It is recomended that you learn these probabilities below, because it helps to understand genetics in other areas that are more important, but if you want a "crutch", you can use my Color Predictor.

Sex linked color

Red is attached to the X chromosome. It is dominant to black, chocolate and cinnamon. All the other colors you see are actually patterns that affect these basic colors. A male cat has one X and one Y chromosome. The red color factor is on his X chromosome that he gets from his dam. He gets his Y chromosome( with no color designation) from his sire. A female has two X chromosomes with two red color factors. She gets one from her sire & one from her dam. If a dam is black, she doesn't have the red color, and all her boys will be black or black with additional genes, none of her boy kittens will be red. If a dam is red, she has two genes for the red color and all her boys will be red (or red with additional genes), none of her boy kittens will be black. If a dam is tortie, she has one gene for red and one not for red, and half of her boys will be red and half will be black. The sire gives no red genes to his boys. If a male is red & a female is black, all of their female kittens will be tortoishell.

Sire: red RED (x)    (Y) Dam: black NO RED(X) black   RED & black(XX)  black (XY)   NO RED(X)  black  RED & black(XX)  black (XY)

If we have a black female and a red male, we can guess the color of their kittens (add the color to the square across or down from it). male = XY; female = XX sire = red male; dam = black female kittens = black/red (tortie) females, black males

Dilute

The color gene for red is the only color gene attached to the sex of the cat. The rest of the color genes are actually patterns that affect the black or red. The dilute gene is one such gene. It turns black into blue & red into cream. A recessive gene needs two genes (one from each parent) to appear on a cat. A dominant gene needs one gene (from either parent) to appear on a cat. Dilute is a recessive gene. If a cat has two dilute genes it will be a dilute. If a cat has one dilute gene and one "normal" gene the cat will appear normal. Since dilute is a recessive gene, you will only get dilute kittens if both parents contribute a dilute gene. If a black sire doesn't carry a dilute gene, you won't get any blues or creams. You can't tell by looking at a cat if it is carrying a recessive gene. You can guess whether he carries a dilute by looking at his parents. If he has one dilute parent he does carry the gene. If he has "normal" parents & some dilute siblings, he might carry dilute. If he has "normal" siblings, he probably doesn't carry dilute, although the gene can be passed down from his ancestors and be hidden until it is matched up with another dilute.

If you have a red (not dilute) male that carries dilute & breed it to a blue (dilute) female
you can show it like this:

Sire: red, carrying dilute NOT DILUTE dilute Dam:blue (dilute) dilute   NOT DILUTE /dilute  dilute/dilute  dilute  NOT DILUTE /dilute  dilute/dilute

Remember, now the squares don't represent any sex. NOT DILUTE (dominant; represented by uppercase letters); dilute (recessive; represented by lowercase letters) kittens: NOT DILUTE/dilute = black, red or tortie, carrying dilute; dilute/dilute = blue, cream, or blue-cream If you add the dilute chart to the sex linked chart, the possible kittens from these two cats are: black, blue, tortie & blue-cream. Refer to the cat color chart above to see all the possibilities.

Now it's your turn! You can use these methods to create a chart of any of the combinations below.

Pattern & Color Chart

The basic colors are along the top. The patterns that affect the colors are along the left side. The place where they intersect will show the combination they produce. These colors are the TICA descriptions.

Pattern:	Color:  black	red	tortie (female)
dilute	blue	cream	blue-cream
tabby	brown(black) tabby	red tabby	brown(black) torbie
tabby + dilute	blue tabby	cream tabby	blue torbie
silver	black smoke	red smoke	tortie smoke
silver + tabby	silver tabby	red silver tabby	silver torbie
silver + dilute	blue smoke	cream smoke	blue-cream smoke
silver + tabby + dilute	blue silver tabby	cream silver tabby	blue silver torbie
shaded	golden shaded	red shaded	golden shaded torbie
silver + shaded	silver shaded(chinchilla)	silver red shaded(cameo)	silver shaded torbie
silver + shaded + dilute	silver blue shaded	silver cream shaded	blue shaded torbie
white	white	white	white
white markings (spotting)	black/white	red/white	calico
white markings (spotting);  homozygous (2 copies,  one from each parent)	black/white van	red/white van	calico van
colorpoint	seal point	red point	tortie point
colorpoint + tabby	seal lynx point	red lynx point	seal lynx torbie point
colorpoint + dilute	blue point	cream point	blue-cream point
sepia	seal sepia(sable)	red sepia	seal sepia tortie
colorpoint + sepia	seal mink	red mink	seal mink tortie
cinnamon	cinnamon	red	cinnamon tortie
cinnamon + dilute	fawn	cream	fawn tortie
chocolate	chocolate	red	chocolate tortie
chocolate + dilute	lilac	cream	lilac tortie

OK, here's one more chart to get you started.

Tabby X Solid Chart

Now, make one of your own, that describes your cats!

It is recomended that you learn these probabilities, because it helps to understand genetics
in other areas that are more important, but if you want a "crutch", you can use my Color Predictor!