# long hair or short hair



## crazyismycat (Feb 7, 2012)

Hello 

As I said in a previous post I have been waiting to get a cat. A new opportunity presented it's self. My cousin's cat had kittens. YAY!!! Anyways, the mother is a black long haired cat and the father or father (s) are unknown. She had three black kittens and two gray ones. My question is what are the odds of the kittens being long haired?

They are not even a week old and she tells me it is too early to tell..

Anyone can bring some light to this situation??


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## my5kitties (Sep 13, 2005)

You're probably not goint to know for at least six months. When Star and Lucky were born, they both had short fur. We all thought that Star would be the one who would be long-haired because he so fuzzy as a kitten. But right around six months, we noticed that while Star was still fuzzy, it was his brother, Lucky, whose fur was getting longer. Now, at almost 7 years of age, Lucky is definitely our long-haired boy, while Star is short-haired (with a bit of his kitten fuzz still visible).


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## BotanyBlack (Apr 6, 2011)

Long hair is a recessive gene.. so until they are older really no way to say. If she got pregnant by an outside stray. Biggest chance they will be short haired. Good luck picking a new little one.


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## shan841 (Jan 19, 2012)

Unfortunately you can't really tell until their adult coat comes in. Banjo is about 9 months now, and his fur seems to be getting shorter and shorter. The only exception is his tail, which is getting bushier and bushier! He was a little ball of fluff when we got him at 5 months. 

I also remember when I was a kid we got a kitten from the shelter, and he was soooo fluffy and his fur was pretty long. He grew up to be shorthair, but his coat was very very thick.


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

It's more than likely they will be shorthaired, unless the father was longhair or carried it recessively ie. had longhaired parent. As far as maintenance is concerned, I've always found longhairs are easier than shorthairs as far as housekeeping is concerned. Shorthairs can weave into fabrics, whereas longhairs tend to just sit on the surface of things as fluff. Tho LH do require more grooming, it's easy if you do it alternate days by just running a steel grooming comb through the coat, and that way you keep on top of any mats that may form and remove excess loose hair. Now I've got two Devons who hardly need any grooming! lol


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## WhisperingWind56 (Oct 12, 2011)

We took in a pregnant stray many years ago. Mom was a Russian blue, dad was a yellow persian. She had 5 kittens, three shorthair and two longhair. We were able to distinguish the difference within six to eight weeks. By the time they're ready to adopt, you should have a pretty good idea.


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## Penny135 (Apr 6, 2011)

I got Mia at 7 weeks old. She was listed as a dsh and that she is. I have never had a kitten that was a short haired cat turn to long hair but thats just my experiance.


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