Orange Tabby w/black hairs/whiskers

clpeters23

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Moose is almost eight and he's an orange tabby, but as he's getting older his "guard hairs" are turning black and he's getting random patches of black hair and the tip of his tail is almost black. He's always had black whiskers. I keep thinking that if he lives long enough he'll turn into a black cat. Is this typical?

Thanks

Cathy
 

sharky

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I am not an expert but you should consult a vet ... some color changes signal a health issue
 

goldenkitty45

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I've never seen/heard of that. Sharky may be right - maybe a trip to the vet and a total exam with blood work might be necessary.
 
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clpeters23

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He just had a full check up and is fine. I asked the vet about the black hairs, and he really had no idea (genetics isn't his speciality).
 

goldenkitty45

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Might be diet or some "grey" hairs, but other then that, I have no clue. None of my red boys ever did coat changes like that.
 

abymummy

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Maybe just maybe he's not a true red but some sort of weird brown/chocolate? What's the colors of his parents and grand parents if you know? It may shed some light on the color changes....

I have no idea whats going on but I find this very interesting indeed!
 
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clpeters23

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He came from a shelter, so I don't know about his parents. He did have a brother that was all black with white whiskers. I remember reading somewhere that the calico gene and orange gene were very close and wondered if that could be why he has so much black.
 

abymummy

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Originally Posted by clpeters23

He came from a shelter, so I don't know about his parents. He did have a brother that was all black with white whiskers. I remember reading somewhere that the calico gene and orange gene were very close and wondered if that could be why he has so much black.
My thoughts exactly - not calico but coming from a Tortie mom and a red dad or something....
 

kcpaull

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I have a ginger boy with a black whisker on each side of his nose. His brother, who is also ginger hasn't got any black whiskers, yet.  They have a dark tortoiseshell mom and a sister who looks just like their mom, a black with white legs and stomach brother and a ginger with white feet, stomach and bib brother. Their father is most likely a black cat with white legs and stomach as he's the one I've seen hanging around this area the most. I did some research and apparently, it's not all that uncommon for ginger cats to have black whiskers. Their dark tortie sister has all black whiskers except for one white one. The only ginger male around here was neutered long before they came along.
 
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