Charcoal Kitten Possibilities
While we do not at this time, have charcoal kittens,
we have kittens who can, with the correct mate, produce charcoal kittens.
UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Lab offers a Bengal cat color test,
to see what color genes the kitten carries.
It is fascinating to learn a little about what makes the kitten a charchoal,
so included below are some helpful things borrowed:
one is from a cattery One in a Million,
another from UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Lab
A charcoal is Apb/a
(Agouti with a domestic cat [melanistic, explains James Lubbad of Painted Cats])
Our kitten, Smoke, is Apb/Apb, or double Agouti
(which is wild trait markings like around eyes).
So, below, we can see probabilites of his kittens, depending on the genes of his mate.
we have kittens who can, with the correct mate, produce charcoal kittens.
UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Lab offers a Bengal cat color test,
to see what color genes the kitten carries.
It is fascinating to learn a little about what makes the kitten a charchoal,
so included below are some helpful things borrowed:
one is from a cattery One in a Million,
another from UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Lab
A charcoal is Apb/a
(Agouti with a domestic cat [melanistic, explains James Lubbad of Painted Cats])
Our kitten, Smoke, is Apb/Apb, or double Agouti
(which is wild trait markings like around eyes).
So, below, we can see probabilites of his kittens, depending on the genes of his mate.
UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Lab
explains in much more detail:
Quick SummaryCharcoal Bengals sport an unusual coat marking of a darker face mask and dark thick dorsal stripe ("cape").
This “charcoal” pattern is produced by the combination of a domestic cat non-agouti variant and an Asian Leopard Cat agouti variant.
Bengal kitten without the charcoal pattern (left); Bengal kitten with the charcoal pattern (right)
Phenotype: Charcoal Bengals sport an unusual coat marking of a darker face mask and dark thick dorsal stripe ("cape"). The markings on these cats are darker and more extended than those seen on non-charcoal Bengals.
Mode of Inheritance: Not yet fully understood; APb variant appears to not be fully dominant over a variant
Alleles:
A = Agouti variant (Domestic Cat)
A2 = Agouti variant (Bengal and Savannah cat)
APb = Agouti variant (Asian Leopard Cat)
ALs = Agouti variant (Serval and Savannah cat)
Ajc = Agouti variant (Jungle Cat and Chausie)
a = Non-agouti variant (Domestic Cat)
Breeds appropriate for testing: Bengal
Explanation of Results:
explains in much more detail:
Quick SummaryCharcoal Bengals sport an unusual coat marking of a darker face mask and dark thick dorsal stripe ("cape").
This “charcoal” pattern is produced by the combination of a domestic cat non-agouti variant and an Asian Leopard Cat agouti variant.
Bengal kitten without the charcoal pattern (left); Bengal kitten with the charcoal pattern (right)
Phenotype: Charcoal Bengals sport an unusual coat marking of a darker face mask and dark thick dorsal stripe ("cape"). The markings on these cats are darker and more extended than those seen on non-charcoal Bengals.
Mode of Inheritance: Not yet fully understood; APb variant appears to not be fully dominant over a variant
Alleles:
A = Agouti variant (Domestic Cat)
A2 = Agouti variant (Bengal and Savannah cat)
APb = Agouti variant (Asian Leopard Cat)
ALs = Agouti variant (Serval and Savannah cat)
Ajc = Agouti variant (Jungle Cat and Chausie)
a = Non-agouti variant (Domestic Cat)
Breeds appropriate for testing: Bengal
Explanation of Results:
- Cats with APb/a genotype are expected to have charcoal patterning and can produce charcoal offspring depending on the genetics of the mate.
- Cats with the following genotypes are not expected to have charcoal patterning, but they have a copy (or copies) of the Asian Leopard Cat agouti variant and can produce charcoal offspring depending on the genetics of the mate (mate must have non-agouti variant a in order to produce charcoal offspring):
- APb/ A
- APb/ A2
- APb/APb
- APb/ ALs
- APb/ Ajc
- Cats with the following genotypes are not expected to have charcoal patterning, but they have a copy (or copies) of the Domestic Cat non-agouti variant and can produce charcoal offspring depending on the genetics of the mate (mate must have Asian Leopard Cat agouti variant APb in order to produce charcoal offspring):
- A2/a
- ALs/a
- Ajc/a
- A/a
- a/a
- Cats with the following genotypes are not expected to have charcoal patterning, have no copies of the Asian Leopard Cat agouti variant, and cannot produce charcoal offspring:
- A/A
- A/A2
- A2/A2
- ALs/A
- ALs/A2
- ALs/ ALs
- ALs/ Ajc
- Ajc/A
- Ajc/A2
- Ajc/Ajc