Can I be ignorant and ask what ticking is, please 
I just told you above
It's a tabby pattern. Genetically, it's complicated but is related to the amount of agouti protein present. In cats with ticking, the tabby striped pattern is minimised leaving the underlying agouti colouration. Each individual hair has bands of colour, and will be lighter at the base and darker at the tip. The number of bands varies and in pedigree cats that have ticking, it's usually expected to have several bands of colour, but where ticking has occurred naturally and not been specifically bred for, there may not be so many bands and the hair may be just light at the base and tipped at the end with a darker colour. It's sometimes referred to as an abyssinian tabby pattern, as it is a pattern that was selected for in Abyssinians. Look for some pics of Sam's Foxy and Zephyr and you'll see what ticking is! Mosi has ticking but because he is red, there isn't a huge contrast between the lighter red undercoat and the darker red bands, so the ticking effect isn't as obvious. Ticking is found in Abyssinians, Somalis, Singapuras and some oriental breeds (ocicats?). But as with all characteristics of pedigree cats, they can occur in the moggy population too. Pedigree cats can only contain characteristics that occurred naturally and then were selectively bred for.
