Long hair gene

[Jenniberrie]

Does a short haired cat with two short haired parents, that has a sibling with long hair that definitely had the same parent, carry the long hair gene?

 

[lutece]

If the parents are both shorthaired, but one of their kittens had long hair, we know that both parents carry the recessive gene for long hair.

When both parents are heterozygous (one longhair and one shorthair gene), each kitten has

• 50% chance of being heterozygous (one longhair and one shorthair gene)
• 25% chance of homozygous shorthair
• 25% chance of homozygous longhair

Each shorthaired kitten from those parents, therefore, has a 2/3 chance of carrying the longhair gene, and 1/3 chance of being homozygous shorthair and not carrying the longhair gene.

If you want to know for sure, you can test for the longhair gene for $40 through UC Davis.

 

[Jenniberrie]

Cool! All the kittens from that litter are now desexed, I was just curious how that gene works

 

[lutece]

If you post pictures of the parents and kittens, we can tell you more about the litter's genetics