Hi Friends,
With my new little Toby being what they call "Van marked" I was just wondering if anybody can explain in more detail what it actually means, eg, what actually causes it,
And maybe how the term "Van" came about and in what country it was first declared a marking,
I had a funny thought the the term "Van" came about because they have lots of white and most work vans are white
Maybe a good question for JanH and some of the other wonderful knowledgible breeders,
I believe in Australia there is a push to have a van marked section in the showing sector,
I absolutaly adore my Tobys markings and wouldnt have him any other way but just interested
A Ragdoll van pattern is from having two "true bicolor" white spotting genes. One of them will produce a bicolor level of white and two of the genes "make" the van. The van has white except on ears and tail and not much else - more than 80% of the cat is white. The name comes from the Turkish Van breed. In the US based international associations, only CFA recognizes it as a Ragdoll pattern.
Jan, explained it very well. The genetics may be hard to understand, but I believe that in the US, most of us work with the "high mitted" bicolor. It does not look different than any other bicolor, but it will breed specific patterns, that I feel are easier to work with.
I have worked with the True and Mid High White, and both were very difficult to work with the White Spotting Factor. I prefer the High Mitted Bicolor.
I think Toby is a beautiful boy, but I am not a big fan of Vans. I love seeing the saddle marking come in, and I personally like a larger mask. As far as the standard in TICA is wrote, I believe Serafina and Bellus both have their V's that are too small. I have heard judges say, they like to see the V pattern go through the eyes.
Purrs,
Stormi
Hi Paul,
This is a good site
http://www.ragsrus.info/includes/appeara...arance.htm
It shows drawings of the Van and bicolour's face and body, showing the markings. Also has a bit of info.
As others have said if you mate two true bicolours together you get Vans (High White Bicolour). Or if you mate a true bicolour with a Mid High White Bicolour or If you mate a Van with a true bicolour. Van with a Van; Mid high white bicolour with a Van.
Here a site where you can fiddle around with all that, see what this pattern can have with this pattern; and this colour with this colour.
http://www.tbrcc.co.uk/pattern_colour_prediction.htm
Sadly, since I miss the rest of TRCH, that is NOT a good site, since it conflates the regular cat fancy "with white" type bicolor with the Ragdoll bicolor, causing confusion. The Ragdoll bicolor pattern is a subset of the cat fancy bicolor, having more particular rules. There is no Ragdoll mid high white pattern - this is a genetic white level that has no accepted Ragdoll pattern counterpart. So this site stirs together accepted Ragdoll patterns, cat fancy patterns with the same names that are not Ragdoll patterns and genetic considerations that are different from the accepted Ragdoll patterns of the Ragdoll standards.
For example, the V of the "mid high white bicolor" is actually a better representation of the bicolor V than the one shown as a bicolor V. In fact, the V of a mid high white is most often well outside the outer edge of the eye on at least one side.
It may be an acceptable site as a reminder for someone who already understands the distinctions, but it is not a good site if you are trying to first learn about Ragdoll patterns or genetics.
Oh, well you learn something every day
Is the drawing of the van on that site right?
Yes, color on ears and tail. That's the good news for this string. ; )
So my two red boys are van kittens?
they've only got the red on their ears and tails, none on their noses and they have no mask at all. No saddle-mark or where it might wind up being either.
I always thought them to be oddly marked and could never figure out what to register their patterns as either lol
It depends on their ages. Red comes in slowly.
Puff Apollo is white with apricot ears and tail. he is almost 6 months old now and may be getting some apricot color to his face- it looks like it is slowly changing. His gruff is getting fuller too- he is just over 5 lbs so he is filling out nicely. I am anxious to see all the color changes he will go thru. Judy