Could he be a black smoke tabby?

Norachan

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Hello,

I'd love to hear your opinions on Frank. He was found without a mother or siblings, so I have no idea what the rest of his family look like. I was wondering if he might be a black smoke tabby.

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mani

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My opinion on Frank is that he's an absolutely, utterly divine little fuzzy cuddle buddy.:redheartpump::lovecat:

But that doesn't really answer your question. :biggrin:
 

Maurey

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Cold black tabby, no silver, imo (smoke and tabby are mutually exclusive, smokes are solid cats). Black silver would tend to be colder in hue, with very light features around the face. Only time will tell for sure, though. Randombred silver tends to be low expression and can be hard to recognize in kittens. Silver is rare outside of pedigrees, though, so he’s more likely not to be silver.

Are there any known silver or smoke cats in your area? It’s rare, but when it does pop up, it’s in clusters, because the gene is dominant.

ETA: any chance for photos in better lighting? May help determine colour :)
 
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carebearbaby1

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Looks like a silver tabby. For a smoke the hair is light at the root and dark at the ends. This kitten is tabby striped. He's going to be beautiful though.
 
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Norachan

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Are there any known silver or smoke cats in your area? It’s rare, but when it does pop up, it’s in clusters, because the gene is dominant.
Thanks for your answer.

There were a couple of smokes in a colony I TNR'd a few years ago, but they were located about 5 miles from where Frank was found
Looks like a silver tabby. For a smoke the hair is light at the root and dark at the ends.
Thank you. I'll try and get some better pictures and maybe a video of him walking. His fur is white at the roots and when he walks you can see a kind of white ripple effect where his fur parts.
 

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Norachan

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Yes, the black tabby markings are just on the very tips of his fur. The roots are white. He is adorable, he's at that get into everything stage now so he's keeping me busy.

I've got some video of him, just working out the easiest way to upload it here.
 

Meowmee

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Yes, the black tabby markings are just on the very tips of his fur. The roots are white. He is adorable, he's at that get into everything stage now so he's keeping me busy.

I've got some video of him, just working out the easiest way to upload it here.
He is gorgeous 😻 maybe black smoke? That would not have been my first guess but I’m certainly no expert on it. It seems harder to tell in short hair cats for me anyway. I have to check this but I think black smoke don’t usually have so many clearly defined tabby markings, maybe I’m wrong about that.

I was able to upload some short videos of fred on the spy him by going to media- then you click media and eventually you can figure out how to upload it if you want to share it you have to share and create a gallery. That is if you don’t want to use another site to link them.
 
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Norachan

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Yay! Did it!

OK, what do you think? I can see a white ripple effect on his shoulders as the black hair parts to show the white underneath.

Does that make him a black tabby or black smoke?
 

cataholic07

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Looks like a black silver tabby to me. It's fairly rare but can happen, he looked pretty unwell but if he's friendly then he wouldn't have been a stray and was probably abandoned due to the illness. So who knows what the parents are in coloring. But he's not a grey as he has black stripes and he's to grey to be a brown tabby. I know they can often times can have the grey look when they are this little but they usually always have a brownish tinge to their face/nose.
 

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Yay! Did it!

OK, what do you think? I can see a white ripple effect on his shoulders as the black hair parts to show the white underneath.

Does that make him a black tabby or black smoke?
Aww such a cutie😻 I am guessing silver 😀 But I am not sure, his roots do look white. I am not sure if that is the case with silvers and can’t tell from pics.
 
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Norachan

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he looked pretty unwell but if he's friendly then he wouldn't have been a stray and was probably abandoned due to the illness
He was born feral, but as he was only about 2 weeks old when we found him he warmed up to people straight away. His mother was a feral cat that was living on the campsite. We're in a very rural part of Japan and there are quite a few feral colonies living near the farms and in the woods here.
 
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