Colors

Devon Rex cats come in a wide variety of colors.
Here is a brief description:

Solid black is one of the first mutations that took place in domestic cats.
The black cat is in effect a striped cat whose hair is uniformly black.
This coloring is linked to the presence of the B gene.
The spreading of this mutation took place many centuries
ago as a result of trading in the Mediterranean.
The dark brown chocolate (linked to the B gene)
and light brown cinnamon (linked to the BL gene) colors derive from black by mutation..
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The origin of the red color may or may not be linked to sex.
For example, in Abyssinian cats the color is due to the light brown cinnamon gene.
True red is linked to the O gene that is brought by the sexual X chromosome.
Male cats receive the X chromosome from the dam and the Y chromosome from the sire;
therefore, in order for a male cat to be red just one O gene is sufficient..

Female cats receive two X chromosomes, one from the dam and one from the sire;
in order to have a red coat they must have two O genes.
Red females are not very common; the tortoiseshell color is found more easily.
All red cats are tabbies since the A gene (non-agouti) has no effect on red pigment.
Solid red-coated cats are obtained through a careful selection aimed at reducing
the contrast between the predominant color and the stripes.
A dilution of red (D gene, as indicated for black) determines a cream color.

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White is not very common among ordinary cats also because it is often
associated with deafness and skin tumors.
The gene linked to white covers all other colors:
a cat that appears to be white genetically may be any other color
and this will be evident only with mating.
Totally white cats are rather rare; two-colored cats are more common.
The white coloring is linked to the presence of the dominant W gene,
so-called a camouflage gene because it covers all other colors and patterns..
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The D gene is responsible for the concentration of pigments in each hair and acts
in the form D (recessive), resulting in a uniform but lighter coloring.
Here are some examples:

black.............blue
chocolate.......lilac
cinnamon......fawn
red............cream

The color of the coat may present characteristic stripes where the base color alternates
in each single hair with stripes of a color that tend towards yellow (so-called agouti).
This is the “original” coloring that derives from the small African feline
that was the ancestor of the domesticated cat.
A tabby cat may have four different types of patterns:
mackerel, blotched, spotted and Abyssinian.

The term color point refers to the typical Siamese coloring, ivory all over the body
with points of various colors. This coloring is linked to the presence of the blue eyes
and is due to a gene, so-called Himalayan, that determines the accumulation of pigment
in those areas where the body temperature is lower (muzzle, ears, paws, tail, testicles).
This coloring is linked to the CS gene.
There are other cats whose coats are of the same tome as the points, but lighter.
This is called the Tonkinese or mink coloring:
in this case the eyes have a typical color called aquamarine.
A third variety is called Burmese:
the coat is not light like the points but instead tends to a caramel color, typically defined "sable".

In certain cats the coat may have white areas over a few or several areas of the body:
this may range between a bi-color to a harlequin to a van, in which the white covers
the entire body with the exception of the head and tail.
The presence of these areas is linked to the S gene.
Only female cats can be tri-color with white and in this case it is called calico.

This gene is responsible for the fact that the typical yellow agouti
coloring is suppressed and instead a much lighter, silvery color appears.
This phenomenon may appear, for example, in tabby cats
and in this case they are known as silver tabbies.
This gene is also responsible for the smoke coloring in which each
single hair shows a silvery coloring at the rootswhen the coat moves it shows the silvery .
This type of cat seems to have a uniform coloring but base.
There are also shaded and shell varieties: again, each single hair shows a silvery coloring
at the roots but over a larger portion than in the smoke variety..

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