The colour and tone of your cat depend, essentially, on melanin and its two components: eumelanin and pheomelanin. It is the combination of these two – in greater or lesser amounts – that defines an animal’s colour. Eumelanin produces brown and black, whilst pheomelanin gives us red and yellow. They are combined, mixed, and result in your cat.
As happens with humans, hair colour is determined by the amount of melanin transferred genetically by the father and the mother to their young when they are conceived. That is to say that it is the sum of both genes that defines the colour of the new kitten:
The colour and tone of your cat depend, essentially, on melanin and its two components: eumelanin and pheomelanin.
The mix of coat colour and eye colour ends up uniquely defining each cat. But it is important to remember that their eye colour is not directly linked to the colour of their fur, although there are in fact some norms. Cats’ eyes can be green, blue, brown, golden, copper and so on and so forth – there is an extensive range of shades.
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