New kitten strange colour!

[Nyarose]

Hey everyone! I've joined to find out what colour kitten I have!

Depending on natural lighting, she sometimes appears to be completely steal blue.

BUT when I got her home, and started playing with her, and introducing her to the house, I noticed shes completely blue with darker blue markings. Like a tabby. Her face has a very muted cream around her nose, as well. Her mother was Calico and father was unknown.
She had on calico sibling, solid black and black and white. No others appeared to have the tabby markings. Trying to figure out what colour she'll be when shes older!

 

[jefferd18]

Okay, cubby head, big round eyes- I dare somebody to tell me that kitten is not a Russian Blue. LOL!

 

[Sugar Plum]

I see faint tabby markings. She's beautiful!

 

[mackiemac]

Aww, what a cutie! I would call her a blue-cream dilute torbie (tortoiseshell tabby)

 

[Sylvia Jones]

So so Beautiful!!!

 

[Willowy]

Okay, cubby head, big round eyes- I dare somebody to tell me that kitten is not a Russian Blue. LOL!

I'll take that dare! Purebred Russian Blues do not have cobby heads or big round eyes. They're rather lithe kitties. This kitten looks closer to a British Blue if she resembles any purebred.

Most solid-color kittens have some ghost striping. Sometimes if the light is right, you can even see it when they're adults. However, I think she may be a blue tabby because the stripes don't look "ghostly" enough. It will become more evident as she gets older. I don't see any cream spots so I don't think she's a torbie. The lighter area around her mouth just looks like shading.

She's soooo cute! I love her little blue nose!

 

[lutece]

She's very cute! I would describe her as a blue domestic shorthair. Blue kittens often have ghost markings like that. Some kittens will have less contrast to their ghost markings, others will have lots of contrast and very striking and obvious ghost markings. That's normal.

Although I am not seeing cream spots in these pictures, it is possible for a blue-cream kitten (also known as dilute tortoiseshell) to start out looking solid blue and then develop some cream spots later. Since her mom was a calico, it is a possibility.

She doesn't appear to be a blue tabby. Blue tabbies have a very different appearance with light markings on the face, chest and legs. Here are a couple of pictures to help you compare and see the difference... the first picture shows 2 solid blues and 2 blue tabbies, the second picture shows one blue tabby and one solid blue. You can see how the solid blue kitten has ghost markings on the body, but it is obvious from looking at the face that it is not a tabby like its sibling.

 

[lutece]

Okay, cubby head, big round eyes- I dare somebody to tell me that kitten is not a Russian Blue. LOL!

Russian Blues are slender and angular cats. I think you might be thinking of the British Shorthair breed which is known for its chubby cheeks?

Although I see what you might mean, the British Shorthair has a much rounder appearance to the head and face, so I don't think this kitten is a close lookalike to a British Shorthair. My guess is that it's a young kitten and looks relatively chunky because it still has "toddler" body proportions. As it gets older, it will become more clear how it will look as an adult.

 

[DreamerRose]

One of life's mysteries is why cat fanciers call gray "blue." They look gray as smoke to me.

 

[lutece]

Some blue cats have more of a cold blue appearance than others. It also depends on the lighting.

People have called this color "blue" since at least the 18th century... Here's Buffon's Natural History (an 18th century book, although this English version is a 19th century translation) mentioning blue cats. You'll also see in the footnote on the second page the Latin name given by Linnaeus, felis catus coeruleus meaning "blue cat"

Click to enlarge.

 

[Uncled]

She is a very beautiful cat.

 

[Cara80]

oh my goodness, what an adorable kitty!!!!!

 

[DreamerRose]

We've just had a new neighborhood cat show up on the patio deck. He's a most unusual color. He is a medium to long-haired kitty, very floofy and poofy. He has a smoke-colored ruff around his head and a black face. The rest of him is a mixture of smoky gray and black, but not in any kind of pattern. I've never seen a cat like this. Does this color have a name?

 

[lutece]

Longhaired black cats often have a smoke-colored, grayish, or brownish ruff and undercoat, especially if they spend time outdoors exposed to the elements. So he might just be a black cat, or he might also be a black smoke. You can tell if he is a black smoke by parting the hairs and looking at the base of the hairs. If it's white at the base, he's a smoke.

 

[DreamerRose]

I can't get close enough to him to part the hairs (Lily and Mingo are warning him loudly to go away), but when the wind ruffles his fur, it looks to me like the hairs are gray at the base and black further out. Black smoke certainly would describe him very well. That's exactly what he looks like - black and gray smoke. I've never seen it before.

 

[lutece]

A black smoke would be white at the base, or a very light, almost-white gray. Dark gray at the base would be normal for a black longhaired cat.

 

[DreamerRose]

It's not dark gray, but light gray. I can't inspect it any closer as I said. The colors ripple when he walks. Very pretty. Thanks for answering my question.

 

[lutece]

Here's a video of a black smoke longhaired cat that shows the white undercoat. If he looks like this, he's a black smoke

 

[DreamerRose]

He looks a lot like that, but I don't see any pure white like on the leg of that kitty. He's generally a lighter color of black except for his face. Wish I could get a pic of him, but he always comes at night and there's glass between us. I wouldn't dare open the doors. There would be a cat fight to the next county.

 

[DreamerRose]

He looks a lot like that, but I don't see any pure white like on the leg of that kitty. He's generally a lighter color of black except for his face. Wish I could get a pic of him, but he always comes at night and there's glass between us. I wouldn't dare open the doors. There would be a cat fight to the next county.