# Color & Pattern help, please?



## Smudge&LBC (Jun 30, 2010)

Sorry mods if this is in the wrong spot, please move it to the correct area.


I recently took in 3 kittens for foster, and have some questions about how they got their color and coat. I've tried searching on Google for answers but it's not really helping me, so I thought I'd ask here.


Here's what I know:

Mom is a blue/silver, solid, yellow eyes, DSH. Angular face, looks like there might be an oriental breed in there somewhere. 

Dad is a brown tabby (I believe Mackerel), yellow eyes. Round face, kind of your typical DSH shape. 

They are both 100% indoor cats, so there is no possibility of other fathers to this litter.

The kittens in the litter are: One solid silver female -appears to be SH, three blue tabby (one F two M) --two shorter hair on face, maybe MH in body, one longer hair on/around face- possibly MH as adult, and one black male with silver ruff, silver hairs mixed in on his legs/chest, and a locket and button on his underside, shorter hair on face but looking to develop into a DMH in coat.

My questions are: 

1) Is my figuring that Mom's blue + Dad's Tabby is what allowed them to have blue tabby babies correct?

2) I can see where a solid silver kitten would be possible (masking gene) but how did they end up with the black and silver boy? At first I thought he was going to be a Smokey Black, but his silver hairs are black at the root, not white.

3) Where did this plushy coat come from on most of them? 

Here are some pictures, easier to link to them than to upload a bunch:

Venus and Kittens 2011 | Facebook



So, any opinions on where the coat and colors could have come from?


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## my5kitties (Sep 13, 2005)

I have no clue about what you're asking, but wow! those kittens are adorable!! You really should have had a "Cuteness Warning", though. I nearly fell out of my seat from the cuteness. lol!!


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## Smudge&LBC (Jun 30, 2010)

Haha, sorry. lol I am trying really hard not to be effected by their cuteness, so I guess I didn't think of that!


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## Vivid Dawn (May 31, 2010)

I think all kittens are kind of plushie until they're about 4-6 months old. I usually can't tell if they'll be long haired or medium haired until after their "fluff" starts growing out a bit.

Even though the roots of Slates hairs are white on his neck, it still looks like "smoke" to me. 

Unless Venus is a purebred (or her parents, maybe even grandparents), the breed would just be "Domestic Shorthair" / "Moggie"

They are adorable!! I hope they get good homes!


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## swimkris (Jul 17, 2010)

This is what I like to refer to: http://fanciers.com/other-faqs/color-genetics.html

Your blue/gray mom cat is just a diluted version of a black coat color. Your black kitten inherited the black coat color, but did not inherit the genes to make it dilute. The gray kitten is basically the same as mom, and the gray tabbies got a combo from the mom & dad. Since the parents are dsh's, you can't necessarily tell the specific genotypes of the kittens, but you can see the possibilities from the phenotypes (physical characteristics). As far as hair length, it is hard to tell right now since they are little, but it is possible to have a long-haired cat from two short-hairs if each of the short-hairs is carrying a gene for long-hair (long-hair is recessive).


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## Smudge&LBC (Jun 30, 2010)

swimkris said:


> *This is what I like to refer to: http://fanciers.com/other-faqs/color-genetics.html
> 
> Your blue/gray mom cat is just a diluted version of a black coat color.* Your black kitten inherited the black coat color, but did not inherit the genes to make it dilute. The gray kitten is basically the same as mom, and the gray tabbies got a combo from the mom & dad. Since the parents are dsh's, you can't necessarily tell the specific genotypes of the kittens, but you can see the possibilities from the phenotypes (physical characteristics). As far as hair length, it is hard to tell right now since they are little, but it is possible to have a long-haired cat from two short-hairs if each of the short-hairs is carrying a gene for long-hair (long-hair is recessive).


The bolded parts, I actually have looked at that site and read it, and that's why I even had a tiny clue, though it didn't even occur to me (DUH!) that blue is diluted black. lol Now, the confusing part, so does that mean that parts of him are diluted, hence the silver ruff? That's really the most confusing part of his color to me.


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## swimkris (Jul 17, 2010)

I'm not sure about the ruff, but I don't think it is part of his "true" coloring. I know that sometimes cats get weird lighter patches of fur from stress/traumatic events, but the only way to tell if it was that would be if the silver part goes away. He could also just not have as many melanin cells there for whatever reason kind of like how people can get white birthmarks. I think Heidi knows more about the weird cat coloring anomalies.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Adorable kittehs!

Here is what I can tell genetically just from their photos:
Mom is a dilute black with no agouti. This means she has 2 recessive non-dense genes (dd - making her dilute black, or blue) and no agouti (agouti=A, she has aa) gene to make her tabby pattern readily visible.
Dad is described as a standard brown tabby so he is black-based with agouti.

Because the kittens have dilute, solid and tabby markings, I can conclude that:

Dad is heterozygous for dense (Dd), because Mom can ONLY give a non-dense (d) gene and Dad could give a dense (D) or non-dense (d) gene. This is why there was a blue kitten. The black kitten got dense (D) from dad and no agouti (a) from dad, Mom could only give (d) and (a), so this means Dad is also heterozygous for agouti (Aa).

Mom is aadd.
Dad is AaDd.
Blue solid kitten is aadd.
Black solid kitten is aaDd.
Blue tabby kitten is Aadd.


I just looked at the pics again and the black kitten appears to have something called "Fever Coat" going on. After the kitten sheds out, maybe taking a few cycles, it's fur will grow back in completely black.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Cali has ADD.
Charlee has ADHD.
Gigi has PTSD.
Cleo has Tourette's. You wouldn't believe the stuff that comes out of her mouth.


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## Smudge&LBC (Jun 30, 2010)

Heidi n Q said:


> Adorable kittehs!
> 
> Here is what I can tell genetically just from their photos:
> Mom is a dilute black with no agouti. This means she has 2 recessive non-dense genes (dd - making her dilute black, or blue) and no agouti (agouti=A, she has aa) gene to make her tabby pattern readily visible.
> ...


Thank you so much! That's pretty much what I've been looking for but haven't been able to find as to how the litter came out as it did. And as for the "Fever Coat", it will be interesting to see if that's the case...I may accidentally Foster Fail with Slate (the black one), he's super sweet but incredibly playful and kind of like a boy version of Squeak, so he is hard to resist! lol



marie73 said:


> Cali has ADD.
> Charlee has ADHD.
> Gigi has PTSD.
> Cleo has Tourette's. You wouldn't believe the stuff that comes out of her mouth.


That made me literally LOL. Poor sleeping Squeak (in my lap) was quite startled! LOL


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## Smudge&LBC (Jun 30, 2010)

I just looked at his baby baby pics (not on my facebook, on the owners) and it seems that the lightened color on his leg/chest was present early, is it possible for him to have had Fever Coat at even one month of age? They only came to me this past Sunday (at 6 wks + a day or two).

here are some pictures of him at 4 weeks:

__
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Oh, the cuteness! It hurts!!!


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

marie73 said:


> Cali has ADD.
> Charlee has ADHD.
> Gigi has PTSD.
> Cleo has Tourette's. You wouldn't believe the stuff that comes out of her mouth.


 Bahahahahahah! You made me LOL and startle Louie!

The little 4wk old does look like the beginnings of a fever coat. FC is something that can happen at almost any time, in the womb, shortly after birth, while young, middle aged or even older.


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## Smudge&LBC (Jun 30, 2010)

Heidi n Q said:


> Bahahahahahah! You made me LOL and startle Louie!
> 
> The little 4wk old does look like the beginnings of a fever coat. FC is something that can happen at almost any time, in the womb, shortly after birth, while young, middle aged or even older.



Thanks for clearing that up. Even if it is fever coat, it's striking right now, and I love solid black (well, nearly! He does have his little locket and button!) kitties either way...not that I'm planning on keeping him...he IS a foster! he IS a foster! lol


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

How sweet, you already named him! Foster is a great name. Call him Foster Grant as his full name. *_grin_*


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## Smudge&LBC (Jun 30, 2010)

Heidi n Q said:


> How sweet, you already named him! Foster is a great name. Call him Foster Grant as his full name. *_grin_*


Shhhh! LOL

His name is actually Slate. I named him the day I picked him up. Haha But he is supposed to be a foster baby...I just don't know if I can let him go though. He fits right in with my crew.

The shorter coated tabby male kitten is Loki, because he is CONSTANTLY into mischief.

And the longer haired tabby male is Oberon, because he reminds me of a little bear, and Oberon means "Royal Bear".


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

My three barn-kitts (Jingle Belle's siblings) I gave "M" names; Madilyn and Madison and their brother Mayhem. Yes, 'mayhem' suits him *just* fine. 
All three are b/w tuxedo kitties with the exact same markings. That is why I named the sisters so I could call them both "Maddie" and never be wrong. 

I have fostered many litters of kittens. For me, I think being rurally raised and having raised our own pork and beef, it helps because I know the *purpose* of my efforts: I'm raising the fosters for a foster organization, so they can find their own forever homes. My job is to socialize them to everything I can about living in a home. Luckily, my herd of mostly former-feral adults are very forgiving and accepting of kittens. It helps to remind myself these fosters are NOT mine, they 'belong' to the organization I foster for. It doesn't make it any less painful to give up something you've loved ... but I feel it helps because I know I've done a Good Thing for those kittens ...AND... I'll get to help out more kittens in the future, too.
Good luck!
h =^..^=


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## Beans (Apr 25, 2011)

Such cute kitties! Beautiful mommy, too!


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