A self colour refers to the top coat colouration of several domestic animals, such as dog

Dog

The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...

s, pet rodent

Rodent

Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....

s and cat

Cat

The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...

s. It refers to hairs of a uniform shade, with no banding or tipping of another colour. A true self coloured animal should also have no white markings such as bibs or blazes. However, other definitions exist.

In contrast, a sable (dogs), ticked (dogs or cats) or agouti (cats or rodents) coat has two or more different colours along the shaft of the hair, with one colour at the base and usually a darker colour, such as black, at the tip.

The term can also be used to distinguish between colour and pattern; patterns are unpigmented areas with pink skin and white hair. In this definition, an animal has only one self-colour, which is the sum effect of all the genes acting on the pigment. For example, a buckskin tobiano horse or black and tan piebald Dachshund have patterns (tobiano, piebald) and self-colours (buckskin, black and tan).