HIMALAYAN KITTEN COLOR QUESTION

[bazzel]

hello, my female himalayan had 5 healthy babies. usually they are born white i thought and got their colors within weeks but two look very dark when they were born and the rest white now at day 6 one looks seal tortie or blue cream and the other looks seal, the white ones have yet to change and will change as they are pointed cats. my question is will the white ones be flame point or could they still get darker like blue point and just be slower in the process

sadei (5).JPG

• bazzel
• Apr 7, 2014

 

[red top rescue]

The pointed ones ARE  born white because their color is heat controlled and its darker in the cooler areas.  There are no cooler areas in mama's womb.  The other two appear to be NOT pointed, and now that Himalayan is no longer a breed but a color class of Persian, it's possible those two do not carry the pointed gene on both sides so they are expressing just the Persian color gene, which appears to be red tabby in the photo.  Another possibility is that there are two fathers, one of which is a red tabby -- the colorpoint is a recessive pattern, it must come from both mom and dad, and this is true of the blue eyes as well.

 

[red top rescue]

PS - You might want to check the colors of the ancestors several generations back into the pedigree, and that might bring your answers.  They are beautiful little kittens in any color!

 

[bazzel]

My himalayans are registered and come from very good linage, all are pointed cats. kittens will be pointed as well ive had dark kittens from litters before that change into points. they are only 6 days old plenty of room for change.

 

[red top rescue]

I was not questioning your purebred line, but if a Himalayan (colorpoint Persian) has other colors of Persian in the not too distant past, that could express itself in the kittens.  In my own personal experience (from the 1960s and early 1970s when I bred Himalayans, we would occasionally get solid color kittens because of the Persians in the background, as we were not many generations away from the original Persian x Siamese crosses.  It will be interesting to see how these darker kittens mature, pointed or not pointed.  They will be lovely in any case!  I hope you will post more pictures as they grow.

 

[bazzel]

that is very interesting to hear! they have started to get color now they look so beautiful

 

[sophie79]

I just read the other day that if both parents are pointed the only outcome can be pointed kittens. Now I'm confused and worried because I have a litter on the way from pointed parents!