Salem is about 5 months old. I adopted her when she was only 4 1/2 weeks old after her mom (who really was a baby herself) abandoned her and her siblings at 3 weeks old. Salem was a solid black ball of fluff when I took her home. But, over the course of a month I started to notice patches of silver gray hair. First, under her elbows and then on her belly. Now her entire body is covered in silver in varying concentrations under her shiny black top coat. The underside of her tail and her butt is straight silver without the black tipped top coat. I have been calling her flour butt because it looks like she sat in something! Salem also has faint tabby markings that can only be seen in natural light. The markings were quite vivid under any light until about a month ago. Now, just the "M" on her forehead and the stripes on her back legs are left. She also has this silver tint to her face. It kind of reminds me of a melanistic (silver) red fox. I am REALLY curious about the silver tint. Has anyone here seen this before? Is it just part of the smoke pattern or something else? I have been calling her a black smoke tabby. Is that right? Is she even smoke? From what I have read about smoke cats, it seems to be a dominant trait. Her brother is a ginger and her two almost identical sisters are brown tabbies. Salem's mom is a medium to long haired tortoiseshell and the two most likely suspects for the dad are a solid black and a black tuxedo cat. Salem's grandmother is a calico. If smoke is dominate, why is there no apparent family history?
Also, I had to declare her breed for her microchip and they would not take mixed or mutt. My choices were domestic short, medium and long haired. I guessed and labeled Salem long haired. But, I am now unsure. When she was a little younger, she had hair sticking up every which way. But it has since smoothed out. She has long tuffs between her toes and tassels on her ears. She is definitely not short, but is she medium?
Sorry for the bad photos. I was working with an ancient camera and a very squirmy kitten.
Thanks!
The light colored striping is her silver undercoat showing through and not her skin.
Also, I had to declare her breed for her microchip and they would not take mixed or mutt. My choices were domestic short, medium and long haired. I guessed and labeled Salem long haired. But, I am now unsure. When she was a little younger, she had hair sticking up every which way. But it has since smoothed out. She has long tuffs between her toes and tassels on her ears. She is definitely not short, but is she medium?
Sorry for the bad photos. I was working with an ancient camera and a very squirmy kitten.
Thanks!
The light colored striping is her silver undercoat showing through and not her skin.
)
