Greetings. Kommando Kitty here. It seems like Sgt Stripes has been running the blog lately. First he took over the upstairs, now he’s getting pushy on here. Mom said I could have a week to talk about whatever I wanted to. At first, I thought about just running a bunch of pictures to show everyone how cute I am. But you guys already know that. Then I was going to talk about how stressed out I am with our new living arrangements. But you guys already know that too.

I’ve decided that I will talk a little bit about my most obvious trait: my gorgeous white-and-grey coat. Mom once said that I was colored like a type of cow, a Holstein-Friesian. I was really offended; she really hurt my feelings. Then I discovered that other people call us cow cats too. Or Moo Cats, which is even worse. (Some people think cows are cute; humans are weird.) Apparently, I am officially a piebald. Piebalds are white cats that have spots of any other color, even tabby. Or, technically, cats of other colors with white spots. Tuxedo cats are officially piebalds. Everyone thinks they’re elegant, so I guess that’s better than being a cow cat.

There’s an actual science associated with bicolor cats. It happens when a cat inherits a piece of a “white spotting gene.” The actual piece of the gene with the coding is called an allele. Alleles can be either dominate or recessive on the gene. If a kitty has two dominant white spotting alleles, they will be more than half white. If a kitty receives one dominant and one recessive white spotting alleles, they will have a more even mix of white and some darker color.

The coat patterns are divided into a scale:

• Less than 40% white – low-grade
• 40-60% white – medium-grade
• More than 60% white – high-grade

That means that I’m a high-grade kitty. (But I already knew that.) The Cat Fanciers have a bicolor rating system: 1 has no white and 10 is all white. White spotting generally starts on the chest or belly, then moves to the front paws, sides, and finally to the legs and face.

There are several common patterns of piebald cats

Tuxedo – predominantly black with white tummy, chest, pay, and sometimes chin and/or nose

Cow – predominantly white with black spots on the torso

Van – predominantly white with black on the head and tail only

Mask-and-Mantle – black back, shoulders, and head; white underside

Cap-and Saddle –  predominantly white; black on the top of the head and on the lower back, near the tail

Locket – black with a small white patch on the chest or tummy

A few other random facts:

• Cats that look like me are also called harlequins or magpies.
• More of us are short-haired than long-haired for some reason.
• Our coloring helps us hunt in areas that have patches of light and shadows
• Because there are so many kitties with these types of markings, some humans think we’re “common” and want a more unusual-looking pet when they go to shelters.
• We are generally mixed breeds which means that we will usually enjoy a long, healthy life

I couldn’t find any famous cats that are piebald who aren’t tuxedo cats, which was a little disappointing. But I still feel better knowing I have so many piebald buddies out there.