Kitten longhaired

[gothic_amethyst]

This is a simple...dumb question for me to ask, but my grandma and I have been debating this.
Lets say 2 cats mate. a Short haired tortoise female and a shorthaired black male. Is it possible for a kitten to be longhaired due to a gene from the kittens parent's ancestors?? Thanks!!

 

[elizabeth a.]

There are NO dumb questions according to my rules!

It's quite possible from their own genes. Short is dominant to long, so a cat with one shorthair gene paired with a longhair gene will have short hair but pass on the longhair gene to half its offspring. Mated with a similar cat, one-quarter of all kittens will, on average, have long hair. In genetic shorthand, that's
Ll x Ll giving a kitten ratio of 1LL : 2Ll :1ll

 

[gothic_amethyst]

Originally posted by elizabeth a.
There are NO dumb questions according to my rules!

It's quite possible from their own genes. Short is dominant to long, so a cat with one shorthair gene paired with a longhair gene will have short hair but pass on the longhair gene to half its offspring. Mated with a similar cat, one-quarter of all kittens will, on average, have long hair. In genetic shorthand, that's
Ll x Ll giving a kitten ratio of 1LL : 2Ll :1ll

Yeah! I'm a science lover(wanted to be a geologist since childhood) it's great to know I was right in what I told her. You taught me something too though! Now I know why!! Thanks