Breeder X and Breeder Y are proud to announce the birth of 5 adorable Forest Cat kittens, in the following
colors:
NFO gs 21
NFO es 22
NFO as 09 23
NFO e
NFO gs 09
Dear Reader, which of these lovely kittens would you like to take home with
you?
No idea?
Well, of course not. How could you possibly know from reading a list of letters and numbers? These codes, which turn up in litter announcements and in pedigrees, are the DNA designations for our Norwegian Forest Cats. So, to make it easier for you as a layman to pick out the pretty kitten you are looking for as a pet, we offer here a short lesson about the Forest Cat colors.
To begin with, let's take the 3 letters NFO. They stand for NORWEGIAN FORESTCAT.
Next, Forest Cats are divided into 9 color groups:
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Group 1
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Solid black or solid blue (the "blue" is "breeder speak" for the color folks usually call "gray")
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Group 2
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Solid black with contrasting bits of white, or solid blue with white
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Group 3
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Black tabby or blue tabby
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Group 4
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Black tabby with white, or blue tabby with white
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Group 5
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Red, cream (the diluted version of red), black tortoiseshell, blue tortoiseshell (blue cream) - all of these may be either tabby or non-tabby
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Group 6
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The same colors as in group 5, but with contrasting white
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Group 7
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Silver (with tabby pattern) or smoke (without the tabby pattern)
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Group 8
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The same colors as in group 7, but with white
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Group 9
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Pure white
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These 9 groups are associated with corresponding numbers:
They are arranged according to the basic colors and the basic colors with white (the so-called
"white spotting" effect).
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Black is designated with
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n
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Black & white is designated with
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n 09
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Blue is designated with
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a
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Blue & white is designated with
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a 09
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Red is designated with
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d
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Red & white is designated with
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d 09
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Cream is designated with
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e
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Cream & white is designated with
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e 09
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Black tortoiseshell is designated with
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f
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Black tortoiseshell & white is designated with
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f 09
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Blue tortoiseshell, or "blue cream" is designated with
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g
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Blue tortoiseshell & white is designated with
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g 09
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Pure white is designated with
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w
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Along with the 9 groups and 7 color numbers (or, rather, 6, since white cats cannot be tabby), we have numbers for the various tabby
patterns:
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A pattern which is not clearly defined has the number 21
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Blotched, or "classic", tabby has the number 22
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Mackerel, or "tiger-striped" tabby has the number 23
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Spotted tabby has the number 24
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Ticked tabby (like the Abyssinian pattern) has the number 25
In addition there are letters for
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Silver or smoke = s
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Golden = y
Eye color is only defined for white cats:
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Blue eyes have the number 61
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Yellow eyes 62
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Odd eyes (one blue, one yellow) 63
now we can solve the mystery of the litter Breeders X and Y have presented to us. It must be a delightful little family, because we find, tumbling around in their basket:
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NFO gs 21
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A blue tortoiseshell with indefinite tabby pattern
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NFO es 22
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A cream silver blotched tabby
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NFO as 09 23
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A blue silver mackerel tabby with white
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NFO e
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A cream
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NFO gs 09
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A blue tortoiseshell smoke with white
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And if they are all healthy, both physically and genetically, and if all find loving new homes, then the efforts of Mama and Papa Cat and breeders X and Y will not have been in
vain....
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