In Silvers rufism is selected against, and so again there will be a reduction in the ‘warmth’ of the pattern colour. This ‘tarnishing’ is caused by polygenes which enhance the richness of colour in standard varieties and is usually referred to as ‘Rufism’. This is often referred to as ‘tarnishing’ or being ‘brassy’, and clearly detracts from the bright sparkling effect one is looking for in a Silver. One common failing in Silvers is that they frequently show yellowing especially to the face and legs. The Standard does state that ‘distinct tabby markings in adults are undesirable’ but they are not a withholding fault – in other breeds this would not be acceptable. Of course this is quite acceptable in the Oriental Smoke, but the Breed Standard also allows for the white undercoat to show through with the result that ‘faint ghost tabby markings may be evident on the body’. The Oriental Smoke therefore differs slightly from other breeds where the Smoke is a cat of contrast, and a Black Smoke should look like a Black cat until the coat is ruffled to show a white undercoat. In the Asian Smoke for example the requirement is that the undercoat ‘ be no less than one-third, and no more than one-half of the total length of hair in adults.’ In the Smoke Long Hair the top two-thirds should be ‘of deepest intensity of the appropriate colour’ with ‘the bottom one-third of the hair as light as possible’. This is quite a considerable range, and certainly exceeds that accepted in other breeds. The Breed Standard states that there should be ‘a near white undercoat, which should be approximately one-third to two-thirds of the total hair length in adults’. The Oriental Smoke is recognised in all colours accepted in the Oriental Shorthair. Unlike the non-agouti the Tortie Tabby (also known as Torbies) will show pattern in the non-red areas. However in the Tortie Tabby the pattern of spots should be visible over the entire cat and the spots should be, to a greater or lesser degree, of mixed black, red and cream colour. So for example in the case of a Black Tortie tabby markings may be visible in the red and cream areas, BUT there will never be tabby pattern in the black areas. In the non-agouti Tortoiseshell cat any tabby pattern will only be apparent in the red, cream or apricot areas. There is a vast difference between Torties, which show heavy tabby markings in the red and cream areas, and Tortie Tabbies. Equally it is not desirable there is so little red/cream/apricot that you cannot immediately tell a cat is a Tortie and end up looking for mottled pads or odd red hairs!! There is no rule as to what the perfect balance of colours is, and at the outer edges it becomes purely personal choice! However in the Oriental Tortie large patches of colour are undesirable because the red and/or cream / apricot will invariably show very heavy tabby pattern. It is important that all relevant colours are present in the coat, and that there is a fairly even distribution of colour. Torties are recognised in Black, Blue, Chocolate and Cinnamon, where the other two colours present in the coat will be red and cream the Lilac and Fawn torties where the other colour will be cream and finally the Caramel tortie which will also have apricot hairs. In the early days judges looked for patches of colour in Black Torties, yet looked for mingled colour in the Blue Cream! Because the colour distribution is random Torties simply cannot be bred to order and so the breeding of Torties is very much a ‘lucky dip’ you have to take what you are given! Though they are genetically mosaics, the description of Tortoiseshell or Tortie cats as “having bits and pieces of colour here and there” is far more apt, albeit not very technical! The colour distribution in Torties may be ‘patched’ or ‘mingled’.
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