This page is currently under construction. If you have a great picture of a particular colour of Somali cat please submit it here.

COAT TYPES

LONG HAIRED SOMALI (SOL…)

A balanced cat of medium build and foreign type, with a broad head curving to a firm wedge, creating the characteristic “smile”. The essence of the Somali cat is its ticked coat, with the darker colour forming the facial markings, tail tip, heels and ticking. The coat is soft, fine and of medium length, with a ruff and breeches.

Ruby

SHORT HAIRED SOMALI (SOS…)

As the longhaired variety in terms of colours, but the ticked coat is smooth, fine and dense, and of medium length. The shorthaired Somali has no ruff, breeches or brush.

Usual Short Haired Somali

COAT COLOURS

USUAL (SOL/SOS n) - A rich, golden brown coat, made up of an apricot base coat, ticked with black.

Annie%20copy

SORREL (SOL/SOS) - A rich copper coat, made up of an apricot base coat, ticked with cinnamon.

Sorrell somali

CHOCOLATE (SOL/SOS b) - A rich, warm, chestnut brown coat, made up of an apricot base coat, ticked with dark chocolate.

Chocolate somali

BLUE (SOL/SOS a) - A soft blue coat, made up of a warm oatmeal or mushroom base coat, ticked with blue.

Blue Somali

LILAC (SOL/SOS c) - A warm, dove grey, coat made up of an oatmeal or mushroom base coat, ticked with lilac.

Erik

FAWN (SOL/SOS p) - A warm, powdery fawn coat, made up of a pale oatmeal or mushroom base coat, ticked with fawn.

Fawn Somalis

RED (SOL/SOS d) - A warm, glowing red coat, made up of a pale red base coat, ticked with a deeper tone of red.

CREAM (SOL/SOS e) - A warm, powdery, pale cream coat, made up of a pale cream base coat ticked with a richer shade of cream.

Cream Somali

TORTIE (SOL/SOS t) - The colours are essentially as above, mingled with another colour randomly distributed throughout the coat.

IMG 1163

SILVER (SOL/SOS s) - The base hairs of this group are silvery white, giving an overall lustrous silvery sheen. The facial markings, tail tip, heels and ticking are the same colour as the non-silver variety.

USUAL SILVER (SOL/SOSs) Usual silver somali

SORREL SILVER (SOLas/SOSas) As for the Sorrel but with a silver undercoat AD56855C AE2A 4FF2 AD7B CF6FBBA16F16

CHOCOLATE SILVER (SOLbs/SOSbs) As for the Chicolate but with a silver undercoat

A85E0F92 2218 4FF8 BDCD 81FDD6F73527

FAWN SILVER (SOLps/SOSps) As for the Fawn but with a silver undercoat

C82F077B DB17 4197 9FF8 BD85FE8E7930

TORTIE SILVER (SOL/SOS ts) As for the Tortie, but with a silver undercoat as well.

2453B228 8EFC 4C6A AB70 DDC6C04B418E

Some of the above colours are still rare and you may have to be prepared to wait to find one. To see a full list of cat colour codes please view this PDF.


Ticking is the essence of the Somali. What is "ticking"?

Look at a hair from a Somali coat and you will find that it has bands of colour all along its length - at least 6 and possibly as many as 14.

These bands are made up of alternate lines of base coat (e.g. apricot in the Sorrel Somali) and ticking colour (e.g. cinnamon in the Sorrel). Ticking is one of the things that helps to give the Somali its unique look.

Ear tips and tufts, eyeliner, top and tip of the tail, toe tufts and heels are all the same colour as the ticking.

Ticking in a Somali is slow to develop. On a 12 week old kitten you may only be able to see a tiny bit on the back of the neck and in some colours it is more difficult to see.