Is Cat Coat Color Linked to Temperament?

A stressed mother may miscarry or kill her kittens. A cat which is less stressed in a colony situation will pass its genes on more often. Soon, there will be more of the cats showing a coat color linked to sociability and less of the cats showing a coat color linked to unsociability. In the rural environment, a better camouflaged striped cat is likely to be a more successful hunter and will therefore breed more successfully than a less well camouflaged cat.

In a study over a large geographical area in Bavaria, black and black-and-white cats were fund to wander further from home. The study was large enough to suggest that this had a genetic basis and was not purely coincidental. Many professional animal trainers consider black cats to be stubborn and single-minded and more difficult to train to walking on a harness and leash. Some go as far as to consider black cats as hard to work with as uncastrated tomcats, though my own experiences (as a cat owner and cat shelter worker) do not bear this out.

The assertive or reactive temperament is linked to the size of the cat's adrenal glands. Domestic cats have smaller adrenal glands than the ancestral wildcat, making domestic cats less "flighty". A cat with smaller adrenal glands is less reactive. Alternatively, if cats are in a situation where they do not need to be so reactive, selection (natural or artificial) favors those individuals with smaller adrenal glands as they stick around while the others run away. If the black color really was linked to greater tolerance it would also be linked to the size of the adrenal gland. There is currently no evidence to support this.

Blotched tabby and black are both caused by recessive genes. Two black cats will beget more black cats. Two blotched tabbies will beget blotched tabbies, not striped tabbies. These recessive genes can stay hidden in other-color populations for many generations before resurfacing. If natural or artificial selection favors blotched or black cats, the dominant striped varieties die out because blotched and black breed true. Because recessive genes can be hidden or masked, striped tabbies can produce unexpected blotched tabby kittens so if natural or artificial selection favors striped cats, the blotched or black varieties remain hidden but not lost.

White cats are reputed to be timid or a little dim. Many blue-eyed white cats, and some odd-eyed whites and orange-eyed whites, have hereditary deafness. The white coat color has sometimes been linked to personality traits of slow thinking, dull intellect and (mostly in females) timidity of character - though these traits could equally well be due to deafness.

Where Did Different Colors Arise?

Different colors arose in different parts of the world as spontaneous mutations in local cat populations. Those populations may also have had distinct personalities. The colourpointed pattern arose in Asia and is naturally occurring in Thailand (Siam) and Malaysia. The lilac color may also have appeared in that general area. Blue (gray) possibly arose in Asia where it is now seen in the Korat breed and this color may have spread from there into Russia (Russian Blue).