Cats have a wide variety of coat colors and patterns. While some patterns like tabby are very common, others are quite rare. Determining the absolute rarest feline coat pattern is difficult, but some patterns stand out for their beautiful uniqueness.
What Causes Coat Patterns in Cats?
A cat’s coat pattern is determined by its genetics. Cat coat genetics can get quite complex, but the basics come down to two genes:
- The agouti gene controls whether a cat is tabby or solid in color.
- The white spotting gene controls the distribution of white areas on the cat’s body.
Different variations of these two genes lead to the many cat coat patterns seen today. For example, a cat that inherits variants of the agouti and spotting genes that cause minimal tabby striping and white spotting will have a solid coat color.
Rarest Cat Coat Patterns
Here are some of the rarest and most striking feline coat patterns:
Chimera
Chimeras exhibit a patchwork of two distinct coat colors, caused by the merging of two separate embryos early in development. This makes chimeras extremely rare, occurring in an estimated 1 in 100,000 cats.
Lykoi
The Lykoi or “werewolf cat” has a partially hairless coat that gives it a spooky, werewolfish appearance. The mutation causing the Lykoi pattern originated in domestic shorthairs in 2011 and is still very uncommon.
Tortoiseshell-and-White
This coat combines the brindled tortoiseshell pattern with large white patches. It relies on a specific combination of sex chromosomes that make it very rare in male cats.
Colorpoint Shorthair
The colorpoint pattern, like that seen in Siamese cats, paired with shorthair genes is an uncommon combination. True colorpoint shorthairs are much rarer than the similar Himalayan pattern found in Persians.
The Rarest of the Rare – Venus the Chimera Cat
Perhaps the rarest feline coat pattern ever documented belonged to a cat named Venus. Venus was a female tortoiseshell cat who had a fully black half and fully ginger half, divided cleanly down the middle. This is an exceptionally rare type of chimera pattern.
Venus became a viral Internet sensation when her owners posted photos of her amazing coat online. She possessed one black half and one ginger half, split precisely between her face and body. Only a handful of cats with this exact type of chimera patterning have ever been recorded.
What Causes These Rare Patterns?
Many of these rare and unique cat coat patterns come down to genetic mutations. Some are caused by entirely new mutations, while others result from unlikely combinations of genes coming together. Here are the genetic causes behind some of these rare patterns:
| Pattern | Genetic Cause |
|---|---|
| Chimera | Merging of two embryos |
| Lykoi | Mutation in hair follicle gene |
| Tortoiseshell-and-White | Unlikely combination of sex chromosome genes plus white spotting |
| Colorpoint Shorthair | Colorpoint gene paired with shorthair gene |
| Venus’ Split Face | Extremely rare chimera splitting exactly between colors |
The Takeaway on Rare Cat Patterns
Feline coat patterns offer seemingly endless variation. While some patterns like tabby are incredibly common, others only appear once in a blue moon when genetic chance aligns just right. From chimeras to werewolf cats, these unique patterns offer a glimpse into the mysteries of genetics and biology.
So what is conclusively the absolute rarest cat pattern documented? Venus the Chimera Cat takes the prize. Her split color face pattern is so exceptionally rare that she stands alone as the internet-famous poster child for one-of-a-kind feline genetics.
The next time you spot a tabby, take a moment to appreciate how commonplace that classic swirled pattern really is. Meanwhile, photos of otherworldly rare patterns like Venus capture our imagination and remind us that wonders of nature can appear in the most mundane places.
