Talk:Tabby cat

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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 18 August 2020 and 12 December 2020. Further details are available on the course page. Peer reviewers: Meowzi.

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Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 24 August 2021 and 15 October 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Hwubb. Peer reviewers: Gemjk19, Isabelletackmann, Marriottl.

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External links

History of the tabby cat..

as the link is dead. :/

John Aubrey made a passing reference to the first tabby cats ever seen in England, ca. early 17th century, a gift from Cyprus-- to whom? Can't remember which of Aubrey's Brief Lives I'm remembering... --Wetman 22:05, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Found it! I'll edit it in now.--Wetman (talk) 09:38, 10 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Mohamed?

Wouldn't it be in arabic, does arabic have an M?

I had the same thought. See the entry on Arabic Alphabet. The "M" sound does have a corresponding grapheme but it in no ways looks like the roman character "M". So whoever came up with the reference to Mohamed was either a convert or a hoaxter.

I've reverted the article, as the Mohammed legend is reference on various pages. See Google for details. Out of curiosity, does aramaic have a letter which resemblesLatin 'M', and if so, was that the character used to write the first initial of Mary's name? If not, the Christian legend needs to be removed too.

Of course, since both are merely legends and not fact, I would argue that both should remain. Taking away one when both are probably not true smacks of dogmatism.

Phil webster 21:02, 5 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

In the year of Jesus' birth, that entire area was under the control of the Roman empire, and the common language was Greek, not Aramaic or Arabic. Jesus and his mother both primarily would have spoken Greek, although surely they would have spoken Aramaic as well. Aramaic was more of a religious language at the time. (Comparable to Latin in the early Catholic church.) What would Mary's name have been in Greek? The capital "mu" does look exactly like the Latin M. Visitor:Aaron Hagans 03:59, 10/27/07

Photos

There are too many photos in this article and they're all of mackerel tabbies. Per WP:NOT, Wikipedia is not a collection of photos, so most of these should go. We should really only have photos that clearly display the different tabby patterns (mackerel, classic, ticked, spotted). For any more pictures, people can go look at Commons:Category:Tabby cats. howch e ng {chat} 21:47, 5 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

There are too many photos examples. The photos are taking away from the information contained on this page. SmoreNooit (talk) 02: 32, 22 April 2021 (UTC)

Asian Tabby?

Is there such a tabby called an Asain Tabby? I'm because I think 1 of my cats is an Asian tabby. she has the charcteristic of an Asian cat (skinny, very loud) Angelofdeath275 21:40, 16 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

No, tabby only refers to the pattern of stripes you see on a cat, and there are only four. howch e ng {chat} 22:01, 16 October 2006 (UTC) there are only three the red ones the blue ones and the F***ing white ones no asain ones so stop[reply]

One more photo

About remove my image.. I don't understand what is the problem. It is my photo and it says so. I thought it would be nice to see a tabby cat at the cat Show. Klarissae 00:29, 18 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You've got a cute cat, Klarissae, and that always makes for a nice image, but the trouble is that everybody wants to upload a picture of their cat, and if everyone did that, the page would turn into yet another photo gallery of cute cat pictures. Even this in itself might not be so awful (though definitely not encyclopedic), if it weren't for the fact that pictures take up a lot of memory space and people with slow connections have trouble opening really big pages. For what it's worth, I nearly re-reverted and put your picture back up before I realized we had another good shot of a mackerel tabby, right at the top of the page. Buck Mulligan 02:24, 18 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your answer, I understand better now.. This is not my cat, but he really impressed judges at the Cat Show, so I photographed him. Klarissae 11:29, 18 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Buff Tabby

Could some information on the buff tabby coloration be added? 68.43.152.39 20:15, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

A buff tabby is the same as a cream tabby, which is a dilute orange tabby. This not a different tabby pattern, just a color. This article only covers patterns, not colors. howcheng {chat} 21:11, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Attabiyah

Source for this? Brownturkey (talk) 19:02, 29 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Any decent dictionary that shows word etymology will have this. For example, [1]. I'll add the footnote if you really want. howcheng {chat} 23:47, 29 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Tabby cat article

The Tabby cat article appears to be totally broken... seems vandalized but there seems no history... and the talk page redirects here. I don't know Wikipedia well enough to fix it... or about Tabby cats to write an article...Darkpoet (talk) 16:26, 27 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Requested move

The following is a closed discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the proposal was

Note Admin JPG-GR (talk · contribs) moved the title back to Tabby cat on 3 April 2009 (UTC)--Caspian blue 02:55, 18 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Tabby coat pattern → Tabby cat — The previous move was unilaterally done without discussion. This article is about cats with a "tabby pattern", not about "coat patterns of tabbies (any cat kinds).--Caspian blue 16:37, 28 March 2009 (UTC) — Caspian blue 16:37, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Survey

Feel free to state your position on the renaming proposal by beginning a new line in this section with *'''Support''' or *'''Oppose''', then sign your comment with ~~~~. Since polling is not a substitute for discussion, please explain your reasons, taking into account Wikipedia's naming conventions.

Support - Caspian blue 16:37, 28 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Support. "Tabby coat pattern" implies that there are other tabby animals, and the article is only about cats. Also, according to dictionary.com, the only other creatures that might be described by the term "tabby" are women. howcheng {chat} 04:12, 30 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion

Any additional comments:

The move from Tabby cats to the current title, "Tabby coat pattern" seems too specific and odd...

contribs) m (5,662 bytes) (moved Talk:Tabby cat to Talk:Tabby coat pattern: The cat breed articles can reference a Tabby as a coat pattern, whereas it would be less correct to reference Tabby cat when referring to a coat pattern. This would allow sections to be removed)

Cats with a sprite pattern are referred to as "tabby cat", so I don't think the previous title is incorrect, since "tabby" can refer to various "cat" types. I want the article title to go back to the original. I don't see any indication to justify the move in Project Cat.--Caspian blue 16:38, 27 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Same issue for Tortoiseshell coat pattern and Bicolor coat pattern. Personally I prefer just Tabby, Bicolor etc. Or Tabby (coat pattern), Bicolor (coat pattern) etc. for disambiguation.—Preceding unsigned comment added by Dodo bird (talk • contribs) 2009-03-29T05:47:46 (UTC)

Thank you for the information. I restored the original titles since User:Cats rule has not initiated any discussion nor notified the community of his intention over the multiple cat-related article divided by cat's coat. But I could not revert it back to the original of the article due to another's test.--Caspian blue 06:10, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

patterns

I see mentions of ticked, and mackerel but I don't see anyone mentioning mitted tabbies. my cat is a mitted mackerel tabby. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.162.88.56 (talk • contribs) 23:15, 17 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I assume by "mitted" you mean that your cat appears to have "mitts" (like socks). That's not a tabby pattern, that's an interaction with the color suppression gene (see bicolor cat for more details). howcheng {chat} 02:13, 18 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Gallery

I just wanted to add a little gallery with some tabby cats photos but it has been constantly reverted. Someone thinks it is good?

A typical tabby cat head, showing the classic "M"
Classic tabby, showing the bullseye pattern
Spotted tabby pattern on an Ocicat.
Another tabby cat.

If someone, please support me by adding a : '''Support''' tag below. Thanks --MisterWiki talking! :-D - 13:34, 30 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose - There are galleries already at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Tabby_cats. - BilCat (talk) 13:38, 30 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose. First of all, your photos don't really add anything to the article. There are four tabby patterns and we have decent photos that illustrate them. One of yours you added to ostensibly display the M on the forehead, but the lead photo already does that well. The second photo, the calico tabby, is really just superfluous. As discussed elsewhere on this talk page, we are trying very hard to keep this page from being a collection of people's pet photos. If you have photos that show the tabby patterns better than what's already here, then I'm sure nobody will object if you replace them, but don't just add photos because you want your cats in the article. Thanks. howcheng {chat} 17:07, 30 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

OK: I think there's noo need to extend this discussion. --MisterWiki talking! :-D - 20:27, 30 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Roman mosaic

is it worth noting that a Roman mosaic portrays a tabby that has caught a bird? In the Spanish language, tabbies are called 'roman cats' BV 25.4.10

11:13, 25 April 2010 86.30.84.28 11:13, 25 April 2010

article vandalised by Asher 196

I noticed the article has been constantly vandalised by Asher196 who inserts the Bombay Cat as an example of tabby patern (the breed is in fact solid black) and writes that torbie effect affects all colours on three- or bi-coloured cats when in reality the white never has any pattern.

talking of my tabby

I have a mix of a mackrael and a spotted tabby. She "talks" alot wen she is around me..there are various meows and almost a bark sound. Does anyone have any idea how to interpret the meows? I have been on several sites trying to inquire about their meows. If anyone knows of a better site please e-mail me or answer back on here.

Spidergrl3 (talk) 22:35, 25 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Statistical distribution

The article currently says that classic tabbies are the most common. My experience doesn't bear this out. I've only seen two or three in my whole life and many dozens of mackerel tabbies with a few spotted. There's no citation to this, either. Does anyone have data on this? Ace of Sevens (talk) 15:12, 5 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I was curious about this, too. Is it regional? I"m in the United States and have never seen a 'classic' tabby. Are they more common in Britain, maybe? -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 12:28, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

If you go to cat adoption events, you'll see plenty of them. I have one myself. I don't know about how common they are as compared to mackerels, however. —howcheng {chat} 20:15, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I volunteer at a humane society in the US and have seen hundreds of mackerel tabbies but maybe 30 total classic tabbies including the three classic kittens I am now fostering. Risssa (talk) 02:21, 18 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Response to very old comment. Some of the stuff on this page is confusing, incorrect, or poorly written. I corrected the info on classic tabby, using references. The allele of the classic tabby is fairly common, existing in 80% of modern cats. But it is recessive, so classic tabby is not phenotype is much less common. Yes, I started reading this page after adopting a classic tabby Maine coon, and realizing that I had never noticed this pattern before. Nereocystis (talk) 22:20, 25 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

File:Cat November 2010-1a.jpg to appear as POTD soon

Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Cat November 2010-1a.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on October 14, 2012. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2012-10-14. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page so Wikipedia doesn't look bad. :) Thanks! —howcheng {chat} 11:24, 13 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Picture of the day

A tabby is any cat that has a distinctive coat that features stripes, dots, lines or swirling patterns, usually together with a mark resembling an "M" on its forehead. Tabbies are not a cat breed, but a coat pattern found in many breeds of cat, as well as among the general mixed-breed population. The tabby pattern may be related to the coloration of the domestic cat's direct ancestor, the African Wildcat, which (along with the European Wildcat and Asiatic Wildcat) has a similar coloration. There are four genetically distinct tabby patterns: mackerel (shown here), classic, spotted, and ticked.Photo: Joaquim Alves Gaspar

Archive – More featured pictures...

Brindle

If anyone wants to help at brindle, we seem to be having an etymological discussion there. Brindle being an archaic word for "tabby," apparently there is some confusion between cats and the modern color pattern discussed at the other article. Montanabw^(talk) 22:03, 29 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Black tabbies

Black tabbies are supposed to have dark brown coats with black tabby markings. Is this the place to mention them or should that information go somewhere else? I volunteer at a humane society and am currently fostering a black tabby kitten. Out of the three or four thousand cats I've seen over the years, she is only the second black tabby. And not only that, but she is a classic black tabby rather than mackerel. Risssa (talk) 02:28, 18 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Examples of each pattern?

IMO it would be good if the article had a couple of examples of each of the different variations on the tabby pattern (more than one for each to make it easier to know what matters for the pattern classification and what can be ignored). --TiagoTiago (talk) 00:39, 31 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Wouldn't that depend on which cat-fancier's club has specified the characteristics? I imagine that it could be difficult to get a worldwide view of the matter. Sminthopsis84 (talk) 12:30, 31 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The entry lists the four basic patterns and describes them, I think that is sufficient information for our purposes. I agree with TiagoTiago that additional photos would be good. Also, what makes you think the worldwide view differs from this entry in Wikipedia? Risssa (talk) 21:36, 12 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

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Etymology Section

This article appears to contain reliable, unbiased information and facts seem to be thoroughly backed by citations. However, the words and phrasing of the 'Etymology' section are far too similar, and at many points identical, to the source from which the information comes. Despite the fact that the source is cited, this direct copying and close paraphrasing still constitutes a form of plagiarism and should be revised. This section would also benefit from being broken into multiple sentences, rather than consisting of a long stream of clauses and commas as it does now. Rrubanowitz (talk) 00:41, 1 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

What about the orange tabby?

No orange tabbies illustrated or discussed here. Keagiles (talk) 19:51, 22 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I just added something about orange tabbies! Please take a look and let me know what you think. Vanillabean43 (talk) 21:45, 5 March 2019 (UTC)sourced[reply]

And I removed it.,as it was poorly written and ~~completely unsourced.~~ poorly sourced Meters (talk) 21:51, 5 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Meters -- that's unfortunate to hear that you think it was poorly written. It was not unsourced -- I did include a citation. Did that not come through? Vanillabean43 (talk) 21:52, 5 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

My mistake. The first line was sourced, but anything called "8 Fun Facts" is not likely to be reliable source. Meters (talk) 21:59, 5 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Meters -- understood! Sadly there seems to be a dearth of scholarly articles on orange tabbies (surely someone must be doing a PhD on this), and most of them are focused on mere cuteness. But I have found 2 additional sources which I will add. One of which is from the BBC which should hopefully prove more reliable than "8 fun facts". Please let me know if the revision, which I will do shortly, looks ok to you. Thank you! Vanillabean43 (talk) 22:14, 5 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Removed it again. I do not believe that materiel belongs in the section, if in the article at all. That section is about the genetics of the Tabby pattern, and you are adding a very general overview of the genetics of the orange coat. This appears to be more of an attempt to get a picture of your pet in the article. Meters (talk) 22:21, 5 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Tabby Stripes

I was wondering if you should talk about how tabby stripes' coloring attributes to their base color, and whether or not it can be lighter than the base, as well as whether cats can have multiple of the variations.

71.207.156.166 (talk) 20:24, 10 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

C'mon

This page is abysmal. There's no discussion or examples of the characteristic markings of different types of Tabby cat. It's too short by 75% and seems to contain only pictures of editors' pets. Weep for the value of the internet as a source of information, because the avalanche of its demise starts here.

2603:9001:2303:4F5F:BC6C:7FEB:F8B:8E99 (talk) 23:40, 12 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Helpful. Lindsey40186 (talk) 16:09, 18 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Orange tabby

I added a very basic template for the orange tabby section. I only added it because this article didn't have anything about it. Be warned, it is very basic, messy, and unprofessional, and needs to be fixed. I would appreciate if someone could go and add citations, a photo, and revise the text. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:300:8100:AFC0:108:A48A:F064:6E4E (talk) 16:41, 2 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

"Majin cat" listed at Redirects for discussion

An editor has identified a potential problem with the redirect Majin cat and has thus listed it for discussion. This discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2022 January 28#Majin cat until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. Steel1943 (talk) 20:20, 28 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Is 'Attitude' an appropriate section?

This article seems to be about the coat pattern, does the pattern make a difference to a cat's demeanor?

I'm just a casual reader but it felt out of place to me. 202.169.103.37 (talk) 02:38, 31 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

It's a valid question. I think the reason it's included is because many people do still presume it's a breed or sub-breed of cat, even when they are corrected, and may have preconceived notions about how a Tabby cat acts. Hence, why the section goes on to say that there isn't a scientific link between behaviour and coat pattern. Lindsey40186 (talk) 23:09, 17 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I'm just a drive-by on this issue, but even given your explanation, would Behavior be a better heading than Attitude, which seems to refer to something else (and is a bit anthropomorphic)? All of my cats definitely have attitude (in every sense of the word), but I'm not sure that's the best word to use in an encyclopedic article. General Ization ^Talk 23:16, 17 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I think Behavior would be a much better heading. I'm not entirely sure what was being measured or how. I can check the citation and see if there is something there. I assume the surveys would just be owners/veterinarians, but wouldn't put that in without confirmation. Lindsey40186 (talk) 16:08, 18 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Also, while we're talking about that section, what does "measures can be taken from surveys through three different activities" mean? What kind of measures, and with what goal? (Maybe "measurements" is what was meant, but measurements of what?) What are "surveys through ... activities"? All in all, I think this entire sentence is basically meaningless. General Ization ^Talk 23:39, 17 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Lead images

The addition of File:Tabby Cat laying down.jpg to the lead is not an improvement. We have a good lead image, and this image is just a bad picture of someone's pet. Meters (talk) 21:58, 23 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed - Having two lead pictures is not standard and the original photo is higher quality than the second photo that was added. Spongeworthy93 (talk) 23:17, 24 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Adoption of orange versus classic tabby

I deleted a confusing section on adoption of classic tabby versus orange tabby. A classic tabby may be orange (or not), so this paragraph does not make sense. The original linked article compares adoption rates of various coat colors. It also compares adoption rates of various coat patterns. However, the article does not differentiate adoption rates of different tabby patterns. It compares tabby with bicolor, torbie, etc. While this article is fascinating, I don't see how it is relevant in an article about Tabby cats Nereocystis (talk) 22:40, 25 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Deletion of orange tabby and baby Jesus

I deleted a paragraph claiming a story about baby Jesus being comforted by an orange tabby. This story claims to be an old legend, but there isn't a good quality reference to the age of the legend. The only reference is to Purrington Post, which does not seem reliable. If such a reference is found, we can consider placing restoring the legend under an appropriate place. Nereocystis (talk) 23:04, 25 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I've found several google search results returned when you search "baby Jesus & tabby cat". I think if there is significant coverage all sharing the same story, we could notate it and include it. Eruditess (talk) 01:03, 5 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Web search results are not soures. Nor will be random pet websites regurgitating claims from other such sites or from the old version of the WP article. — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼 14:02, 5 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Reduce links to pet publications, increase science articles

It's time to remove references which are pet publications, web sites, etc, and replace them with articles in scientific journals and other sourced scientific publications. I have made a few changes, and make a few more changes when I can. The pet publications often misstate the scientific research. The error is compounded when the Wikipedia article misstates the pet article. For example, current article (soon to be changed) states that there was a study of tabby cats which found five genetic clusters... The study was of domestic cats, not limited to tabby patterns. Nereocystis (talk) 23:51, 25 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

If you want to improve the article, knock yourself out. Pet websites are barely reliable sources anyway, so replacing it with scientific articles and the like would be much appreciated. SilverTiger12 (talk) 02:28, 26 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Many of those sites are not reliable at all. — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼 14:01, 5 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I COMPLETELY AGREE!!!!!! 24.147.32.92 (talk) 02:16, 7 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

ever seen a black tabby?

In an edit summary: never seen a blue tabby (and I mean British Blue not silver) nor a black or white tabby. When my black cats were kittens, in strong light I could sometimes see tabby markings in darker black. A white tabby is harder to believe. —Tamfang (talk) 06:01, 8 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

All that really matters is if there is a reliable source to confirm it. If I am wrong, then so be it. Traumnovelle (talk) 06:07, 8 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]