#goldencat @goldenchinchilla #goldenshell #goldenshaded
Among many different breeds and colors of cats, Scottish golden chinchilla is considered one of the most delightful and exquisite. It has become increasingly popular in recent years and captured the hearts of cat lovers around the world. They are prized for their strikingly vibrant coats which can bear different markings depending on the extent of shading on individual hairs.
Golden cats with the “shaded” pattern will only have a quarter of their outermost hair exhibiting this color, while those with the “ticked” pattern will have guard hair made up of alternating bands of color.
Lately there has been an increase in golden cats will less visible tipping markings – and this is usually confined to the tip of their tail and ears. This color is rarer and referred to as code 12.
Golden Scottish cats have large, expressive eyes of green, emerald or blue-green color and rich warm cream or peach undercoat.
One of the things that sets the Scottish golden cats apart from other breeds is the variation in their appearance as their coat colors and patterns can vary quite a bit.
Depending on the extent of the tipping golden colors can be:
golden shell – code 12
golden shaded – code 11
Tabby colors includes the following variations:
golden ticked – code 25
golden tiger or mackerel – code 23
golden spotted – code 24
golden blotched – code 22
Depending on the basic color golden cats can be:
ny – golden black
ay – golden blue
by – golden chocolate
cy – golden lilac
oy – golden cinnamon
py – golden fawn
oy – golden red
ey – golden cream
Golden cats’ genetics
Cat coat genetics determine the coloration, pattern, length, and texture of feline fur. The variations among cat coats are physical properties and should not be confused with cat breeds.
Genes responsible for golden chinchilla color in cats includes:
A (Agouti)
I (Inhibitor)
Bl (Bleacher or Bleaching)
Sv (Silvering or Silver Inhibitor)
Er (Eraser)
U (Unpatterned)
Wb (Widebanding)
A (Agouti)
The Agouti gene, with its dominant A allele and recessive a allele, controls the coding for agouti signaling protein. The wild-type A produces the agouti shift phenomenon, which causes hairs to be banded with black and an orangish/reddish brown, this revealing the underlying tabby pattern (which is determined by the T alleles at the separate tabby gene). The non-agouti or "hypermelanistic" allele, a, does not initiate this shift in the pigmentation pathway and so homozygotes aa have pigment production throughout the entire growth cycle of the hair—along its full length. As a result, the non-agouti genotype (aa) is solid and has no obvious tabby pattern. All golden cats have AA genotype.
I (Inhibitor)
The inhibited pigment gene, I/i. Dominant form causes melanin production to be suppressed, but it affects phaeomelanin (red pigment) much more than eumelanin (black or brown pigment).
Gene I/i is also called Bl (Bleacher or Bleaching) and Silvering (Sv). The dominant allele (I) produces tipped hairs that are fully colored only at the tip and have a white base. This allele appears to interact with other genes to produce various degrees of tipping. I/Bl/Sv gene is responsible for the presence of a golden tint in a cat’s color. Dominant Inhibitor gene is not present in golden cat. Scottish golden chinchillas have homozygous recessive genotype (svsv), which provides a bright golden coat.
Er (Eraser)
The Er (Eraser) gene is another gene that suppresses pigmentation. It is responsible for different types of coloration in golden cats: veiled (shell), shaded or ticked. It was believed that the Er gene worked as an independent gene, however later it was concluded that the Er gene is involved with a group of genes working similarly. This complex of genes was called Wb (Widebanding).
U (Unpatterned)
To Stripe or Not to Stripe - the major unpatterned tabby gene, U.
Gene U (Unpatterned) is a partially dominant gene, responsible for the presence or absence of a residual pattern on the body: chest necklaces, tail rings, “glasses” near the eyes, the letter "M" on the forehead, stripes on paws. The U gene is not a true complete dominant, since the heterozygote allows the striping on the head and extremities to be expressed. Partial, incomplete, or co-dominance is probably closer to the truth. It appears dominant (or at least partially dominant) over both the mackerel and classic patterns.
Variations include: UU - is unpatterned tabby (the pattern on the body is completely absent or its barely noticeable); uu - patterned tabby (the cat has intense, well contrasting pattern); Uu - is unpatterned tabby (the pattern partially appears, this is especially noticeable on the paws, tail, and neck).
The Er (Eraser) gene as well as the U (Unpatterned) gene are responsible for so called “blurring” of the residual pattern on the golden chinchilla cat.
Additional genes making input in golden color are B (Black) and D (Dilution).
B (Black)
The browning gene B/b/bl, an enzyme involved in the metabolic pathway for eumelanin pigment production. Its dominant form, B, will produce black eumelanin. It has two recessive variants, b (chocolate) and bl (cinnamon), with bl being recessive to both B and b.
Variations include BB; Bb; Bbl; bb; bbl; blbl. If the cat has B/B; B/b; B/bl genes, the coat is black. If the cat has b/b; b/bl genes, he coat is brown or chocolate. If the cat has bl/bl genes, the coat is cinnamon.
D (Dilution)
The Dense pigment gene, D/d, codes for melanophilin, a protein involved in the transportation and deposition of pigment into a growing hair. When a cat has two of the recessive d alleles, black fur becomes "blue" (appearing gray), chocolate fur becomes "lilac" (appearing light, almost grayish brown-lavender), cinnamon fur becomes "fawn", and red fur becomes "cream".
Variations include: DD; Dd; dd. If the cat has d/d genes, the coat is diluted. If the genes are D/D or D/d, the coat will be unaffected.
Wb (Widebanding)
Golden agouti cats can have a range of phenotypes, from golden tabby, to golden shaded (under half the hair is pigmented, approx. 1/3 of hair length), to tipped golden, also called chinchilla or shell (only the very tip of the hair is pigmented, approx. 1/8 of hair length or less). This seems to be affected by Wideband factors, which make the golden band at the base of the hair wider. Breeders often notate Wideband as a single gene Wb/wb, but it is most likely a polygenic trait.
Variations include: WbWb – golden chinchilla - golden shell color; Wbwb — golden chinchilla – golden shaded color; wbwb golden chinchilla – tabby color.
The presence or absence of the Inhibitor (silver) gene does not affect the widebanding effect.
Agouti + Wideband = golden color Agouti + Wideband + dominant Silver = silver color
Non-agouti + Wideband = solid color Non-agouti + Wideband + dominant Silver = smoke pattern
The combination of Wideband and Non-agouti simply produces a solid cat.
Additionally, Wideband genes influence banding frequency, band width and band placement on the hairs. An ideal shaded golden hair should have a single band of pigment at the tip of each hair. In real life they have a mix of three patterns, i.e. a single band and wide undercoat; a few bands and wide undercoat or multiple thin bands.
New color V
In 2023 a new color was recognized among golden cats, so called "golden flaxen" or "copper". This is also referred to as “akita” or “light golden” or CORIN gold by the breeders. They have pale bellies and white feet. They are coded NV, AV, BV, CV, OV, PV, DV, EV where V — means flaxen golden.
There is another phenotype in golden cats that breeders are referring to as “sunshine”. “Sunshine” cats are much paler than copper and with a warm shimmer.
How these cats become copper is still a bit of a mystery. Current theories about the copper color tend to focus on either there being a genetic mutation of a gene, which has produced the copper variation or are based on the idea of polygenes being responsible for the golden color, and therefore the copper color being a particularly strong set of polygenes that takes the normal golden color one step further into the copper color.