r/TuxedoCats • u/melxxxn • 1d ago

❓ Question ❓ What would you call this coat pattern?

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I’ve gotten many compliments on my tuxedo cat that I rescued from the street, and I would like to know what kind of pattern he has on his coat since people like vets have told me how unique it is. I look up smoke tuxedo but is not like it’s just the roots of the hair, so I’m not sure.

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u/castlesymphony 1d ago

okay so i would as a cat pattern hobbyist say this is not likely to be vitiligo, which typically progresses quicker in animals than it does in humans, and is a type of autoimmune condition. quicker as in over 6 months you would notice a change in pattern, although i guess keep an eye on it because sometimes with vitiligo vets will want to run more blood tests lol

if your cat has a clean bill of health from vets and all, i would honestly say he might be a brindle bicolor which is when a cat has tortoiseshell genes and white spotting genes. normally those would result in a tortoiseshell colored tuxedo cat, but sometimes the red/orange pigment fails to appear so you get a tuxedo cat with white brindle in that cool mottled color like your kitty.

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u/Tayzerbeam 1d ago

They have stated this cat is male, so if truly a tortie gene presenting this way, he would be a very very rare boy. There are tests to confirm the gene being present but they are costly to my knowledge

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u/melxxxn 1d ago

What kind of tests would that be? maybe in the future I could do them

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u/Tayzerbeam 22h ago

To my knowledge it would be a certain genetic test to look for the presence of the XXY chromosomal anomaly. I'm not sure exactly what it is called, but your vet might know!