Describing Blossom

[Optatus Cleary]

How would you describe this kitten’s coloration? One of my friends said “dilute tortoiseshell” and my wife, having read the article on this site about cat colors, calls her a “torbie.”

The first thing my wife said when we rescued her was “you can’t decide what color to be, can you?”

 

[StefanZ]

I dont see tabby in her so no torbie.

The question is if she is diluted tortie (ie grey+ creme) or black tortie.

 

[lutece]

She looks more like a black tortie in the pictures, although the pictures are not completely clear... Basically, if she has any black hairs (or black on any part of a hair), she is a black tortie and not a dilute. Her coloring will become more clear as her coat develops. She is still a baby and has baby kitten coat.

It's also possible that she is a smoke tortie... if you part the hair and look at the base of each hair, does she have white at the base of the hair?

 

[Optatus Cleary]

She is lighter at the base of the hair and darker at the tips, but not quite white. She does definitely have stripes, but they don’t come out well in pictures.

 

[lutece]

A tortoiseshell normally has stripes in her red/cream areas, and a baby kitten like yours will usually also have "ghost tabby markings." If she's indeed a smoke, this tends to make ghost tabby markings more obvious. When she grows older and her coat develops, you'll be able to tell if she's a smoke or not.

She's definitely not a tabby (torbie) since those look quite different, basically like brown tabbies with some red/cream areas.

 

[Optatus Cleary]

This one shows the lightness of her coloring a bit better.

 

[susanm9006]

View attachment 290301This one shows the lightness of her coloring a bit better.

What a beautiful little face!