Siberians come in a veritable rainbow of coat colors, which is one of the things that make the breed very special. We breed both “traditional” (colors all over the body, often in tabby) and “Neva Masquerade” (color confined to the points, similar to a Himalayan or Siamese cat) colors.
Siberians come in just about every color under the sun – it’s always a fun surprise when kittens are born!
The most common colors are the tabbies – rich shades of brown, silver, red, and cream in stripes and swirls and spots. Most have some white on chest and paws.
Siberians also come in what are called the “wide band” colors, which means that the dark color on each hair has been pushed to the end of the hair shaft. The undercoat color, instead of being only a narrow band at the base of the hair, becomes a wide band (hence the name) and takes up so much of the hair that the cat looks like a different color. Black and blue tabbies, which have a russet undercoat, become golds. Red tabbies become silver-reds. Solid colors become smokes. Silver tabbies become very pale, almost white.
Some breeders specialize in the wide band colors, especially golds, but we have them only occasionally.
The third major color division for Siberians are the pointed colors, which are familiar to most people as the “siamese markings.” Pointed Siberians come in all the same colors as the solids, but the color is restricted to the face, paws, and tail and the rest of the body is a creamy shade of white or tan.
Pointed Siberians have the affectionate nickname of “Neva Masquerade” (because they look like they’re going to a fancy-dress party!) and are Siberians through and through. Some breeders get a little stroppy about Nevas, implying that they are not as pure as the traditional colors, but there’s no evidence of that. Nevas have been part of the Siberian breed since its beginning, and differ from the traditional cats only in their color.
Our pedigrees have both traditional and pointed colors, and we expect both colors in our kittens.
Siberians are allowed to have any amount of white to add flash to their base colors.
Tabby Siberians have white chins, which can appear to extend to their throats and chests in the lighter colors, but these are not technically white markings. These cats are still solid.
Siberians are known as [their base color] “and white” when they have white feet and a white chest.
Siberians that have quite a bit of white, including an inverted “v” of white on the face, are bicolors. The amount of white can vary, but bicolors always have white on the face and legs.
