Harley V2 EN
G-Harley Your Honor
Born on February 14, 2018
Parents: V-Stefa & Xavier
Harley is a male British Shorthair born in Ukraine at Your Honor Cattery. Born on Valentine’s Day, he turns out to be the ideal lover. He is a knight in shining armour for the ladies, whom he conquers with his delicacy and patience. He is the father of several litters at my friend Sylvie’s cattery, Les Gummis en Sucre, his owner, and at my home.
During his stay of almost a year at Le Clos d’Eugénie in 2020, he had 2 litters, giving us our dear Radieuse Miss.
Physically, he is a good sized cat, with excellent bone structure, a fairly short body and a very large head of a breeding male. He has very beautiful eyes. His light coat is very bright and his colour is Fawn. He is a very handsome British Shorthair male.
As far as character is concerned, he is a very easy-going cat who passes on his good character to his children. Greedy and playful, he has all the qualities expected in our breed. Round inside, round outside: he is a big teddy bear.
The presentation of Harley gives me the opportunity to tell you about its particular colour.
Fawn is a colour that few people recognise with the naked eye because the difference is subtle with the colour lilac. Some people also confuse fawn with cream.
First of all, you should know that there are two genes that can determine the colour of a solid cat:
- the base colour gene
- and the dilution gene.
The dilution gene dilutes the base colour. Cats necessarily receive the base colour gene from the mother and the father. However, the dilution gene may not be present.
The 3 basic colours are :
- black,
- chocolate,
- and cinnamon.
Red and white follow special rules which I won’t go into in detail here.
From a genetic point of view :
- dark dominates chocolate and cinnamon,
- chocolate dominates cinnamon,
- cinnamon is therefore dominated by dark and chocolate.
The cinnamon colour originated in the Abyssinian and has since been introduced into many breeds through the work of breeders wishing to obtain this colour in their breed.
In their diluted expression (when the dilution gene is present)
- black becomes blue,
- chocolate becomes lilac,
- and cinnamon becomes fawn.
Being fawn means being genetically diluted cinnamon.
Dilution is a recessive gene. Therefore, to be blue, lilac or fawn, you must have received the dilution gene from both parents.
So to be a fawn, you have to receive the cinnamon gene (recessive base colour gene) and the dilution gene (recessive gene) from both parents. Harley therefore carries only the cinnamon gene and the dilution gene. As you can only pass on what you carry genetically, all of Harley’s kittens receive the cinnamon gene and the dilution gene.
When the colour of a cat cannot be confirmed with certainty, it is possible to use genetic tests at specialised laboratories. This allows the correct colours to be included in the pedigree.