What is a tuxedo cat? A plain guide to the pattern

What is a tuxedo cat? It is a black and white cat, usually black on top with white on the chest, the paws and often the face, so it looks dressed for dinner. "Tuxedo" is a nickname for the coat, not a breed. This guide explains what cat experts call the pattern, how to tell it from its close cousins, and how to describe the black and white cats you meet on a walk.

What is a tuxedo cat? The short answer

The Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA), a cat breed registry, has a page that pairs the names people use with the names the cat world uses. On it, the common name "Tuxedo" has the correct name Black and White Bi-Color. You can see it on the CFA's Colors of Cats page.

The same page has a few more swaps worth knowing:

• An orange or ginger cat is called red.
• A gray cat is called blue.
• A "tri-color" or "harlequin" cat is called calico.

So when someone says "tuxedo cat", they are naming a color and a pattern. They are not saying anything about the cat's parents, body shape or breed.

One nickname, one pattern, and two close cousins.

What "bi-color" means

The CFA's Coat and Color Descriptions page sorts the coats of domestic cats into a handful of patterns: solid, tabby, parti-color, bi-color and pointed. A bi-color, it says, is a cat with solid areas of white and another color or pattern.

Black and white is only one version. The page lists the usual bi-colors as blue and white, red and white, cream and white, and black and white. A bi-color can also carry a tabby pattern with its white, such as a brown tabby and white.

Two close cousins are easy to mix up with a tuxedo:

• The van. If a bi-color has more white than color, the CFA calls it a "bi-color van". Most of the color sits on the ears and the tail.
• The solid black cat. A solid colored cat has only one color, with no tabby pattern and no white spots. A black cat with one white whisker patch is, strictly, no longer solid.

Is a tuxedo cat a breed?

No. The CFA article "A Pattern Does Not a Breed Make" says much of the confusion about breeds begins by mistaking a pattern for a breed. It names calico and tortoiseshell as two patterns often used as if they were breeds, and says neither is one. The same logic covers the tuxedo.

The article explains why. A breed is not defined by one trait alone. Each breed has a written standard covering head shape, body shape, coat length and texture, color and pattern. A cat has to match all of it, and come from parents of that breed.

It also puts the odds in plain numbers. The CFA recognizes 46 breeds, and only about five percent of all domestic cats belong to any recognized breed. Unless a cat is known to come from a breeder of pedigreed cats, the article says, it will almost certainly not be of a specific breed.

That fits what the UK charity PDSA says on its domestic breeds page: domestic shorthairs, medium hairs and longhairs are not a recognised breed, yet they are the most common type of cat owned in the UK, in a wide range of coat colours. Most tuxedo cats you meet are one of these. For more on that, see What is a domestic shorthair cat?

Where the black and white pattern comes from

The white on a tuxedo is white spotting: patches where the coat has no color. The CFA's Basic Feline Genetics page has a simple rule for it. A kitten with white spotting, whether calico, black and white or red bicolor, must have a parent with white spotting.

The pattern is also not limited to one sex. The CFA says all the bi-color colors, black and white included, occur in male and female cats. That sets it apart from calico, which the CFA describes as a female cat with white and large patches of black and red.

And because a pattern is not a breed, it can turn up anywhere. The CFA says patterns belong to pedigreed breeds and domestic cats alike. A black and white cat could, in principle, be a pedigreed cat whose breed allows that pattern. On a street, the CFA's own odds say it almost certainly is not.

A worked example: naming three black and white cats

When people ask the CFA article's author what their cat is, she answers with its color and pattern, for example "a red classic tabby and white". You can do the same on a walk. Say you pass three black and white cats in one evening.

1. The first is black from head to tail, with a white chest and four white paws. That is the classic look: a black and white bi-color, or in everyday speech, a tuxedo.
2. The second is mostly white, with black only on its ears and a black tail. More white than color, with the color on the ears and tail: a black and white van.
3. The third is all black except a small white patch on its chest. It is not solid any more, because it has white. Call it black and white, and leave it there.

Notice what you did not say: a breed. None of the three came with a pedigree, so the honest answer for all of them is "mixed breed, black and white". If you want a fuller method for that call, see Is my cat a mixed breed? How to tell in 5 checks.

All three were looked at from the pavement. Nobody needed to walk up to a cat, or touch one, to learn its pattern.

Log your tuxedo cats with Cat Go

Black and white cats are easy to spot and fun to keep track of. Cat Go is a game that plays in your web browser. In the site's own words: "Walk anywhere, photograph a real cat, lure it with food and catch it. Every catch keeps its breed and where you found it."

Here is how the first cat from the example would go:

1. Tap the camera on the map and take its photo. The camera screen says "Fit the whole cat in the frame", so the white paws and chest should be in the shot.
2. The game asks "Which breed is it?" and you pick from a list. You make the call, not the game.
3. Since "tuxedo" is a pattern, the honest pick for a street cat is usually mixed breed. The game agrees: "Most cats you meet are mixed breed. Rarer breeds are warier." and "Mixed breed is always a safe pick."
4. Toss in-game treats to win it over. A caught cat is "Saved to your Catdex with its breed and the place you found it", and you can give it a name. "Tux" is right there.

The bar at the top counts your cats and breeds out of the game's 34.

The treats and the catch are inside the game; the real cat only has its photo taken. Cat Go needs the camera and location allowed in your browser.

Frequently asked questions

What is a tuxedo cat?

A black and white cat, usually black with white on the chest, paws and face. The CFA's correct name for the pattern is Black and White Bi-Color.

Is a tuxedo cat a breed?

No. It is a coat pattern. The CFA says patterns belong to pedigreed breeds and domestic cats alike, and most cats are of no recognized breed.

Can a tuxedo cat be male or female?

Yes. The CFA says the bi-color colors, black and white included, occur in both male and female cats, unlike calico, which it describes as a female cat.

What is the difference between a tuxedo cat and a van?

A tuxedo has more black than white. A van has more white than color, with most of the color on the ears and the tail.

Get started

Next time a black and white cat crosses your path, name its color and pattern before you guess a breed. Then play Cat Go in your browser: walk anywhere, photograph a real cat, lure it with food and catch it, and keep its breed and the place you found it in your Catdex.