Yesterday we talked about cat color. Today, I’d like to focus on the tabby. As I said in our last post, tabby cats are the striped or swirly-patterned ones.
There’s the classic tabby. This cat has a blotched swirly pattern all over. Some say the fur pattern resembles a marble cake.
A mackerel tabby is striped. This is the cat most would call a tiger cat.
The spotted tabby has spots instead of stripes or swirls.
The ticked tabby has tabby markings on the face (thin black lines around the eyes and creating an M on the forehead). But this tabby’s coat is more like an Abyssinian.
The patched tabby is also known as a tortie tabby or a torbie. This cat’s fur typically 
displays patches of red and brown.
Tabbies are not just alley cats—the tabby coat is recognized in many cat breeds today, including the Persian, Maine coon, manx, Scottish fold, rex, American curl and many “pointed” cats. That is cats with points such as the ragdoll, colorpoint shorthair. Their points are considered lynx points.
Tabby cats come in many colors and shades–from grays and black to browns and tans, silver, beige, cream and various shades of red.
Some of our more famous tabby cats were Garfield, Morris (of 9-Lives fame), and Dewey (the library cat)—all red tabbies. There were also Thomasina of Disney fame and Monty, the tabby in Stuart Little.
I’ll bet you can name scads more tabby cats you’ve known and loved. Now you can also identify the type of tabby.
