# possible kitten coloring? :)



## augustana_evangeline (Mar 16, 2010)

Hello, my dear cat is expecting kittens, and I'm pretty sure of the father. Can anyone see what kind of pattern we might get?

We are having her spayed after this; it was an unexpected pregnancy, as she was a stray before adoption. She's only been with us about a month or so.

she is a DSH tortoishell, and he is a gray tabby, with white stockings and a locket. He has slight spotting on the belly, but is otherwise a striped tabby.

thanks!


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## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

This site should help:



> Although there are many variations of each, the tabby pattern falls into four basic classes. A fifth includes tabby as part of another basic color pattern, e.g. the "patched" tabby, which may be a calico or tortoiseshell cat with tabby patches (the latter is called a "torbie." Some pointed breeds also allow "tabby points" within their color standards. Is it any wonder the tabby cat is so ubiquitous? In fact, the gene for tabby pattern can be found in all domestic cats. Look at a "coal black" cat in the sun some day, and see if you can find the hidden tabby markings.


http://cats.about.com/cs/tabbycats/a/tabby_cats.htm


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

***WARNING*** Long post with a LOT of genetic information. Sorry if it is overkill. 
heidi =^..^= 

The thing about cat genetics, is all of the genes for every characteristic are "out there" in various combinations. In the early years, geographical isolation kept many cat 'breeds' pure or limited in color and body conformation expression. As people became more mobile and traveled the world, all it took was for someone to become enamored of a cat (_bird, dog, horse, livestock..._), bring a few specimens back home with them and begin breeding them together to create a breed. Many other general breeds were simply people collecting cats with similar characteristics and selectively breeding and culling until they had a breeding population that bred true every time.

Examples of this would be ‘color breeds’ like the Siamese cat and the 'blue' cats; Russian Blue, Chartreaux, Korat and British Shorthair. All of these breeds were deliberately bred to *keep* particular traits, which in turn *eliminated* 'wild-card' traits until the cats always bred true because certain genetics were bred out of the population.
All Siamese cats are homozygous (_matched gene pair_) for the recessive (_needs 2 copies to express_) pointed gene. The Meezers AND the Blue cats have also been selectively bred to eliminate the agouti gene. Agouti is the gene responsible for making a cat's tabby pattern be readily visible. All cats carry a version of the tabby gene (_Classic (tb) Blotched, Abyssinian (Ta) Ticked and Mackerel (T) Striped, Broken Striped and Spotted_) but without the agouti gene, they will present as a solid colored cat. Additionally, in the case of the 'blues', they have been selectively bred to be homozygous for the recessive "dense" gene, which dilutes black coats to blue.
Some people began to breed agouti back into the Siamese breed to create “Lynx Point”, with tabby markings on their points. A new breed category was created to classify them, called “Colorpoint”; which includes Lynx, the Reds, Tortoiseshells and their dilute versions.

Tortoiseshell is remarkable because the cat carries both black (o) and red (O) on her pair of XX genes. _Females are XX and can carry a color on each X gene. Males are XY and only carry color on the X gene._ This is why male calicos are rare because they would have to be a genetic oddity with an extra gene XXY. Tortie/Torbie cats with White Spotting are commonly called “calico”, especially if their markings have definite patches of black, red and white. When the black and red are ‘marbled together’, that is called Tortoiseshell.
Torties do not carry agouti. Torties who do are called Torbies. Tortoiseshell + Tabby = Torbie. Agouti only affects *black* hair and has no effect on red hair. All red cats will show the countershading of their tabby pattern. Black-based cats can also show countershading, but it is sometimes difficult to see. 

Here is a topic you may find interesting, it is about "agouti" and cat color genetics. I am interested in genetics and their expression and I have learned what I can. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=54570


DSH Tortie x DSH(?) Gray Tuxedo Tabby _I will assume the male tabby is also short hair and the female has no tabby stripes in her black fur_?
I can give you a good guess as to what you could expect from your litter based on the physical description you have given and what I know about their genetics (genotype) based on their visible characteristics (phenotype).

The female carries both black and red (oO), no agouti (aa), is dense with full color (DD or Dd) and is short hair (LL or Ll).
The male is black-based (o), carries at least one agouti gene that causes his Mackerel Tabby pattern to be readily visible (AA or Aa), is diluted to blue/gray so his coat is not dense (dd) and is short hair (LL or Ll).

The underlined genes are what I will call: The Wild Cards. This is because it is *possible* they are there, but we won't know for sure until/unless kittens are born with or without those characteristics.
Base color for all of the kittens will be black because the male can ONLY give his black (o) gene to his offspring. The female kittens can be either black-based (_oo, one from each parent_) or Tortie if the mother gives her red (_O, to pair with the male's o, making Oo_).
Agouti status for the kittens will also depend on the male. _A = visible tabby pattern, a = no visible pattern._ The female is aa, so she can never give agouti to her offspring. The male *is* a visible tabby, but we don't know if he is homozygous (AA) or heterozygous (Aa). IF he is homoz (AA) then ALL kittens will have visible tabby patterns. If he is heteroz (Aa), then some will have visible tabby patterns (Aa) and some will be solid (aa) with no visible tabby pattern. 
Density or dilution of base coat will depend on the female. _D = dense or full-color and d = dilute._ The male *is* diluted to blue/gray so we know he carries a homozygous pair of recessive dense genes (dd) and will always give his offspring a recessive dense (d) gene. The female is unknown as to her dense status. We know she is full color and must carry D, but she could also be heterozygous (Dd) and the dominant D will always express full color. IF she is Dd, then some kittens can be full color if they inherit her D and some can be dilute (_blue and blue/cream tortie_) if they inherit her d to create a homozygous pair (dd) with the male's d gene. The blue/gray color will only be visible in a homoz pair of dd. If the female is DD, then all kittens will be Dd (_D from mom, d from dad_) and express full-color.
Length of haircoat is most likely going to be short hair. _L = short hair and l = long hair._ If one parent is homozygous for dominant length (LL) then all kittens will be short hair. If both parents are heterozygous (Ll), then there is the chance of ll pairing and that will give kittens long hair. All cats who are heterozygous for long hair (Ll) will appear short haired.
White Spotting is expressed in minimal form on the male. If he is homozygous (SS) then all kittens will have some expression of spotting, though SS usually expresses with a moderate-to-maximum expression and Ss usually has minimal-to-moderate expression. If he is heterozygous (Ss) then there can be kittens with and without spotting depending on if they inherit a dominant or recessive form of the spotting gene. It is unknown if the female carries S, but with her expressing no white I will guess that she is recessive (ss) and cannot pass any white markings to offspring.

Lots of info, but I will *guess* the litter will be black-based with some females being tortie (_black and red_). If the male passes his agouti then all kittens will have a visible tabby pattern and any tortie females will now be Torbie (_tortoiseshell + tabby = torbie_). If he is heteroz Aa agouti, then some will be solid and some will be tabby. All kittens will get a recessive dense (d) gene from their sire and if the dam is Dd, some can be diluted to blue or blue/cream, but I think it is unlikely and I will guess that all kittens will be dominant dense (D) and express full color. I will also guess that all kittens will be short hair. Some can have white markings while some may not.
DSH tabby litter, full color, some females torbie and some with minimal white markings.


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## augustana_evangeline (Mar 16, 2010)

THANK YOU ^^

I knew about the genetics but was too lazy to compute the punnet square.

thank you heidi......you are a blessing.

and, pcis coming as soon as kittens arrive!! in about 2 weeks, i'm guessing, based on her belly size.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Woot-woot! _...I sometimes feel as if I am spouting too much genetic info, but I find it fascinating!_


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