# Are these ghost tabby markings?



## MistyBlue (Oct 15, 2020)

Hello,

I recently took in a female cat and soon after discovered that she was pregnant.

Last night she gave birth to 5 sweet, healthy kittens.

I am curious about the 3 grey ones and whether their markings are ghost tabby or actual tabby. If they are definitely tabby, what would you call them? Dilute tabby? Grey and white tabby? What colour are they? Will it change? I did a google search which turned up shaded silver tabby newborns that look very similar at birth but end up a silver grey with almost no hint of tabby at all. Is it possible that these kittens will lighten to a shaded silver? Or perhaps lose the tabby stripes and end up blue/grey like I suspect their father was? They do have mauve/lavender paw pads and nose leathers, like a blue cat would. Not sure if grey tabbies have that also though. Would love to hear your thoughts. Obviously it's not important, but I'm just so interested in these things and too impatient to wait to find out


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## MistyBlue (Oct 15, 2020)

I'm also curious as to whether the white masks on their faces is a common feature of newborn kittens that fades in time, or is that a permanent feature?

Mum is, I believe, a dilute/blue point bicolour (?) She has some very faint tabby marks. She is absolutely beautiful.


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## Kitty827 (Sep 3, 2020)

They are definitely tabby. Their coloring should stay the same. They are adorable!


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## MistyBlue (Oct 15, 2020)

Kitty827 said:


> They are definitely tabby. Their coloring should stay the same. They are adorable!


Thanks Kitty! That's good to know! They certainly are beautiful. Trying to upload new photos now!


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## Kitty827 (Sep 3, 2020)

MistyBlue said:


> Thanks Kitty! That's good to know! They certainly are beautiful. Trying to upload new photos now!


You're welcome!


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## MistyBlue (Oct 15, 2020)

Kitty827 said:


> You're welcome!


So something along these lines? I can't find many examples surprisingly, these came up under 'dilute tabby'. There is also a dilute ginger in the litter so I guess that makes sense. The other is a black tabby with white socks. They all seem to have a white mask on their faces.

These are the other 2


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## Kitty827 (Sep 3, 2020)

I'm not familiar with dilute tabbies. I think blue is dilute of black. I'm not very educated in the field of feline genetics. They are pretty confusing. I would just call them, "gray tabby", but the technical term is probably, "dilute tabby". As for the white on their faces, I'm not sure. I think the ginger color is dilute of red.


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

The adult with gold eyes' color is Silver Mackeral Tabby; the adult lying in the grass is Silver Mackeral Tabby & White with green eyes is more common with the silver gene. The kitties appear to be Silver Mackeral Tabby and White (one with white on face and paws at least). Can't see enough of the others. Eye color tends to come in later as kitties mature.

Here are some color descriptions for the American Shorthair cat.


https://cfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/american-shorthair-standard.pdf


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## MistyBlue (Oct 15, 2020)

Thanks so much for your input and the resource, both very helpful! All of the kittens have white faces and look very similar. One is a little darker with slightly less defined markings. Will share photos here as they grow  thanks again.


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