Black kitty and white hair

[ravynwriter]

So about three or so weeks ago I adopted a four month old little black shorthair named Pipsqueak. When I picked her up, she had several little white hairs on her throat and one or two on her back. What I've noticed the last week or so, she's getting more and more of these individual white hairs all over her back. There are dozens now.

Not sure why, and I have never seen this before? I've seen black kitties with little individual white hairs, I know they can lose them as they grow, and occasionally grow others, but to this amount so suddenly seems odd. I am also familiar with fever coats, and this doesn't seem to be that. 

Anyone else come across this before? 

She had a pretty rough start I'm told, and she is also very undersized. She's been checked by several vets and is healthy. She has finally started to grow a bit, is energetic and eats like a horse. 

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

One of my black cats was named "Pop" by the shelter because they told us he started sprouting lots of grayish longer fur from all over the place. When he came to us at 4 1/2 months of age I still thought of him as a short haired blackish cat, but now I would definitely call him a medium haired cat.  Overall I think of him as black, but when he's backlit, he has lots of lot whiteish hairs all over him...they are just so fine they really don't show up unless the light is behind him.  Hard to explain.

Here's his picture though:

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• mrsgreenjeens
• May 15, 2015

Is this kind of what you're seeing?

 

[ravynwriter]

Hmm. Well, Pippy is definitely a very shorthaired cat, and the white hairs are no longer than the other hairs. They are very visible, and  they're also very definitely white, no hint of silver or gray about them. They're pretty stark.

But yes, the single individual white hairs are scattered about like that, only there's a lot more than just a few. She looks like her whole back is 'speckled' and some of them are in slightly larger clumps-five or six hairs instead of just one or two, and there seems to be more every day. When I brought her home she only had one or two on her back, and the 'locket' on her throat. It's only been the last week that these others started showing up. I'll try and get a picture of it tonight when I get home. 

She does have a vet appointment tomorrow for shots. I'll show them to the vet too and see what they make of them.

 

[ravynwriter]

Ok, I got a couple pics. Not the best quality, and it looks like someone dribbled water on her back. They didn't, she's perfectly dry. Keep in mind, a couple of weeks ago she didn't have any white hairs except for maybe one on her back at all. Now she looks like this, and more are appearing every day.

 

DSC03701.JPG

• ravynwriter
• May 15, 2015

DSC03702.JPG

• ravynwriter
• May 15, 2015

 

[Norachan]

My black cat Jiro has got white hairs here and there. He gets a white whisker every now and then too. I've had him for two years now and the white hairs seem to come and go. Not sure what causes them.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

DSC03702.JPG

• ravynwriter
• May 15, 2015

Wow, that IS interesting!  Can't wait to hear what the Vet has to say about it.  It's so interesting that they are growing in patches rather than just a hair here and a hair there.

 

[ravynwriter]

Vet pretty much said the same thing! LOL

She said it's not unusual for black kitties to get stray white hairs (which I already knew) but it was odd that they were coming in like they are. She just kind of shrugged it off after that but didn't seem to think there was anything medical I should be concerned about. 

So...still mystified

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

A mystery which may never be solved

 

[ravynwriter]

Just wanted to update about Squeaker

She seems to have stopped getting white hair as fast as she was, but I still find a new hair or clump now and again on her. She still has that speckled look to her. She was just in the vet recently for her final set of vaccines and the first thing the vet tech did when I took her out of the crate was look at the vet and say 'is she one of those kitties that changes color?"

Apparently, the vet tech had a black kitty that she fostered and adopted to someone else, and when she got a checkupof her foster a few weeks later, her color had changed and a lot more white had appeared. If it wasn't for a microchip scan she would have been certain it wasn't the same cat. 

As someone said, a mystery that perhaps may never be solved

She's doing really well though. Spunky, healthy, and very very happy. She's gained size and weight, and is now about six pounds. I think she'll top off at a nice dainty slim eight. 

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

Your cat is beautiful. Thank you for the update.

 

[catminionjess]

It's pretty normal to see individual white hairs on a black cat. I see them on my boys all the time. One even has a single white whisker. Sometimes I see the white hairs in the black patches of my calico's fur. Cats shed fur daily, like us humans do, as part of the normal hair growth cycle. It's most likely the exogen, shedding phase and probably not likely that kitty is sick or growing a new pattern of white. They just look a little salt and peppery sometimes.