Are my kittens smoke or is this just their skin colour?

[profdanglais]

Hester and Hugo are mostly black kittens. Hugo has a tuxedo and Hester has a small white star on the tip of her tail. They are a brownish black with faint tabby markings. The tabby is more noticeable on Hugo. They are no particular breed, their mother is black with golden eyes and I don't know what their father looks like. Their eyes are a greenish yellowish colour that I think is beautiful, and I hope it doesn't change. Anyway, their fur seems lighter at the base, so much that if their fur is mussed it looks a bit like they have extra white patches. So I was wondering if they are smoke or if this is just their skin showing through. Here's a pic of Hester's fur:

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• profdanglais
• Jul 29, 2016

This is Hugo, hopefully you can see his tabby markings, it's hard to get a good picture in my phone:

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• profdanglais
• Jul 29, 2016

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• profdanglais
• Jul 29, 2016

He looks a bit like the grain in ebony wood.

So what do you think? Smoke or no?

 

[KatsPurrrsians]

I'm no expert by any means, but at first glance of the kittens I'd say no smoke, simply beautiful black & white tuxedo, but then I do see what you mean about their undercoat.

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• KatsPurrrsians
• Jul 29, 2016

I had a kitten from a litter that was similar in coloring to your babies. (Above pic) She looked solid black and white tuxedo at first glance but if you looked at her underbelly she had definite smokey coloring. She was adopted out but the new owner keeps in touch and has noticed it too. It will be interesting to see how her coloring develops.
How old are your babies?

 

[profdanglais]

They are 12.5 weeks, their 3-month birthday is the 3rd of August. We got them from my friend who thought that the tabby stripes would fade as they got older, but I'm not so sure. Is it normal for cats' fur to change colour as they age? 

 

[KatsPurrrsians]

They are 12.5 weeks, their 3-month birthday is the 3rd of August. We got them from my friend who thought that the tabby stripes would fade as they got older, but I'm not so sure. Is it normal for cats' fur to change colour as they age? 

Depending on the breed it is actually very likely. My himalayan's fur get darker as they get older, and my persians will likely get lighter. I'm not sure for yours though. Are they any specific breed & do you know exactly what the parents are?

 

[profdanglais]

No I think they're just bog standard cats. Domestic shorthair, I think they call it. The mother is my friend's daughter's cat, but I don't have any information about the father. I didn't get a close look at the mother, but she appeared to be pure black with no tabby and her eyes were golden. The kittens' eyes have green in them, though Hester's seem to be getting yellower. Sounds like she could end up looking just like her mum. 

 

[biancavd]

Bit late, but replying to this as I am familiar with smoke cats.

Smoke is actually silver with a non-tabby coat. Your cat is indeed non-tabby, but not silver. Silver means a white undercoat, and the color that your cat has under the black isn't white. It's most likely some left-overs from the tabby marking we can still slightly see and will disappear (might not completely) over time. Cat fur develop many months and it can take, for non-point cats, up to 6 months or maybe even longer to show the final coloring. Tabby markings change, more red can appear with tortie cats, silver gets deeper, non-tabby cats get darker and more equal over time etc. Eye color also takes up longer to complete. 

Long answer short, he is no smoke. But he is beautiful nontheless <3 

 

[profdanglais]

@biancavd thank you! That's very interesting. I guess their fur will probably darken and their eyes will be more golden. I'm excited to see how they'll develop.