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Socks is a Domestic Medium Hair!
The original coat color and pattern of our modern cats came from the native African wildcat -- a striped tabby that utilized its coat color to hide from larger predators and to creep upon unaware prey. Modern cats come in four basic marking patterns -- striped (also called mackerel), blotched or classic, Abyssinian or ticked, and spotted. All are mutations of the original coat color and markings.
The colors of a cats' hair is produced by skin cells that form into patch shapes during the fetus's development and control the feeding of pigment into the hair shafts. A gene called the inhibitor gene allows pigment to fill only the first part of the hair to grow. This produces a variety of subtle patterns that appear to change as the cat moves. Different degrees of shading give us shaded and silver colors and silver tabbies, which have appreciable colors, and "frosted" coats.
Bicolored (2 colored) cats usually have a white underbelly with a saddle of color over their back. Some longhair or shorthaired bicolored cats are predominantly white with the colors only on the head and tail.
We are pleased to welcome Socks to our practice!
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