Subtle Shading

Hair color is produced by skin cells that feed pigment into the hair. The inhibitor gene, or I, allows pigment to fill only the first part of the hair to grow.

This produces a variety of subtle patterns that appear to change as a cat moves. in self cats, it creates a "smoke", with a white udercoat.

In agouti coats, the color is more restricted. Different degrees of shading give us shaded and silver colors and silver tabbies, which have appreciable colors, and tipped coats, which are merely "frosted" with color.

The names for these colors are inconsistent. Tipped coats are often, but not always, called "chinchillas", while shaded or tipped reds are usually called shaded or tipped "cameos".

In some breeds, there is a distinction between shaded cats, with warm-toned undercoats, and silver shadeds, with clear silver undercoats.