds, mainly due to its small tail. You can have medium-long or short hair, with different patterns and colours. However, cats with tabby, striped, speckled or marbled patterns are highly prized, which give them a wild appearance.
Toyger
If there is a breed of cat similar to the tiger, that is the Toyger or ” toy tiger “. This cat has patterns and colours identical to those of the largest cats in the world. It is due to a careful selection that took place in California at the end of the 20th century. A few breeders crossed the Bengali cat with tabby cats, getting vertical stripes on the body and circular stripes on the head, both on a bright orange background.
Pixie bob
The pixie bobcat was selected in the United States during the 1980s. Thus, a medium feline with a very reduced tail was obtained, which can have short or long hair. It is always in brown tones and is covered by dark, attenuated and small spots. Its throat and belly are whiter and it may have black tufts on the tips of its ears, like lynxes.
European cat
Of all the tabby cat breeds, the European cat is the best known. It can have many patterns and colours, but brindle is the most common.
Unlike the other types of cats, the wild appearance of the European has not been selected but arises spontaneously. It is because their selection was completely natural, thanks to the domestication of the African wild cat. This species approached the human settlements of Mesopotamia to hunt rodents. Little by little, he managed to convince them that he was a good ally.
Manx
The Manx cat arises as a result of the arrival of the European cat to the Isle of Man. There the mutation appeared that made it lose its tail and that made it a very popular cat. Like its ancestors, it can be of different colours and have varied patterns. However, the tabby is the most common and should therefore be included in the list of tabby cat breeds.
Ocicat
Although called tabby, the Ocicat or “ocelot cat” is much more like the leopard that bears the same name, Leopardus pardalis. Although it started out accidentally, her breeder wanted to get a wild-looking breed. Starting from an Abyssinian cat and a Siamese, the American Virginia Daly continued crossing breeds until she obtained a cat that was spotted with dark spots on a light background.
Gato Sokoke
The Sokoke is the least known of all the tabby cat breeds. It is a native feline of the Arabuko-Sokoke National Park, in Kenya. Although it comes from domestic cats that live there, their populations have adapted to wildlife, where they have acquired a unique colouration.
The Sokoke cat features a black marbled pattern on a light background, which has allowed it to better camouflage itself in the jungle. Thus, it avoids the larger carnivores and stalks its prey more effectively. Today some breeders try to increase their genetic diversity to preserve their lineage.
Bengali cat
The Bengali cat is one of the most special tabby cat breeds. It is a hybrid between the domestic cat and the leopard cat, a type of wild feline from Southeast Asia. Its appearance is very similar to that of its wild relative, with brown spots surrounded by black lines that are arranged on a lighter background.
American Shorthair
The American shorthair cat is native to North America, although it comes from the European cats that travelled with the settlers. These felines can have very diverse patterns, but more than 70% are tabby cats. The most common pattern is marbling, with very varied colours: brown, black, blue, silver, cream, red, etc. Without a doubt, it is one of the most admired breeds of tabby cats.
Egyptian Mau
Although there are still doubts about its origin, it is believed that this breed comes from the same cats that were worshipped in Ancient Egypt. The Egyptian Mau arrived in Europe and the United States in the middle of the last century, when it left everyone amazed by its pattern of dark stripes and spots on a grey, bronze or silver background. The lower part of its body stands out, whiter, as well as the black tip of its tail.
Other Breeds of Tabby Cats
As we already indicated at the beginning, the brindle pattern is the most frequent, since it arises naturally as an adaptation to the environment. Therefore, it appears frequently in some individuals of many other breeds of cats, so they also deserve to be on this list. They are as follows.
- American curl.
- Long-haired American.
- Peterbald.
- Cornish Rex.
- Oriental cat.
- Scottish fold.
- Scottish straight.
- Munchkin.
- Exotic cat.
- Cymric.
Conclusion
Here are the Tabby Cat Breeds which everyone must know. If you know more other about the Tabby Cat Breeds then simply share with us using the comment box below. For more information visit our CatsBuz website and know about the cats.