how do i tell identical kittens apart?

molliesmum

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Hi there,
I'm looking for advice on how to tell my 6 kittens apart. They were born yesterday. The only one I can always know is the completely black one, the other ones are black with some white, and 3 black and tabby ones. I cant tell if it's always the same ones that I see feeding, and I don't know if all of them are getting their share. Do you think I could put little sticky dots on each one or would that upset their mum. If anyone has any ideas I'd be really grateful. Also I want to keep a check on their weights, so I don't want to keep weighing the same ones again and again.
 

red top rescue

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If it's that important to keep track of who is who at this early age, you could put a dot of PERMANENT marker in different colors on the white areas of the kittens you want to identify.  Eventually it will be washed off and worn off by mama's sharp tongue rasp, but maybe by then they will be old enough so you can tell them apart by their markings and size and shape and even personalities.  I was bottle raising twin red tabbies last spring and could tell them apart by their cries, so I nicknamed one of them "Loud" and the other one "Louder" -- after a little time passed, I could see slight differences in their markings but most folks still cannot tell them apart at age 6 months!  I can see a fine distinction in their facialexpressions, just like mamas of human twins can.
 

StefanZ

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Yes, markings of some sort will do it, with a poison-free marker.  coloring one nail may be the trick and is done sometimes.  Make sure the nail polish is poison free.

At this moment I do have before me a picture of a litter of 4 russian blue kittens, all silvery grey, with each one with a a color "necklage" around their neck, telling them apart.    :)
 

maewkaew

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With identical very young kittens, I  use food coloring under the arms  (i put it in that place so the mom cat won't lick it off quite so quickly.  that way even when the kittens' mother is extremely attentive and is often giving the babies baths,   enough color remains that I can easily still see it 24 hours later at the time of the next daily weigh-in,   and sometimes I only need to re-apply the color every few days.

I breed Siamese  ( the original moderately oriental type that are now called "Thai" in The International Cat Association),   and they are born all white and then gradually get their color.   so especially at first it can be hard to tell them apart,   so to keep track of their progress it is just about essential to mark them in some way.

 Of course mine are white all over ,  so it's easy to see a red  or blue spot under the arm.    If your kittens are dark in that place, it might not work so well but you can try other places,  and hope it doesn't all get licked off in a day.   Then just write down what color you put on each kitten on your chart where you keep track of weights
 

siamese mommy

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I breed Siamese too. If nothing else, use different colors of yarn to mark them. Just be sure to check the fitting every week, when it gets snug, snip and replace with roomier yarn collars!
 
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