There are many breeds of tabby cats, which have stripes, round spots, or marble-like patterns. Collectively, they are known as the “tabby” or brindle pattern and it is most common in felines, both wild and domestic. This is because it gives them a great evolutionary advantage: they camouflage and hide much better, both from their predators and their prey.
Some of them have arisen naturally, while others have been the result of different crosses made by humans to achieve unique patterns that would give their cats a wild look. Today there are cat breeds that look like miniature tigers and even ocelots. Do you want to meet them? Do not miss this article on our site, where we have collected all the tabby cat breeds
American Bobtail
The American Bobtail is one of the best-known tabby cat breeds, mainly due to its small tail It can have a semi-long or short hair, with different patterns and colors. However, cats with tabby patterns, striped, speckled or marbled, which give them a wild look, are highly appreciated.
Toyger
If there is a breed of cat similar to the tiger, it is the toyger or “ toy tiger ”. This cat has patterns and colors identical to those of the largest cats in the world. It is due to a careful selection that took place in California at the end of the 20th century. Breeders crossed the Bengal cat with tabby cats, getting vertical stripes on the body and circular stripes on the head, both on a bright orange background.
Pixie bob
The pixie bob cat was selected in the United States during the 1980s. Thus, a medium-sized cat was obtained with a very short tail who can have short or long hair. It is always in shades of brown and is covered by dark spots, faded and small. Its throat and belly are whitish and it may have black tufts on the tips of its ears, like lynxes.
European
Of all the tabby cat breeds, the European cat is the best known. It can come in many patterns and colors, but the gray or brown tabby is the most common.
Unlike the other types of striped cats, the wild look of the European has not been selected for, but emerges spontaneouslyIt is because their selection was completely natural, thanks to the domestication of the African wild cat (Felis lybica). This species approached human settlements in Mesopotamia to hunt rodents. Little by little, he managed to convince them that he was a good ally.
Manx
The Manx cat arose as a result of the arrival of the European cat on the Isle of Man. There the mutation appeared that made it lose its tail and made it a very popular cat. Like its ancestors, it can be of various colors and have various patterns. However, tabby is the most common and therefore should be included in the list of tabby cat breeds.
Ocicat
Although it is called tabby, the ocicat or “ocelot cat” is much more similar to the leopard that bears the same name, Leopardus pardalis. Although it started out accidentally, her breeder wanted to get a wild-looking breed Starting from an Abyssinian cat and a Siamese, American Virginia Daly kept crossing breeds until she got a cat mottled with dark spots on a light background.
Sokoke
The sokoke is the least known of all the tabby cat breeds. It is a feline native to the Arabuko-Sokoke National Park in Kenya. Although it comes from the domestic cats that live there, its populations have adapted to wildlife, where they have acquired a unique coloration [1]
The sokoke cat has a black marbled pattern on a light background, which has allowed it to better camouflage itself in the jungle. Thus, it avoids larger carnivores and stalks its prey more effectively. Today, some breeders try to increase their genetic diversity to preserve their lineage.
Bengali
The Bengal cat is one of the most special breeds of tabby cats. It is a hybrid between the domestic cat and the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), and a type of wild cat from Southeast Asia. Its appearance is very similar to that of its wild relative, with brown spots surrounded by black lines set against a lighter background.
American shorthair
The American shorthair cat is native to North America, although it comes from the European cats that traveled with the settlers. These felines can come in many different patterns, but over 70% are tabby cats[2]The most common pattern is marbled, with very varied colors: brown, black, blue, silver, cream, red, etc. Without a doubt, it is one of the most admired striped cat breeds.
Egyptian Mau
Although there are still doubts about its origin, it is believed that this breed comes from the same cats that were venerated in Ancient Egypt. The Egyptian mau arrived in Europe and the United States in the middle of the last century, when it amazed everyone with its pattern of stripes and dark spots on a grey, bronze or silver backgroundHighlights the whiter lower part of its body, as well as the black tip of its tail. It is the quintessential gray tabby cat.
Other breeds of tabby cats
As we indicated at the beginning, the brindle pattern is the most frequent, since it arises naturally as adaptation to the environment Therefore, appears frequently in some individuals of many other cat breeds, so they also deserve to be on this list. They are as follows:
- American Curl.
- American Longhair.
- Peterbald.
- Cornish rex.
- Oriental cat.
- Scottish fold.
- Scottish straight.
- Munchkin.
- Exotic cat.
- Cymric.