By now your brain may ache. However Silver is simple!

Silver is caused by a dominant gene which strips out the colour in the hair shaft so it looks white, leaving only the full colour ticking at the end.

It is known by the international symbol “I” where: “I” is the dominant Silver allele and “i” is the recessive non- Silver allele.

So an outwardly Silver cat (phenotype) may have a genetic makeup (genotype) of
(a) II
(b) Ii

If you breed a cat which is II – this is called “homozygous” for silver meaning “both the same” – with a non-Silver (Full Colour or Red), you will get all silver cats in Full Colour or Red.

If you breed a cat which is Ii – this is called heterozygous” for silver meaning “different” - with a non-Silver (Full Colour or Red), you will get 50% silver cats in Full Colour or Red.