Coat length determination in kittens?

[kittyfostermama]

At what age do you know if your kitten(s) will have medium to long fur? I know by 8 weeks it's fairly easy to tell but is there an age in the first few weeks when you can tell?

 

[kittyfostermama]

FYI, mom has medium length fur.

 

[Maurey]

It really varies from kitten to kitten, especially with kitties of no particular breed, as they can have a lot of variation going on from the parents. It’s generally really hard to tell until they grow up a bit more.
Longhair genes are recessive, so both parents need at least one copy of the gene to produce any longhair kittens. If dad was a longhair, all kittens will be longhair. If he carried the longhair gene, 75% of kittens will be longhair. If dad didn’t have any copies of the longhair gene, all kittens will be shorthair.

 

[Sarthur2]

My short-haired tabby cat mated with a medium to long-haired black and white male and had 4 kittens - three are medium to long-haired and one short-haired. One is a short-haired orange and white male, one is a tabby colored female, one is a grey male with white mittens, and one is a solid black male. As you can see, the genes are all over the place!

 

[StefanZ]

I read once an amusing witness. She was a breeder of an outcross persian variant, getting both longhaired and shorthaired kittens in the same litter. As it was an allowed outcross OKeyed by the association, so she could register the long haired kittens as persians, and the shorthaired as exotics.

She noticed, the future shorthaired tended to leave the litter place earlier than the future longhaired.
Ie, the shorthaired matured slightly quicker than the longhaired, and were also more moveable...

So, at 3-5 weeks she knew whom were whom, not by hair lengh, which was still unclear, but by the movement pattern...

 

[kittyfostermama]

Thank you so much for this explanation. No idea who dad is as we got her as a stray foster from the shelter. A couple of the kittens' fur looks to have a little "wave" to it at one week old. Guess we'll wait and see if dad carried the gene or not!

 

[kittyfostermama]

Interesting that they were able to entice that just by kitten movement/development. I will watch these babes to see if I notice any difference in development and if fur length is associated with that.

 

[kittyfostermama]

My short-haired tabby cat mated with a medium to long-haired black and white male and had 4 kittens - three are medium to long-haired and one short-haired. One is a short-haired orange and white male, one is a tabby colored female, one is a grey male with white mittens, and one is a solid black male. As you can see, the genes are all over the place!

So mom must have carried the long haired gene? I always find it amazing when the genetic percentage plays out exactly as it should. In your case, 75% came out with the longest fur. Very interesting.

 

[Sarthur2]

Yes, and short-haired kittens usually open their eyes earlier than long haired kittens. In my case, my short-haired orange guy was the first to open his eyes at 5 days, while the others were several days later. This goes to Stefan’s post about behavioral characteristics. The mom and the orange kitten are my avatar. Mom came to me as a pregnant stray. I kept her and all four of her kittens. I still call them my “kittens,” though they just turned 6 years old in March, and they are all very large cats now, even though Mama Kitty is very petite.

 

[cataholic07]

Here's some pics of my cats when they were kittens, 5 weeks old. The first pic Ceriah is the only longhair in the litter. She's the torbie at the top. The 2nd pic my Fynn and Jethro as kittens, 3 longhairs, 1 shorthair.

The grey is the mom of the boys, and the brown tabby we believe is the dad. (all my 3 cats came from the same farm. The male was the more dominant breeding boy). He was very hard to catch she said and unfortunately was only caught due to being injured by a car. He chased off all the other boys and was a solid 14lb boy. My boys are 13lbs and equally solid (Fynn especially is a massive cat).

The grey is the mom to my girl, and the flamepoint she believe is the dad. There might have been two fathers in that litter
as there was a black tuxedo around. The mom is at least half sister to my boys (same mom) so hence the floofers. In the litter was short hair: black kitten, brown tabby classic, brown tabby mackerel, brown torbie mackerel, tortie, and one brown mackerel torbie. Though the brown tabbies/torbies really have quite a bit of grey in them that's for sure.

I found to tell if kittens are longhair they will have very thick tails that are extremely fluffy, fur behind their ears and fluffy paws. It's easier to tell as they age but post pics might be able to tell. And you are getting her fixed? I am surprised the shelter adopted out an unfixed cat to be honest

 

[kittyfostermama]

We are fostering her thru the shelter. She will go back to the shelter and be spayed then adopted. I'll post some pics of them in a another week when they are 2 weeks old.