Is it a mask? Are they eyebrows? Folklore reports it could be from an Islamic prophet, a blessed virgin mother, or even an ancient sacred Egyptian icon. The “M” - as mentioned - refers to the inverted chevron markings above his eyes. There are two notable mackerel tabby traits that help make him a real standout. The tiger-stripe tabby pattern was dubbed “mackerel” because the stripes coming off of the cat’s spine resemble a fish skeleton. And once it made that leap, the quick-witted tabby left textiles in the dust! It wasn’t until the late 18th century that the word tabby crossed over from describing a type of cloth to describing a type of cat. The French called it tabis and in the early 17th century, it made its way to English as tabby. Where did the name tabby cat, and the name mackerel tabby cat, come from?Īccording to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the term tabby originated from a type of silk taffeta with a wavy surface produced in Baghdad called ‘attābī, after the neighborhood it was created in. This may seem like that’s all there is to know about tabbies, but read on!

The stripes are often solid lines but they can be broken and they are born with them. So, a mackerel tabby cat pattern can appear on many different cat breeds and refers to the arrangement of stripes on the kitty’s body - specifically that the stripes run vertically down the cat off his spine. However, many cats of distinguished breeding boast the striking tabby coat: from the Norwegian Forest Cat to the Maine Coon. While they may be referred to as tiger cats, the actual coat coloring of a tiger, an orange ground with black stripes, does not appear on Felis catus, or domestic cats. They are sometimes referred to as “tiger cats” because their stripes resemble the only occurring-in-the-wild big cat with stripes, yes, Panthera tigris. The mackerel tabby cat has stripes that run perpendicular to the cat’s spine and line his legs and ring his tail. Of all the tabby variations, the one most associated with traditional tabby markings is the mackerel tabby pattern. Holy mackerel - is that a tiger? All about the mackerel tabby cat pattern McGee is a mackerel tabby cat - more on him later! Photography by Denise LeBeau. There are quite a few varieties of tabby patterns (see all of them here!), but arguably the most popular is the mackerel tabby. It is believed that a large percentage of feral cats are tabbies because the gene is so dominant and it’s most likely the dominant gene because the pattern is best suited for camouflage. Tabby kittens can get their fur patterns from either the sire or the dam, so the unique markings often emerge in the litters of cat fanciers’ breeding programs and those unplanned random cat romances. Many tabby cats have the trademark “M” created by the stripes on the tabby’s forehead. The term “tabby” refers to their striped fur pattern. It may seem like they are a breed unto themselves, but tabbies are not a breed.

Yellow orange tabby cat