Ragdoll Cat Forums

Can someone please SHOW me the difference between a true bicolor and a high mitted or high white bicolor? I've read lots, but have only been more and more confused by the information out there, like.. none of it REALLY explains what a high white or high mitt is, it just says that its not a bicolor. Can you see how one can get confused?

HOW can I tell if its a true bicolor or if its just a high mitted or high white?

I need an actual visual aid here, not just words.. or better yet, words AND pictures.

Another thing I want to know is the whole chocolate/lilac thing.
If someone has a DNA tested pure chocolate male, and breeds him with a seal tortie female, what are the resulting kittens?

If someone has a lilac female, and breeds her with a cream male what are the resulting kittens?

If someone has a lilac tortie female and breeds her to a pure chocolate male, what colors are available?

I want to know because I'm curious. I dont have any of these colors, and am not going to get into them as its just too confusing for me right now, but I'd like to learn so that someday I can breed the chocolates and lilacs with confidance, and not wonder what in the blue hell is going to come of it lol.

Oh, by the way.. please use simple words.. the baby hasnt been sleeping well lately and as a result neither have I (Mandy=Zombie).. baby's sleeping finally, but darn it, I shouldnt have had that cup of coffee lol.
Thanks.

There is no visual difference between a true bicolor and a high mitted bicolor. The former has one level four White Spotting Gene and the high mitted bicolor has TWO level 3 WSGs, for a "white count" of 4, just the same. The high mitted bicolor is the more popular because of history in the US and because on does not have to deal with unacceptably high levels of white. Obviously, the breed differently and a cattery using only the true bicolor level WSG cannot have mitted kittens. (A high mitted bicolor is THE bicolor in Ragdolls. A high white is a van, with color only on the ears, for example. The van has two true bicolor WSGs for a white count of 8!)

Chocolate is recessive, it takes one gene from each parent to have any chocolate or lilac kittens. The dilute gene is also recessive and two of them, one from each parent, will turn ANY of the dense colors (seal, chocolate and red) into their dilute counterparts (blue, chocolate and red).

If BOTH parents do not have at least one chocolate gene, then no kittens will be chocolate or lilac. If BOTH parents do not have at least one dilute gene, then no kittens will be dilute. There are color prediction charts on the RFCI site.

To figure out possible kittens from particular parents, you can use http://www.definitive-ragdollcat.co.uk/page_993407.html

When it says "carrying" it just means the gene is recessive and the cat has only one copy. "Carrying blue" means the cat has ONE dilute gene. There are DNA tests from VGL that will tell you if a cat carries chocolate or dilute.