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Golden color on Siberian cats is considered very rare and precious, and has attracted a lot of expert attention. Cattery Viva la Vita*RU specializes on breeding golden cats: “cats, carrying the the sun energy”.
“Sun” cats are told to bring happiness, joy and wealth to the house.
Golden color can vary from cold, so-called green gold to bright red gold. Therefore cats carrying the same color code by the book can in fact look very different from each other. This can be observed in a few examples from our cattery below.
| Karamelka Vivalavita (ny22) | Ulbars Vivalavita (ny24) | Bozhena Vivalavita (ny22) | Dushechka Vivalavita (ny22) |
|---|---|---|---|
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A person with little experience might not spot any difference between a golden and a red cat. The foto displays a perfect example of
Brilliant Vivalavita (to the left, red) and Summer Siesta Vivalavita (to the right, golden). Genetically these two colors are very different though, as golden color is considered modified black. Golden color can be easily identified by a few features described below.
Presence of a light peach-color undercoat is a mandatory trait of golden color. Should a cat have a gray undercoat instead, it will be identified as “warm brown”, or, tehnically speaking, black or blue tabby.
| Peach undercoat (golden) | Gray undercoat (black) |
|---|---|
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A golden cat has peach color feet and black-dark brown paws with black paw pads. A red cat's paw pads are pink. A black or “warm brown” cat's foot is mostly black.
| Qrasavitsa Vivalavita (goldeb) | Marmelad Vivalavita (red) | Lux Vivalavita (warm brown) |
|---|---|---|
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Looking at a golden cat closely, one will notice that the hair ends on its body are black. There is also a black line around the eye of a golden cat.
| Golden cat's hair | Red cat's hair |
|---|---|
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Unlike red cats, golden cats own a black tip of the tail.
| Kamysh Vivalavita (golden) | Amour Vivalavita (red) |
|---|---|
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Green eyes are considered the mark of the golden color, while red cats rarely have them. Depth and brightness of green eyes can develop up to the age of two-three years.
| Gloria Vivalavita (golden) | Bonus Vivalavita (red) |
|---|---|
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To fully confuse the reader, let us introduce the term “red gold”, which is only accepted in FIFE system. According to the WCF system, such color is identified as simply “red”.
The key meaning of the red golden color is genetic. It basically means that a cat is carrying the golden gene, as one or both of its parents are golden. Pairing such cat with a golden partner would give golden kittens.
Golden features on a red cat are not clearly visible to the naked eye. Here gold is mainly defined by lighter spots on legs, nose bridge, fingers, feet; as well as the peach undercoat.
The picture to the left displays red golden color on Dariy Vivalavita.
