Black whiskers and hairs on a red male cat

[Maurey]

Hey all! Was curious if anyone could give me some info on why Chippy-boy has black hairs on him. He obviously has lentigo, and I’ve read that it can affect whisker colour, so that makes sense, especially given that, from what I can tell based off his old photos, he didn’t have them in the past.



I’m more curious as to what’s going on with some of the dark hairs on his body, with this specific photo being of his tail. He also has some dark hairs interspersed throughout the fur on his trunk. There are never any patches of dark fur, but there’s always more than one dark hair in a small area. Honestly couldn’t say whether they’re a new development, as you can’t really see them from afar.


I’m unsure if something like this can be caused by lentigo (and I’ve not really heard of it occurring outside of the head all that often), so I’d appreciate any insight :>

 

[artiemom]

I do not believe it is lentigo. A Red/orange/buff colored cat is a rule of, not exactly sure if I have it correct.. but a black cat and a calico... You need to look into genetics...

My Geoffrey, buff colored, has a few black whiskers, as does yours; and a steak of grey fur gong down his spine...

He is definitely a buff colored cat...

Artie, who was a true Red/orange cat, had one black whisker...

This is Geoffrey:

This was Artie:

 

[Maurey]

I do not believe it is lentigo. A Red/orange/buff colored cat is a rule of, not exactly sure if I have it correct.. but a black cat and a calico... You need to look into genetics...

Chips is, genetically, red solid; he's a retired stud with a red ticked father and a cream solid and white mother, so he could either have been a low contrast red ticked, or a solid carrying ticked tabby (Chips' father has no dilutes in his ancestry, so he was only tested for the tabby gene). He's a fairly soft red boy, but he's warm based, and has only one copy of the dilute gene.
As a side note, buff isn't a term used in cat fancy, to my knowledge; at least not in the breeds I've dealt with. Geoffrey looks like he's a cream cat genetically (red with two copies of dilution), like Chips' daughter, Jum. As cream is just a dilute of red, lentigo will occur in them, as well -- in fact, Jum has lentigines on her nose, the inside of her mouth, and a couple small ones on her paw pads.

He definitely has lentigo on his nose and gums, and, from my understanding, it's likely to occur on whisker pads, which can cause whiskers to grow black, rather than white, which is the typical colour for red cats.
I've not really heard of lentigo spotting occurring on the body (it's mainly talked about on the head), outside of a case report on a silver cat from 1990, which is why I was asking about how likely it is to be the cause.

 

[artiemom]

Sorry, you know so much more about this than I do.. I thought I was helping.. sorry..
I just love the coloring of Geoffrey.. He has an unusual coloring.. and I love him for it..

His fur is so soft..softer and longer than Artie's.. like a soft pillow..

 

[Willowy]

Red cats are prone to "freckles", I've noticed. I assume that's all it is, but I'll be following the thread to see if anyone else knows more about it.

 

[Maurey]

Red cats are prone to "freckles", I've noticed. I assume that's all it is, but I'll be following the thread to see if anyone else knows more about it.

I was wondering if that's all it is, but I've not heard much about lentigo being present on the body to the point of it affecting coat colour, so was curious if anybody had previously seen something like this on their cats. I can't imagine there's much else it could be, but he's not even that old a cat (turns 4 in late June), so it seems unusual that he has so much freckling under his fur, if that's indeed what it is. From my understanding lentigines will tend to appear at around 1 y.o, and will become more numerous as the cat ages.
My first cat, Jum, is his daughter (2 y.o atm), and despite having quite a bit of freckling appearing around her nose, mouth, and even her pawpads, she's yet to grow any dark whiskers or hairs like her daddy.

 

[lutece]

It's pretty normal for red and cream cats to have a few dark hairs. It's not known exactly why this is.

 

[Maurey]

It's pretty normal for red and cream cats to have a few dark hairs. It's not known exactly why this is.

Curious. Thank you for the info! :>
Wonder if Jum will end up growing some when she ages a bit more, will have to keep an eye on it.

 

[Ellis75]

I also suspect it's the same reason orange cats get "freckles," I wonder if the skin at the base of the dark whiskers and fur is dark/freckled as well. My orange girl has one black cheek whisker and two black eyebrow whiskers, as well as scattered dark hairs, and she's had them since I adopted her at 8 months, so they can sometimes happen on young cats. My flame point boy has all white whiskers, but does have some dark hairs throughout his tail. I'd also be interested if anyone knows anything else, although I think it's probably just the lentigo.

 

[vince]

I have a red female, about 2 1/2 years old. About half of her cheek whiskers have turned black and she has a dusting of black hairs on her muzzle. She looks like she has a dirty face. She's also developed a couple of freckles on her gums in the corners of her mouth.

I always attributed it to the pigmentation of her supposed mother, a neighborhood feral. Mom's a dark colored tortie.

 

[lutece]

Yes, some red cats have been observed to have a "dirty face" appearance due to black or gray hairs. These hairs tend to appear on the face and paws.

It's not clear what causes this, my best guess is that it could be some kind of breakthrough effect where the orange mutation isn't completely effective (similar to tarnishing on silvers) but this is all speculation. These dark hairs or freckles can occur even in cats with red siblings and parents.