# Most common feral cat coat colors in your area?



## Monotail (Feb 2, 2019)

Hey Ya'll! Monotail here!

I've always nursed a sort of fascination for feral cats. For better or for worse, the domestic cat is by far one of the most successful species on the planet. They're alliance with humanity has ensured that they inhabit six of the seven continents. From huge landmasses to tiny islands, from the mean city streets to the quiet countryside, it's undeniable that cats are here, there and everywhere! 

But I've always been curious about a few things. Are some coat colors more commonplace amounst ferals then others? Are some colors more common in one area, but not another? Do some colors offer survival advantages? Etc and so forth. Well I want to know! So let me ask you, what are the most common coat colors for feral cats in your area?

So let's start off, shall we? 

I live in Montana, in a small city relatively close to the Canadian border to be a bit more specific. (Montana in the fourth largest state in the US after all!) 

Black based colors are by far the commonplace here. So black cats and brown tabbies are ubiquitous, while ginger tabbies... just aren't. I've actually only seen two in my time here! The dilute gene also doesn't seem to be common, not many blue/gray cats (Tabby or otherwise) around, but I have several of them. White spotting is fairly common though, I'd say about half of the cats around here have some amount of white on their bodies. Usually only small amounts though. The colorpoint gene is apparently present, but it's even rarer then ginger tabby is! I've only seen one coloredpointed cat and that one was at the local shelter. 

Can't wait to see if your guys areas differ from mine!


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

In my area it's the same, mostly blacks and brown tabbies or torbies, with occasional orange mackeral tabbies. The classic tabby pattern with the bull's eye marking on the sides is recessive to the mackeral (striped) pattern and is not as common. Not many blue/grey cats because it is a recessive gene and if mated to another with a recessive gene grey or cream all the kitties would be that color. A color not commonly seen in feral cats is all white, likely because it is not protective to the cat and stands out among grass or other vegetation, so would be more easily killed by a predator.


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## Greenport ferals (Oct 30, 2010)

Black and whites and all black are very common where I live.


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## Nuliajuk (Oct 25, 2014)

I've just looked at the website for a local shelter specializing in feral rescues or cats that have ended up on the streets (no owner surrenders unless the owner originally got the cat from them and can no longer keep it). A quick look shows that black or tuxedo cats are the most numerous, followed closely by brown or grey tabbies. Gingers, torbies, calicos and solid blue cats are much less common. There was only one solid white cat and one little seal point shorthair that looks to have Siamese ancestry.

These numbers seem to be repeated at the SPCA (right down to a solitary seal point), apart from having just one extra solid white cat. I'm surprised at how few ginger cats there are, I always had the impression they, along with their calico and tortie sisters, were really common here.


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## Nuliajuk (Oct 25, 2014)

Just to add, I actually had to look at the pictures on the local SPCA rather than just reading the descriptions. They are really bad about getting colours right. Our little blue point (almost lilac) was described as "seal point" when she was there, and they recently described a really obvious tawny coloured Bengal cross as a "blue tabby". I have no idea why!


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## Janis (Aug 26, 2010)

In Ohio I see part of a feral colony sitting around a parking lot where I go once a week hoping for a handout. This unusual one I see a lot and others similar but without the striped tail. Also a ginger and pale colored tabbies. No black and white there though I was given a black feral kitten a number of years ago from another colony that is black with only 
A small tuxedo. Saw another colony between Ohio and Kentucky once when I stopped at a convenience store. They appeared to be a totally black colony. Didn't see any other colors there. In Florida at a restaurant on Anastasia Island there was a large completely ginger colony that came regularly to dine that we observed for several years in a row.


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