Black kitten with brown tips?

[jdean1120]

One of the kittens I adopted a few days ago has a reddish tint to her fur, which to me seems like it should be black. It's almost a chocolatey brown color... Her face and tail remain black. Any ideas? Will she end up a solid chocolate color?

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• jdean1120
• May 28, 2014

 

[red top rescue]

If she has been outside, she is probably sun-bleached.  I rescued one like that last year and really did think he was a seal brown bicolor.  He had been living outside at a restaurant all summer, however, as time passed, he slowly shed his old coat and grew in a new one, he turned out to be a plain black and white bicolor/tuxedo.  I think your kitten will do this too.

 

[katayl88]

Both of my cats have a reddish tint to their black fur, and one of them is an indoor cat. So I don't think it is necessarily sun bleaching.

 

[jdean1120]

I'm not too sure about sun bleaching either... My tortie/white kitten's black patches are just black and they were from the same litter/brought in at the same time. The other two siblings are pure black and they didn't have the brown thing going on either. So apart from sun bleaching what could it be? 

 

[katayl88]

I'm not too sure about sun bleaching either... My tortie/white kitten's black patches are just black and they were from the same litter/brought in at the same time. The other two siblings are pure black and they didn't have the brown thing going on either. So apart from sun bleaching what could it be? 

I think I once read on here that there are different types of black. Other than that I don't know though sorry.

 

[GemsGem]

I think I once read on here that there are different types of black. Other than that I don't know though sorry.

Yes you are sort of right

I believe your black cats coats are showing tarnishing also know as rust. Tarnishing can happen to silver and black coats.

The genetics involved in cat coat colours are very complex. Not only are there many interacting genes, but these genes sometimes do not express themselves fully or they conflict with each other.
One gene called the melanin inhibitor can sometimes do a bad job at blocking pigment - which can result in tarnishing ( the rusty red colour ) in silver and solid black coats. It can also cause a grey undercoat in solid coat colours ( not to be confused with the white undercoat of a smoke )

Hope this soft of explains it

 

[jdean1120]

Is that a permanent thing? I like her little brown coat I've never heard of that before, though.

 

[katayl88]

Yes you are sort of right

I believe your black cats coats are showing tarnishing also know as rust. Tarnishing can happen to silver and black coats.

The genetics involved in cat coat colours are very complex. Not only are there many interacting genes, but these genes sometimes do not express themselves fully or they conflict with each other.
One gene called the melanin inhibitor can sometimes do a bad job at blocking pigment - which can result in tarnishing ( the rusty red colour ) in silver and solid black coats. It can also cause a grey undercoat in solid coat colours ( not to be confused with the white undercoat of a smoke )

Hope this soft of explains it

Yayy hehe think you told me that