Dna testing is the easiest and most accurate way of determining a cats colour genetics. and i highly recommend you have your breeding sphynx tested so you can accurately determine kitten colours. orivet.com do all of the testing and give breeder discounts, they also have a great tool you can find in the my account section once you have signed up which helps determine the colours from dna results.
Standard colours or full colour sphynx
sphynx come in a range of colours and patters here we have the standard or full colour with no patterns or white. these colours can be diluted if parents carry the dilute gene and pass on to offspring. take note of the standard eye colours, nose and foot pads this helps determine the colour of the sphynx.
full colour Dilute colours
black blue
chocolate lavendar
cinnamon fawn
red cream
refer to colour picture page
for real pic examples.
CLICK HERE
Tabby pattern colours
The sphynx also come in tabby patterns, these colours are the same as the full colour but black is sometimes called brown in tabby. tabbys can also be dilute. take note of standard tabby eye colours, nose and foot pads this helps determine the colour of the sphynx.
full colour dilute colours
Brown blue
chocolate lavender
cinnamon fawn
red cream
if your sphynx is dna tested,
point, mink, or sepia please refer below.
Colourpoint- point, mink or sepia
colourpoint is where the warmer areas of the body are paler than the rest, as a result the ‘points’- face, tail and paws are darker, kittens are born with almost no colour and gradually darken, there are 3 different colourpoints- point (siamese), mink (tonkinese) or sepia (burmese). the main way to determine point mink or sepia is by looking at eye colour. point have Blue eyes, mink have aqua eyes, and sepia is a bright green or gold eye. the colourpoints can also be dilute if the sphynx carries the dilute gene.
the seal colour is often referred to as the natural colour of the cat. a cat that does not have point, mink or sepia genes cannot be classed as seal. seal can be anywhere from black to dark brown in the points with contrasting body colour.
refer to diagram below.
full colour dilute colours
seal blue
chocolate/ champaign lilac/ frost/platinum
cinnamon/honey fawn
red cream
you can often tell a point kitten when their eyes open they usually have a red reflection. and reflect red when a photo is taken with a flash.
point- or siamese have blue eyes, a point cat must have 2 point (siamese) genes. parents of point sphynx will either be point or mink. or have point carrier recessive gene.
mink- or tonkinese is a hybrid of point and sepia meaning the cat has 1 point gene and one sepia gene making the cats eyes a beautiful aqua colour.
sepia- or burmese have bright green or gold eyes. a sepia cat will have 2 sepia or burmese genes. parents of sepia will either be sepia or mink. or a carrier of sepia.
you cannot get a cat that has a recessive mink gene as the mink is made up of 1 point and 1 sepia gene. so only sepia or point can be recessive.
colourpoint can also come in bi colour where white is also added into the coat
for example a seal mink bicolour- refer to bi colour section for more details.
colourpint sphynx can also come in tabby or torti where the points are replaced with tabbly banding or torti pattern. a point sphynx with tabby banding is called a lynx point. refer to diagram below.
predictions of kitten colours
sire / dam- point + point mink + point sepia + point mink + mink sepia + sepia sepia + mink
kittens- all point point or mink all mink point, sepia, mink all sepia mink or sepia
percentage predictions
point x point: all kittens are points.
point x mink: 50% point and 50% mink kittens.
mink x mink: 25% sepia kittens, 50% mink kittens and 25% colourpoint kittens.
mink x sepia: 50% mink and 50% sepia kittens.
sepia x point: all kittens are mink.
Mink kittens are born with colour, which darkens more with time. Their eyes turn aqua.
Sepia kittens are born with colour, their eyes turn green or gold.
point kittens are born white and colour over the first 6 months of life.
torti or torbi
a sphynx can also come in torti patters, torti’s are 2 colours other than white, the main colours are black and red, chocolate and red, or cinnamon and red and the dilute of these colours if the dilute gene is present.
full colour dilute colours
tortoiseshell blue-cream torti
chocolate torti lilac- cream torti
cinnamon torti fawn- cream torti
tortis can also have tabby markings which makes them a torbie, as with the normal tabby colours the black is classed as brown, torbies come in brown, chocolate and cinnamon with red, and the dilutes of these colours if the dilute gene is present.
full colour dilute colours
brown patched tabby/ torbie blue-cream patched tabby/ torbie
chocolate torbie lilac-cream torbie
cinnamon torbie fawn-cream torbie
only female sphynx can be torti or torbi, it is very rare to find a male torti or torbi cat as it is a sex linked gene and if a male torti is born it is usually sterile.
to breed torti or torbi kittens you must have a black female and a red male, their colour genes are put together to make female torti or torbi. and males will come out either black or red.
to get torbi kittens at least one parent needs to be tabby and not full colour.
if a torti female is bred with any colour male, kittens produced will not be torti they will be full colour or dilute if that gene is carried.
tortis can also come with white, when the amount of white is only small patches the cat is called torti/torbi and white for example 'chocolate torti and white'. if there is a significant amount of white half of the cat or more, we move into calico pattern. explained in the diagram below they come in the same full and dilute colours with white.
bi colours
bi colours refers to a full or dilute colour sphynx with around half of the body white, for example a black bicolour or seal bicolour.
small amounts of white or spots of white are reffered to as the colour ‘and white’, for example, seal mink and white sphynx. these patches can differ in size, shape and place and are named differently accordingly.
mitted- white paws
locket- small white spot on chest
buttons- white spots on belly
bicolour- around half of the cat is white
Harlequin- mostly white with some colour patches
van- almost all white with colour on head and tail.
tuxedo- Sometimes a cat with white paws, chest and belly is called “tuxedo”. There may also be some white in the face.
the diagram below shows the degree of white patches and how they are formed.
For Real picture examples CLICK HERE.
To download a pdf of this info click here
Understanding sphynx colours and patterns
