1 week old kitten with thick, wavy hair

[HeyKat]

A mom cat and her 5 one-week-old kittens were surrendered to my local shelter yesterday. Eyes just starting to peek open. 4 of the kittens have the usual smooth newborn coat, just a few millimetres long.

But one has hair about a centimetre long, thick and a little wavy. I've never seen a newborn like it.

I know longhaired kittens generally look the same as shorthairs at this age, so I was wondering if anyone has seen something like this before? What do you think he'll look like when he's grown?

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture, because the kitten is black and the lighting wasn't good.

Mom appears to be short-haired, but she's malnourished and it's the middle of summer. I suspect she might possibly actually be medium haired. Dad's a mystery.

 

[StefanZ]

Ah, you are living on the Antipodes? Christmas in the middle of hot summer?

I guess kitten is a oncoming longhair.

Momma is prob shorthair. The hair lengh gene is recessive.
This with such an odd kitten happens if both momma and daddy are shorthair, but both are carriers of the longhair gene.
If so, statistically 1 / 4 kittens will be longhair, while littermates shorthairs.

(Btw, such statistics are in for example points... Its a different gene, but recessive this too.)

But if there is yet another something less usual making kitten look unusual to you - I dont know, Im not enough knowleable.

 

[HeyKat]

But if there is yet another something less usual making kitten look unusual to you - I dont know, Im not enough knowleable

I'm just surprised that the kitten visibly looks like he'll be longhaired at 1 week old. I thought it didn't become apparent until they're around 5 weeks or older?