SOMALI Breed Advisory Committee

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Tortie Silver Somali

 

 

 

GCCF Breed Numbers and colours for Somali cats

Ticking is the "essence" of the Somali coat. There should be at least THREE bands of ticking on every hair. In this illustration of a "Usual" Somali hair you can see three bands of black ticking on the apricot base colour.


Ticking is slow to develop, particularly on the "dilute" colours but should be apparent, at least on the shoulders of all kittens.


Ear tips & tufts, facial markings, top and tip of the tail, toe tufts and heels are the same colour as the ticking.  Darker shading along the spine and top of tail is desirable. The chest, belly, under tail, inside of the legs and breeches are the colour of the unmarked base colour.

 

Download a hardcopy here (PDF)

 

RECOGNITION OF SHORTHAIRED SOMALIS

Shorthaired Somalis were recognised by Council in February 2012. Since that date semi-longhaired Somalis are registered as SOL followed by their colour code (eg A semi-longhaired Sorrel Somali would be registered as SPL o) and short-haired Somalis registered as SOS followed by their colour code. For the revised breed numbers please refer to the charts below.

 

Breed No. Colour Overall Impression Ticking Base Colour
SOL n
SOS n		 Usual Rich golden brown Black Rich Apricot
SOL o
SOS o		 Sorrel Rich coppery colour Cinnamon Rich Apricot

SOL b

SOS b		 Chocolate Rich, warm chestnut brown Dark "plain" chocolate Rich Apricot

SOL a

SOS a		 Blue Soft, warm blue Blue Warm mushroom
SOL c
SOS c		 Lilac Warm dove grey Lilac Mushroom
SOL p
SOS p		 Fawn Warm powdery fawn Fawn Pale mushroom
SOL d
SOS d		 Red Warm, glowing red Bright Red Paler red
SOL e
SOS e		 Cream Soft, warm, powdery cream Rich Cream Paler cream

 

TORTIE SOMALIS

Tortie Somalis come in all of the above colours with the addition of blotches/intermingling of red or cream determined by the sex linked gene. Colour distribution is random and immaterial. Ticking, ears tips and tufts,  facial markings, top and tip of the tail, toe tufts and heels to be a mingling of the standard ticking colour and shades of red or cream determined by the sex-linked gene. Chest, belly, under tail, inside of legs and breeches to be a mingling of the standard base coat colour and shades of red or cream determined by the sex-linked gene. The presence or absence of a blaze is immaterial.

 

Breed No. Colour Overall Impression Ticking Base Colour
SOL f
SOS f		 Usual tortie Rich golden brown and reddish apricat Black and red Mingled apricot and red
SOLq
SOS q		 Sorrel tortie Lustrous copper and reddish apricot A mix of cinnamon and bright red Mingled apricot and red

SOL h

SOS h		 Chocolate tortie Rich warm chestnut brown and reddish apricot.  Dark        chocolate and bright red Mingled apricot and red

SOL g

SOS g		 Blue tortie Soft warm blue and pale cream. A mix of deep blue grey and rich cream Mingled warm mushroom and pale cream
SOL j
SOS j		 Lilac tortie Warm dove grey and pale cream Dark lilac and rich cream Mingled mushroom and pale cream
SOL r
SOS r 		Fawn tortie Warm powdery fawn and pale cream Deeper fawn and rich cream Mingled pale mushroom and pale cream

 

SILVER SOMALIS

The addition of a lower case "s" to the standard breed number indicates a Silver Somali. Tarnishing over a substantial portion of the designated silver area is a "withholding fault"

 

Breed No. Colour Overall Impression Ticking Base Colour
SOL ns
SOS ns		 Usual Silver Clear silvery white ticked with black Black Silvery White
SOL os
SOS os		 Sorrel Silver Soft, silvery peach Cinnamon Silvery White

SOL bs

SOS bs		 Chocolate Silver Cool silvery brown Dark "plain" chocolate Silvery White

SOL as

SOS as		 Blue Silver Glacial, silvery blue Blue Silvery White
SOL cs
SOS cs		 Lilac Silver Frosty, silvery dove grey Lilac Silvery White
SOL ps
SOS ps		 Fawn Silver Cool, silvery fawn Fawn Silvery White
SOL ds
SOS ds		 Red Silver Clear, silvery red Bright Red Silvery White
SOL es
SOS es		 Cream Silver Powdery, silvery cream Rich Cream Silvery White

 

TORTIE SILVER SOMALIS

These will be as for the silver Somalis except that the silvery white base hair should have two distributions of ticking; the standard colour and that expressing the sex-linked gene. The distribution of these two colours is immaterial. The addition of lower case "s" after the standard breed number indicates a Silver (eg. SOS fs is a Usual Tortie Silver Shorthaired Somali).

 

VARIANTS
A "v" on a Somali pedigree indicates a Somali Variant. This is how shorthaired Somalis were referred to before recognition in February 2012 and so is how they will be found on pedigrees if shorthairs were registered before that date.