Cats — George and Gilbert

Ginger and white cat sitting upright on grey fluffy blanket wearing black collar

George, in particulars

Now that Gilbert has been described, the same is owed to George. He is, if anything, the easier brief: a great deal of white, with ginger arranged on top of it as though by a careful hand.

Ginger and white cat sitting upright on a fluffy blanket, eyes narrowed, wearing a black collar with a small bell. The ginger cap on the head is clearly outlined; the body is white.

Pattern

Underneath the ginger, George is a mackerel tabby — narrow vertical stripes that run perpendicular to the spine, rather than the wide swirled blotches of a classic tabby. The stripes are easiest to see on the back of the head and along the cap in good light, where the ginger reads almost orange and the tabby ticking shows through. All red cats are tabby (the colour is sex-linked and always patterns itself), so the question is which sort of tabby. George is mackerel.

Ginger and white cat grooming on weathered deck planks, head curled toward the chest, fine vertical mackerel stripes visible on the ginger cap and shoulder.

Colour

Red, in the cat-fancy sense — what everyone else calls ginger. The nose leather is pink, the paw pads are pink, and in strong sun the ginger reads almost peach across the cap. There are no other base colours mixed in: no torbie patches, no smoke, no silver. A clean red, applied in patches over a white ground.

Ginger and white cat stretched across a beige sofa cushion in low afternoon sun, almost entirely white from this angle with only the head and tail showing ginger.

White markings

And here is where George diverges most clearly from Gilbert. Where Gilbert wears white as trim — face V, chest, socks — George wears ginger as trim. The body is predominantly white; the colour is confined to a cap over the head, a patch or two on the back and shoulder, and a ringed ginger tail. In cat-fancy terms this is a high-grade bicolour, sometimes called a van pattern when the colour is restricted to head and tail only. George is just shy of true van: he has a couple of shoulder patches.

Ginger and white cat nuzzling against a blue cushion, white body predominant, ginger cap with M-shaped marking on the forehead, ginger shoulder patch and ginger ringed tail.

What George does

The catalogue, abbreviated. He sleeps with his eyes very firmly closed, in the manner of a cat who has decided to have nothing further to do with the day. He keeps watch at the door, with the unbothered patience of a hall porter. He plays on his back, white belly up, paws in the air, the picture of dignity laid aside. He visits a lap in the garden, briefly, on his own terms. And when there is too much being looked at, he puts his paws over his face.

The verdict

Red mackerel tabby and white — high-grade bicolour, very nearly van. Not a solid ginger (no such thing in cats, strictly speaking — the red gene always patterns itself). Not a torbie or a tortoiseshell-with-white; no other base colour is in the coat. A clean, photographable cat who has spent a decade demonstrating the wisdom of being mostly white.

Tabby and white cat looking up as a finger touches its chin

Gilbert, in particulars

Eight years on, the question of what Gilbert actually is has gone underexamined. The cats are the cats. He is Gilbert. The taxonomy has not been pressed for further detail. With the archive now sorted by coat — ginger over here, brown tabby over there — the description is owed.

Brown tabby and white cat looking up at the camera, the M-shaped marking on the forehead clearly visible above tabby-striped cheeks.

Pattern

Gilbert is a classic tabby — sometimes called blotched, sometimes marbled. The distinguishing feature is the wide, swirled pattern on the flank, often with a bullseye where a more striped (mackerel) tabby would have narrow vertical lines. The bullseye is plain in the photograph below: the dark markings broaden into a swirl across the side, rather than running in parallel stripes from the spine downward.

Brown tabby cat curled on a scratching pad next to a red rose, the swirled classic-tabby markings on the flank in full view.

Colour

The base coat — the agouti banding between the dark markings — is warm brown and tan, not silver and not grey. The stripes themselves are very dark, almost black in shadow, but Gilbert is not a black cat: the nose leather is pink, and a true black-tabby would carry a black nose. This is brown tabby, the most common colour in the species, the wild type the rest of the patterns are mutations of.

Brown tabby and white cat resting on an outdoor cushion in soft cloudy light, the warm brown of the base coat contrasted against the white chest and face.

White markings

An inverted V on the face, a white chin, a white chest and belly, and four white socks. In cat-fancy terms this is a bicolour of the low-grade variety — white covers the underside and feet but does not reach over the back. The face V is a tidy thing, neither asymmetrical nor incidental; it gives Gilbert the expression of a cat about to say something just short of out loud.

Sixteen photographs of the same brown tabby and white cat across the years — kitten in a basket, asleep on cushions, looking through doors, in the garden, on stairs.

What Gilbert does

The catalogue, abbreviated. He sleeps on the white bedding when permitted, curled into the kind of comma a body makes only after a great deal of unhurried thought. He watches the world from the windowsill, with the air of a magistrate. He holds the long stare of a cat on alert at the back gate in the dusk. He marks the landing bannister with the side of his face, as cats have always done. And he uses the scratching post, occasionally, when there is no nearer chair leg.

The verdict

Brown classic tabby with white — bicolour, low-grade. Not a torbie (no ginger patches anywhere on the body, only the warm cast of the agouti coat in sunlight that initially suggested otherwise). Not a black cat, not a grey tabby, not a mackerel tabby. A common coat, beautifully assembled, on a cat who has spent eight years declining to explain himself.

A year of moggies, May 2025 – May 2026

Ten photographs from winter into spring 2026. George has opinions about the ottoman, the bedroom duvet, and a toy mouse, which he regards with the detached interest of a cat who once considered catching things. A Charles Bukowski book on cats sits on the side table beside him — appropriate company. Gilbert makes a single appearance and makes it count, asleep on the yellow chair amid a drift of brown paper.

Gilbert & George chilling, 2026

Gilbert and George, in the curl. Teal blankets, white sheets, the wicker basket on rotation. Mostly indoors, mostly horizontal. The truce holds — by their lights, anyway.

Two cats, one ginger and white, the other tabby, resting together
A ginger and white cat lies in a curled pose on a rumpled teal comforter
A ginger and white cat curled into a tight ball, sleeping on a teal couch
Two cats sleeping curled up together in a wicker basket
Two cats, one ginger and white, one tabby, sleeping on white sheets
Two cats sleeping on a patterned blanket and grey blankets
Two cats curled together on a white sheet
Ginger and white cat sitting upright on a red cushion, facing forward, tail curled beside paws, wicker basket behind

George on the red cushion, May 2026

Ginger and white cat sitting upright on a red cushion, looking directly at the camera

George sat bolt upright on the red cushion, looking directly into the lens, ginger and white. The expression suggests dinner is overdue, or the photographer is late. Either way: he stands by, awaiting clarification.

Ginger and white cat resting chin on teal pillow, facing camera

George in early May 2026

Close-up of a ginger and white cat's face resting on a teal pillow

George up close on the teal pillow, ginger and white. The post had a second image block. It didn't make the edit.

Ginger and white cat sitting on a desk beside a keyboard and RGB mouse

George at the desk, March 2025

Ginger cat sitting at a desk surrounded by computer equipment
Ginger cat sitting at a desk surrounded by computer equipment
Ginger cat sitting at a desk surrounded by computer equipment

Three photographs of George stationed at the desk, ginger and earnest, surrounded by computer equipment. The AI issue, as he saw it, would be resolved by sitting on it.

Tabby cat wearing blue collar, standing up against white car bumper on gravel

Cat mechanics, 2016

Ginger and white cat standing inside open car engine bay beside person pouring fluid
Ginger and white cat standing on car engine bay with bonnet raised
Tabby cat standing on open car engine bay, looking down into it
Tabby cat wearing blue collar, standing up against white car bumper on gravel

A retrospective note from 2016 — the workings of two moggies, briefly catalogued.