Cat Personality and Coat Color
Does coat color affect personality? There is some question as to whether a cat’s coat color is a good predictor of his personality. Any cat owner will tell you this is true, and the web has several lists of personality types. This quote provides three possible mechanisms for the relationship between cat coat color and personality type. Coloring can affect the animal’s perceptions, putting him at a physical disadvantage. The chemicals involved in pigmentation are related to, or metabolized to form, neurotransmitters that affect mood. The genetic code for personality is on the same chromosome as the genetic code for coat color. Relationships between coat colouring and behavior appear to occur in a variety of other species, and a number of possible reasons for their occurrence have been suggested. First, changes in pigmentation may directly influence the function of sensory organs. For example, the lack of protective pigment in the iris of albino animals leads to problems of...