The Asian golden cat Felis temminckii is a feline of many costumes. Sturdily built with fairly long legs, they are medium sized, with fox-red to gold-brown, black, brown or grey fur. Melanistic examples are not uncommon.

The moderate length, dense coat is generally unmarked, but those cats in the more northerly regions often exhibit a variety of spots and stripes that closely resemble the markings of the leopard cat Felis bengalensis.

The most conspicuous features of this cat are the white lines bordered with black running across the cheeks, and from the inner corners of the eyes up to the crown. As with most cats, the underside and inner legs are white, and there is a white patch on the underside of the last part of the long tail, which is roughly 1/2 to 1/3 of the total body length. The backs of the short, rounded ears are black, with a whitish central area, and the eyes are usually greyish green or amber.