3 Different Kittens?!

[Minafey1705]

The mother cat belongs to a family member. I ended up keeping 2 of the kittens and her brother kept the 3rd kitten. I brought my 2 to the vet to get fixed because I didn't want siblings breeding.... I told them they were siblings and the vets were shocked!

So, my question is... How does this happen?

 

[Katie M]

I got one of my childhood cats from a friend. It was a litter of three-they were all tabbies, but my cat was orange, his brother was cream, and his sister was grey. I wish I could remember what their mother looked like.

 

[Minafey1705]

It's sooo weird haha

 

[Lola3791]

It happens. Many barn cats I've known did not look like their parents. My theory is that it is genes from other generations popping up, but I'm not an expert so do not take my word for it.

 

[lutece]

It is normal for kittens in a litter of random-bred domestic cats to look different from one another. I can explain the genetics of this particular litter later when I have more time... right now I just want to emphasize that these pictures represent a perfectly normal assortment of kitten colors, not strange or unusual at all

 

[Minafey1705]

Alright! Thank you. Can't wait to hear more.

 

[lutece]

Are Asuna and Kirito the two kittens you kept from this litter? The third kitten appears to be a tortoiseshell shorthair, correct? And mom appears to be a blue (gray) tabby and white shorthair?

 

[lutece]

So, I'm assuming the following:

• Mom appears in the pictures to be a blue mackerel tabby and white domestic shorthair.
• The litter consisted of Kirito (brown classic tabby and white longhair), Asuna (brown mackerel torbie), and a tortoiseshell shorthair kitten.

From this mom and kittens, we can make some guesses about the father of the litter, assuming there was just one father.

• Because mom doesn't appear to have red on her, it's fairly certain that dad was a red (orange) tabby. A red male and a non-red female will produce non-red boy kittens, and tortoiseshell / torbie female kittens.
• Dad might have either a classic or mackerel tabby pattern, but we know he at least carries the recessive gene for classic pattern (mom carries it, too).
• Dad might be either longhair or shorthair, but we know he at least carries the recessive gene for long hair (mom carries it, too).
• Dad might or might not have any white markings on him. I'm guessing he probably doesn't have white, but if he does have white markings, he doesn't have much white (less than 50% of the coat is white).
• We can assume that dad is NOT dilute in color (in this case cream) because mom appears to be dilute (blue) and the kittens are non-dilute. Probably dad doesn't carry the recessive gene for dilute either, although it's possible that he might carry it.
• Finally, it's also possible that dad could be pointed in color (in that case, he would be a red point), because with a mom that doesn't carry the recessive gene for pointed, you would still have a litter of non-pointed kittens like these.

 

[Minafey1705]

Awesome information! Thank you so much. You were correct about the kittens. They are my Kirito and Asuna.

 

[Minafey1705]

My cousin said the father could've been 3 choices. Her cat got out one night and there were 3 different cats around her house at the time. One that looked like Asuna with longhair. One that looked like Kirito with shorthair. And one Calico with shorthair like the 3rd kitten.

 

[lutece]

I guess your cousin didn't happen to see the red tabby male cat that was the father of the litter (or at least the father of Asuna and the tortoiseshell sister). Also, tortoiseshell, torbie, or calico cats are almost always female. The cats your cousin saw might have been relatives, though.

 

[Minafey1705]

Well, sadly there are too many strays nowadays so, she probably didn't see him.
About Calicos, I know... I've wanted a male Calico sooo bad but, when I did research, I saw that 9% are males and they are rare to find.
So, I stuck with finding strays and giving them a home. Well, besides the 2 kittens haha