Calico Girls.. breed resemblance?

Vpala

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Back story:
A close friend is a paramedic in the city. Mama cat came to the firehouse very pregnant and gave birth in the office. Another paramedic took mama and babies (2 boys, 2 girls) in to foster. Mama is a short hair calico.. who produced a short hair calico girl, a short hair all gray boy, a long hair calico girl, and a long hair white/dark gray boy.
I adopted the calico girls. They are very sweet, docile with my 2 year old, both love to snuggle, are very playful and even like the dogs!
What could dad be?? Long hair has floof in her toes, but not her ear tips.
 

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Vpala

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Hi, welcome!!
I can't help with the genetics although others can and they'll see your post soon, but .. ..

What a smart little girl!!
Yes!! She walked in, they put her in the office, went on a call, and when they came back an hour or so later.. she had babies!! Mama instincts!
 

StefanZ

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Momma seems to be a shorthair red white black tortie? And half childs are longhaired and or grey?

OK, that gives; Daddy is probably longhair and grey.
So he has both the longhair gene and the dilutation gene... (grey is diluted black, its black gene with added dilutation gene doubled up)
He is NOT a tabby because if so at least someone would be a tabby.

Momma, aside of carrying the shorthair dominant gene, carries also the recessive diluting gene.
And so she carries the colors of black, white and red.

The statistical result would be two longhaired kittens and two gray kittens; girls will tend to be copyies of mommas colors, ie torties / calicos.
 

StefanZ

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Ouch, I notice I forget to say in clear, mamma carries both the recessive genes for longhair and for dilute... She herself isnt longhair nor is diluted; but it help her children to be such; combined with the same recessive genes from daddy.

The shorthaired / non diluted siblings, do probably carry the longhair and diluting gene; which they got from daddy but not from momma.
 

CuriousKittens

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Pretty sure that "dark grey" and white kitten is actually black and white. Anyway, the father is probably longhaired but could also be shorthair carrying the longhair gene. Which, by the way, the mother also has to be carrying. The mother is also carrying dilute genes. The father would also have to be dilute, or be full coloured and carry dilute genes. Impossible to know whether the father was black (or grey) or red (or cream). The father is unlikely to be tabby.

Neither parents are likely to be any breed. They're just domestics.
 

StefanZ

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Pretty sure that "dark grey" and white kitten is actually black and white. Anyway, the father is probably longhaired but could also be shorthair carrying the longhair gene. Which, by the way, the mother also has to be carrying. The mother is also carrying dilute genes. The father would also have to be dilute, or be full coloured and carry dilute genes. Impossible to know whether the father was black (or grey) or red (or cream). The father is unlikely to be tabby.

Neither parents are likely to be any breed. They're just domestics.
Correct, the statistics arent ironclad. The most probable is father was a longhaired grey, but its not sure. There is fully possible he was just a carrier of these genes, as momma is...
 
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