Agouti

Agouti is a trait that decides if the pattern a cat carries is hidden or shown. Agouti = shown, non angouti is hidden (solid cat)

Some colors makes it harder to see wheter a cat is agouti or non agouti. Red and creme is almost transparent sometimes and silver on blue cats can also be transparent looking in younger age.

BREEDING WITH AGOUTI AND NON AGOUTI

A/A on the cats DNA tell us that you have a homozygous agouti. Breeding with a cat like this will make all the offspring show pattern (agouti)

A/a on the cats DNA tell us that you have a heteroxygous agouti. Breeding with a cat like this will make some offspring have patterns (agouti) and some will be without pattern (solid/non agouti).

a/a on the cats DNA tell us that a cat is homozygot non-agouti. Breeding with two cats like this will give you offspring that is non agouti.

HOW TO SEE THE DIFFERENT

AGOUTI	NON AGOUTI
light in the edge of the ears	The same color at the edge of the ears like the cats base color.
light in the ears	The same color in the ears
light “glasses” around the cats eyes	markings around the cats eyes are there, but they will not be white as on the agouti, just a bit lighter than the base color
light around the mouth	markings around the mouth is the same as around the eyes in color
lighter under the abdomen	under the abdomen will also be the same as around the eyes, just a bit lighter than the base color.
lighter around anus, and this “lighter” color goes up in a string on the underside of the cats tail.	The same color as the base color around anus and the underside of the cats tail.

Breeding with silver in red and creme cats may make it aloth harder to see the difference between a non-agouti or a agouti cat.

You can still look for the same things, but… the silver may play you a trick if you do not have a trained eye who know what to look for.

A DNA test will determinate wheter a cat is agouti or non-agouti. For a breeder this will help them to know what they are breeding with and also sometimes at show to tell a judge the right pattern on a cat. Many cat owners have been frustrated on shows by judges who one day say the cat is agout the next show a new judge say it is non agouti and the cat change classes at the show… A DNA test will finally make the cat stay in the right class.

GHOST PATTERN

Sometimes the pattern is not fully surpessed and it shines through. This is called “ghost marks”. This is especially common in smokes and usually better visible when the cats are kittens or youngsters.

Ghost markings tend to fade if not completely disappear with age.

To see if a cat has ghost patterns or not you can look at the cats nose. If the cat is agouti there will be a “liner” at the cats nose lid. A solid cat with ghost patterns will have a solid nose (meaning that the whole nose is the same color)

Remember sometimes if shaded cats theyr nose show a solid nose, but later in age the nose color change and show a pattern nose. If you are gonne breed in a cat like this, it is also a good thing to take a DNA test to be sure wheter the cat is agouti or non agout.