Abyssinian cats are often referred to as "miniature" ones because of their appearance Cougars  or also with  wildcats  compared. In the group of cats with fur markings, they belong to the so-called "ticked tabby cats", in which the markings on the fur have been almost completely suppressed by the agouti effect. Due to the breeding influence das tabby-Pattern only recognizable on the head in the form of the eye rims and an M-shaped coat pattern on the forehead. Ideally, however, Abyssinian cats are completely free of all known patterns such as tiger markings, brindle markings or spotting.

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The Abyssinian is a slender, muscular, shorthaired, medium-sized cat.

The cats weigh between 2.5 and 4 kg and cats between 3.5 and 5.0 kg. Because of her long legs she counts, like die Oriental Shorthair- or Siamese cat, to the long-legged cat breeds. The legs end in small ovals paws  with monochromatic pads. Der tail  is relatively long, wide at the base and tapering.

The head has a moderate wedge shape and sits on a long slender neck. The profile has a soft contour and the snout  is not clearly pointed. The medium-length bridge of the nose is gently curved, without stop  (abrupt transition from muzzle to forehead) or "Roman nose" (nose section curved outwards).

The ears are set wide apart and sometimes have ear tufts, which is comparable to the lynx. Standing erect, they are large in proportion to the head and slightly rounded at the tips.

The eyes are large, almond shaped and lined internally in the same base color as the ticking and then lightly lined on the outer area of the eye area. The wide-set eyes can be either amber (sometimes referred to as "yellow"), hazel, or green in color.

The short fur  lies close and has little undercoat. On the back runs the so-called eel line, a solid dark stripe of color in the coat ending in the dark tip of the tail. On the hind legs up to the heel, a dark section of hair continues in the coloring of the overall color as so-called "sole stripes".

 

Close up of a wild colored Abyssinian's coat showing ticking

The special breed characteristic of the Abyssinian cats, the "ticking" of the individual hairs, cannot be overlooked.

 

Each hair is usually banded twice, sometimes three or even four times, which is also referred to as "ticked" in technical jargon. Which colors alternate in the banding depends on the color of the Abyssinian cat in question.

 

However, the tip of the hair always has the darkest color. Only the hair of certain parts of the body is ticked: that of the head, the entire back and flank area, the tail and the outside of the legs. The hair on the underside of the body including the chest, belly and inside of the legs is colored uniformly in the base color.

In young Abyssinian kittens, ticking of the hair does not become apparent until the sixth week, when the woolly baby fur is gradually shed by the juvenile fur. Due to the ticking, the entire coat of the Abyssinian cat appears uniformly patterned and one wild rabbits or -Hasen  similar. This is also referred to as the agouti effect, whereby the term agouti (alternative spelling: agouti) refers to the rodent genus Dasyprocta (Aguti) was eponymous.

 

Hair ticking is a homozygous dominant trait in Abyssinian cats.