But.. would.. you.. look.. at.. it’s.. fur..
That’s … like … a merle gene. That’s not following feline spotting gene patterns, and it’s not how black and white develops on a cat. That is something I have never seen before.
Does anyone know anything else about this cat?!
It’s vitiligo! Happens in both cats and dogs, but I’ve seen it more in cats for some reason? Maybe people just notice it more in cats, because they don’t have merle to mistake it for.
It could also be a tortoiseshell whose coat doesn’t produce the color red – that also happens, and can make a similar pattern. But I think I remember seeing the owner of this cat talking about it, and they were born black instead of mottled – in that case it’s definitely vitiligo, because a tortie would be born looking like this, and vitiligo develops with age.
That is really cool. I love animal coat genetics stuff!