In some rare cases, a Siamese-type pointed cat may appear to be a tricolor because of white patches on its body. A white cat with red or cream tabby patches is not a true tricolor either only one of the colors may be red or cream in a true tricolor. It’s defined (colorwise) as a tabby and white. There is a designation called “bicolor” where the cat has a significant portion of white fur, but the rest of the cat is either a solid color such as black, blue, red, or a patterned color such as brown tabby, silver tabby (what many people call “tiger”), blue tabby, etc.Ī white cat with patches of tiger stripe might appear to have three colors - white, black, and gray - but because one of the three colors is not red or cream, it is not a true tricolor. Some cats may appear to have three colors, but in fact may only have two. Black and blue are by far the most common. The second color must be white, and the third color must be black, blue (a blue-gray), chocolate, lilac (a pale rose-beige), cinnamon, or fawn (a pale buff color).

If it does not have one of these two colors, it is not a true tricolor. Many cats appear to have three colors, but are not true tricolors.Ī true tricolor must have one of its colors derived from the red gene - either red (orange) or cream (kind of a light, orangy beige, not unlike the color many people call “ginger”). OK, So what do you mean by a true Tricolor? So why didn’t you just say so in the first place?Īre you going to throw a lot of jargon at me?.What are the possible color combinations?.What is the difference between a Calico and a Tortoiseshell? And what in heck is a Torbie?.So how come there are some male true Tricolors?.I knew this was going to get complicated! Is it true that only females can be true Tricolors?.OK, So what do you mean by a true Tricolor?.Are you going to throw a lot of jargon at me?.This FAQ is meant to clear up some of the confusion, explain what is and what is not a tricolored cat, and how a true tricolor occurs.

Written by: Barbara French, Tarantara Cattery, Rochester, NYĮmail: is a lot of confusion about tricolored cats.

Lavender tabby cat