What color are these kittens?

cataholic07

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In the rescue I volunteer with we got word about a momma cat and her 3 kittens that were just abandoned at a golf course. A foster took them in but we are all trying to figure out what coloring the two are. And what fur length. I'm thinking all shorthairs? Mom might be a medium hair not 100% sure. They are 4 weeks old. They have like a ginger cream body then have grey ears, paws and tails. The last pic shows their coloring the best.

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lutece

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They appear from these pictures to be solid blue, with some ghost markings and maybe fever coat making their bodies appear a little lighter. Mom is a shorthair.
 

Willowy

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I'd say blue (maybe seal; their colors haven't developed all the way yet, but I'm leaning toward blue) lynx point. They won't have the dramatic points/pale body like a show-quality colorpoint, but are still pointed. Their colors will develop more with time.

I don't think they're solids; their ears and tails are darker than the rest of them and I've never seen that in solid blues.
 

lutece

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I'd say blue (maybe seal; their colors haven't developed all the way yet, but I'm leaning toward blue) lynx point. They won't have the dramatic points/pale body like a show-quality colorpoint, but are still pointed. Their colors will develop more with time.

I don't think they're solids; their ears are a lot darker than the rest of them and I've never seen that in solid blues.
They would be much lighter in the body if they were colorpoint kittens, especially at this age. They definitely aren't lynx points as they would have very different looking markings... the tabby markings here are ghost markings.

They could possibly be sepia (Burmese point), but my best guess would be that they are solid blue... they really don't look very different in color from many solid blue kittens I have had, unless these pictures don't show their colors very well.
 

lutece

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Lilac points would be much lighter all over, with pinkish nose leather, and would have a nearly white body color at this age.
 

Willowy

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Might be solid blue point then. But I'm pretty sure they're pointed. My cousin had farm cats that had a lot of pointed kittens and that's what they looked like at that age. They had blue eyes and changed dramatically over time---lighter body in the winter, darker body in the summer, etc. They're random-bred cats and aren't going to look like the show quality points.

Too bad nobody knows if they were born white! Well, if they have blue eyes when they get older it'll be a good indicator.
 

lutece

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Here's a four week old blue kitten for example, you can see how the paws look slightly darker than the body because of how the kitten's coat is developing. Coat comes in on the paws, while the coat on the body is still mostly undercoat. If I had time to look through all my pictures, I could find better pictures to show this effect...

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Kittens also often have a warmish tone to the body at this age compared to the paws, ears and nose. And a kitten that had fever coat will be even lighter in color on the body. The coat on the body simply takes longer to develop, at four weeks it's still kitten fluff on the body.

A four week old blue point kitten with the "Siamese" colorpoint gene is going to be much more of a cream-white on the body... It doesn't matter if it's a purebred or not, there will be a lot more contrast than these kittens have.

The kittens could be sepia ("Burmese" point) or solid. Sepia kittens aren't going to have nearly as much contrast as a colorpoint. Of course solid is statistically more likely than sepia.
 

Keelo123r

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I’d say solid blue point myself but I know something for an absolute certain- they are adorable and I very much want one 🤪😍
 

lutece

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Here's an example of sepia kittens ("Burmese" point), the one in front is a blue. Even sepia is typically a little higher contrast than these kittens, unless they are more contrasty than they appear in the pictures.

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StefanZ

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They would be much lighter in the body if they were colorpoint kittens, especially at this age. They definitely aren't lynx points as they would have very different looking markings... the tabby markings here are ghost markings.

They could possibly be sepia (Burmese point), but my best guess would be that they are solid blue... they really don't look very different in color from many solid blue kittens I have had, unless these pictures don't show their colors very well.
My guess is they are points of some sorts "sepia" - either burmese type points OR a combo; siamese and burmese type point... These combos have often such a looks of atypical points.

The alternative is as you Lutece mentioned earlier; solid blue with a fever coat. Fever coat sometimes makes them appear to be a point of sorts.


It would be easier to know if we knew their looks as newborn: This light bluish / grayish color from the beginning OR whitish quickly darkening up??

As its now its just to wait and see... In both variants they will darken up; if blue with fever coat they will become more clearly blue and less of the points looks... (ps. Fever coat isnt by itself harmful, and disappears with time as they grow - and new fur grows too).

If combo / burmese points, they will darken up a little more, but the point features will remain.

cataholic07 cataholic07
 
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cataholic07

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They aren't a solid blue, none have a fever coat either. Apparently in that area there is a blue point in the area. This is the photo taken when they were 3 almost 4 weeks old. You can see the cream color and the grey on the ears. The other photos the kitten are almost 5 weeks old and got much darker. I'll keep updating this thread with new pics as they get older. And yes they will be available for adoption, but only in Alberta Canada lol.


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cataholic07

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A new pic. You can see the brownish markings, the cream in between the brown markings and the grey on the legs/ears/tail.

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lutece

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Their coats are coming in!

They appear to be solid blue kittens with ghost markings in this picture. Ghost markings can be fairly prominent in young blue kittens, especially when they have a classic ghost pattern. Here is an example of two of my kittens, you can see the markings on the kitten in the back. These kittens are solid blue.

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GoldyCat

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I agree with lutece lutece , they are solid blue. I do see faint tabby markings but no points. They're all shorthair.

Please keep posting pictures as they grow so we can see who wins the guessing game. :cheerleader:
 
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cataholic07

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Well i'll be posting them until they get adopted lol. No sooner than 12 weeks old though. It will be interesting to see what they turn out to be. Never had any solid grey kittens with orange but its hard to say lol. I havent seen them in person though. I'm just the social media/behavioral coordinator so trying to figure out color lol
 
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