kitten Changing COLOUR!!!

[Snugasabug]

Our little Licorice has been changing colour. When we first got her, she was a dark brown/black kitten. She then seemed to darken up to black...but recently she is turning silver! We were calling her our "silver-belly-girl" as her tummy was the first to turn gray, but now her legs and head are black and her body is gray!

We love her to pieces. What colour will she turn next?! Picture #1 - First day we got her - 8wks old. Picture #2 - 12 weeks old and very much looks like a black cat. Picture #3 was taken yesterday and she is 16 weeks old. Hard to believe it's the same cat! Will she stay silver in colour? She doesn't seem to be shedding at all. I wonder if this is thanks to her food changes from the wonderful advice in the Food Forums.

[Jim Hall]

wow thats neat i never heard or saw that

[ancientgirl]

She's adorable!

[Snugasabug]

I will add 2 more pictures taken today. She looks silver when she is in full sunlight, but normally she looks more like these....

[14+kitties]

Licorice is not going to live up to his name if he keeps doing that!! How cute!

From what I have been reading cats can change colours. Sometimes it's a very subtle change. Others pretty dramatic. In Licorice's case I would say it's pretty dramatic.
I have tabby cats. One in particular was grey striped just like her sister when she was younger. It made it difficult to tell them apart. As they got older her sister developed a sharper face, always looks angry, so I found it easier to tell them apart. Now at two years old Squeak is turning red. The undercoats on all of mine have a reddish/orange tint. Squeak is the only one who's top coat is changing too.

[14+kitties]

Ah, that last picture you can really see the stripes in her. I would think she has tabby markings and her stripes are just becoming more noticable. That is completely normal.

[RolandsMom]

wow. gorgeous kitty! Her tabby marks are definately starting to show! My little guy is going through the same thing, only his marking are coming out on his tail a little. Its so cool to see them changing colors!!

[catlover2]

If you blow into her coat and you see white fur next to her skin (tho this may not be seen until she's older), she's a black smoke. They often have "ghost" tabby markings as kittens that disappear when in adult coat. Another possibility is silver mackeral tabby if the tabby markings continue to be more prominent, but she doesn't have the typical tabby markings on her face, so to me she looks more like a black smoke. Very sweet kitty!

[Snugasabug]

Originally Posted by catlover2

If you blow into her coat and you see white fur next to her skin (tho this may not be seen until she's older), she's a black smoke. They often have "ghost" tabby markings as kittens that disappear when in adult coat. Another possibility is silver mackeral tabby if the tabby markings continue to be more prominent, but she doesn't have the typical tabby markings on her face, so to me she looks more like a black smoke. Very sweet kitty!

Really??? That's neat! She very well could be black smoke. Her fur is very light close to her skin. Thanks for the knowledge. I had not heard of "black smoke" as a colouring before.

[hazelrunpack]

Whatever her coloring is called, she's adorable! Very pretty!

[catlover2]

Snugasabug, here's a photo of an adult black smoke Maine Coon cat. Since your girl is going to have medium long hair, hey, maybe she's a Maine Coon cat! They are quite a large breed of cat. You don't often see the black smoke colour in DSHs (Domestic Shorthairs) as it's quite a rare colour variation, related to the silver tabby gene.
http://www.pictures-of-cats.org/blac...-coon-cat.html

[Snugasabug]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and kind comments on Licorice's colour. I will update pictures as she grows!

Thanks again.

[Longblades]

Our friends' kitten started out as a dark grey with almost imperceptible tabby markings. She matured as a black or smoke CAMEO. Cameos have hair that is white or very, very light coloured at the body but tipped with another colour. When you looked at Missy she was black, but when she bent her body to groom her coat separated and you could see the white base. Very striking. Could your cat be turning this way? Very pretty kitty.

http://en.mimi.hu/cat/cameo.html

[Snugasabug]

Possibly strange questions. Will spaying her change the potential of her colouring?

of course we will have her spayed...but I wondered if we need to leave her as long as possible (7mths?!) before having her spayed. If spaying has nothing to do with her fur colouring, lenght, etc, we will have her spayed at 6mths.

Thanks again!

[Magicwildwolf69]

spaying her shouldn't affect coloring and boy is she pretty. i can't wait to post pics of my black cat he's so different now from when he was a baby.

[ancientgirl]

I remember when Vlad and Oksana were kittens, they were lighter than they are now. I thought for a time they'd be like a dark gray, but they are both jet black now.

[ariatgirl]

I'm glad I found this posting..In July we found a stray kitten someone had dumped in front of our house out in the country and at the time he was a dark brown/black...Now he's started turning grey! His stomach is a complete grayish white and he's started to turn on his sides,back of the head, and tail. I've never seen a cat change like this! What is even weirder is the grey isn't in stripes its solid. He's a character and we love him dearly. Your cat by the way is beautiful!

[lUvMyLaB<3]

i see this is an old thread but i just wanted to add that my cat tickels when we first got her as a foster she came with her sister who was a smoke tortie. She was a almost identical to tickles but she had the light undercoat and side by side you could see the difference it was really neat, her name was scoobydoo. And i agree about the cat in the pic being a black smoke. In sunlight u may see tabby type stripes, and her undercoat will be silver and lighter than her top coat.

[Dracko]

Gingko was really light colored when I got her:



Her body is quite dark now.



I don't think it's that unusual for animals to change colors as they mature.

[catlover2]

With the "Siamese" colouring, it's not unusual, but usual, for the body coat to darken with age. The formation of pigment varies with the temperature; fur on cooler areas of the body, such as the ears and paws, is darker than the fur on warmer areas such as the belly. Siamese kittens are born nearly white, and the points darken as they get older. Siamese in cool environments tend to be darker than those in warm climates. As the cat ages, its pale body color may darken considerably due to poorer circulation.

Gingko is a lovely sweet "tortie point".

[ariatgirl]

I posted above. When we found him (in july) he was black/brown, now he's turning completely grey. Here are some pics of him.

[chico2]

OMG,it does not even look like the same kitten,adorable though,no matter what color
My Chico was a dark brown color as a kitten,looked really unusual,but then turned a beautiful shiny black.

[ancientgirl]

Same thing happened to my two black babies. Vlad was a very dark brown, and in the sunlight you could almost see tabby stripes. Oksana was a really dark gray. Now they are both very black.

[catlover2]

ariatgirl, he still looks like a black smoke to me, that is if his undercoat near the skin is white. "Ghost" tabby markings in black smokes are quite common as kittens and fade out in the adult coat. If body colour is grey to skin he'd still be considered a black. Quite a number of black longhairs are more dark grey especially on body than really black, even among Persian show cats, though the colour standard for black Persians calls for black to the roots. Following pics will illustrate:

http://images.google.com/images?q=pe...title&resnum=4

[ariatgirl]

The fur next to his skin is white. Thank you for your input on him. I've honestly never seen a black cat develop like he has. It'll be fun to see how grey he gets as he matures!

[Mmabryxo]

Originally Posted by ariatgirl

I posted above. When we found him (in july) he was black/brown, now he's turning completely grey. Here are some pics of him.

My kitten looks like yours now she is 7 weeks! What would you say she is.

[hazelrunpack]

She's certainly adorable! What a cutie, Mmabryxo!

[chourtnii]

Oh my God, a few weeks ago my husband found a kitten that had been left in a box behind our apartments. we took her in and she was so young that she had to be bottle fed and stimulated to use the bathroom. She was a beautiful dark dark brown / black but after a couple of weeks she started to get little gray hairs and I thought she was just losing her kitten fur and it was her undercoat that was showing.....nope....she is officially now a full Smokey gray. Absolutely beautiful but the only cats that I have found that look like her are you guys here on this thread all have a very similar story. Must be aliens LOL but seriously does anybody know what kind of cat goes from black to grey?

[Reg]

Hi chourtnii :

Welcome to the forum.

I saw something on Facebook a few weeks back, and it appears as if it could be the early stages of Vitiligo which is a white patching of the skin. Normally there isn't a problem with it, and it is quite rare. This problem occurs in dogs, cats, and humans. I have included a couple of websites at the bottom of the page to look at,

It might be wise to have it checked out by a vet to see if that's what it is, or if it's something more serious, and maybe do some more research for your own peace of mind.

Please keep us informed I would be very interested to see what is happening as time goes on.

She sure is a nice looking kitten. Thanks for taking her in.


https://kittentoob.com/what-is-vitiligo-in-cats/

https://morbidology.com/the-cat-with-vitiligo/