My black kitten's fur looks intresting

[Lillyenn]

So this stray mom, who decided to live with us had 4 kittens. We gave 3 away to good homes but we decided to keep the weakest one (he's doing great now). When he was smaller I thought that he has missing fur spots, but I realized that he's simply not all black. Two of his siblings were tabbys just like their mom and one was also black, but not this strange in color. The mom's fur is already interesting, so it could be because of her, or it could be the dad (we unfortunately don't know him). Is this a specific coloration (like with torties) or is it just something random?

 

[Texaskitty]

Beautiful fur!

 

[lutece]

It's hard to say without looking at him in person, but I think he might be black smoke in color. A black smoke cat has white at the base of each hair, and black at the tip of each hair. Smoke kittens can sometimes have an odd, patchy appearance as the hair is growing in.

He also might be a solid black kitten, and just have some lighter areas of his coat right now because he is going through a developmental stage. You will get a better idea of his true color as he gets older and his adult coat grows in.

Smoke / silver is a dominant gene. Since his mother is a brown tabby (not a silver or smoke), if he does turn out to be a smoke, that would mean that his father was smoke or silver in color (or solid white, masking smoke / silver).

 

[Lillyenn]

My mom said that the cat who we think might be the father also looked like this, but I only saw him at night so I can't confirm it. I guess I'll have to wait until he is bigger. I tried finding pictures of black smoke kittens for comparison, and some looked similar so maybe.

 

[Katie M]

Is it possibly a fever coat?

 

[Lillyenn]

It could be, because his mom was definitely not healthy when she was pregnant and he is actually the weakest of 4 kittens. But isn't a fever coat supposed to be light at the top and dark at the bottom? And not just in small patches but in larger areas? At least that's how the kittens I saw with fever coats looked like, none of them looked similar to this little guy.

 

[lutece]

Fever coat can appear later in kittenhood, and it can appear in patches (I have seen it happen). The pictures look more like black smoke to me, but you will just have to wait and see how it turns out.