tabby cats

Patterned domestic felines

Tabby cats are domestic cats with distinctive coat patterns featuring stripes, spots, or swirling markings, usually with an M-shaped marking on the forehead.

Tabby refers to the coat pattern, not a breed—tabbies appear across many breeds and in mixed-breed cats.

Our tabby likes to sleep in the sun.

The pattern comes in varieties: mackerel (striped), classic (swirled), spotted, and ticked.

Related

feline · whiskers · cats · mackerel · claws · coat · paws · ticked · striped · marmalade · agouti · meow · cat fancy · fur · blotched · domesticated · domestic shorthair · kittens

Categories
Opposites
coat pattern

tabby catstuxedo cats

Black cats with white chests

calico cats · tortoiseshell cats

breed status

tabby catspurebred cats

Felines with verified ancestry

show cats · Persian cats · Siamese cats · Russian Blue

domestication

tabby catswild cats

Undomesticated feline species

feral cats · big cats · lions · tigers · leopards

Family

tabby, tabbies, tabby cat, tiger cat

Familiarity
Top 100,000
Profile
Known to kids · Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Positive · Everyday, not technical · Rated G