# Difference between tortie/torbie markings



## spacemonkey (Aug 12, 2004)

I wish I had some pictures, but she is the wiggliest kitten, so I'll describe as best I can...

Miko has definate tortoiseshell coloration, black with grey, white, and orange (maybe a little brown in there too). But she also has some orange stripes on her legs, and a couple on each side of her face. The rest of her body is the mottled tortie colors. Is she a torbie? Her markings are not entirely symetrical, so I wasn't sure. All her siblings and her mother are tabbies.


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## jessamica8 (Aug 17, 2004)

I've seen the other pictures. I'm no expert, but I've had a couple of torties in the past. That's what she looks like to me - the patterns and spotting are very varied from cat to cat, so that could explain the stripes.


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## jessamica8 (Aug 17, 2004)

Also, genetics are a weird thing ... one of my torties came from and orange tabby, another one we rescued while pregnant - she later had her kittens and they were all some funky siamese mixture, no torties.


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## Sol (Feb 20, 2003)

If she only has patterns on a few spots (on the lighter parts of her body such as legs and head) I'd say she's a tortie. meaning she has no pattern. But id she's got pattern (stripes or spots) all over her body, she's a torbie because then she would have a pattern.

Patterns is a tricky area since ALL cats have some kind of markings! 8O However, the pattern on a completely black cat wouldn't show (unless the sun bleaches the fur during the summer) since the black colour is to hard to penetrate. But, basically all red cats show off markings. These markings are however not necessarily "real" patterns but only the natural pattern all cats have, more known as "ghost markings/pattern".

Maybe this didn't make you any wiser but my guess is that you're cat is a tortie, not a torbie.


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