Question about white spotting

[Juniper_Junebug]

My kitty Juno is a gray/blue DSH, but she has a small patch of white on her underside. You can't even seen it unless she's on her back. Does this mean she's gray with white spotting, or is it possible to have some small amount of white even as a solid cat (like you can have ghost tabby makings as a solid)? I seem to recall seeing that even Russian Blues can sometimes have a white locket (though disfavored), and I thought they were always true solids? If Juno had kittens, would she pass along a white spotting gene?

(To be clear, this is just curiosity about cat genetics. She's spayed and will never breed.)

 

[lutece]

Generally white spotting will show more white than that, so Juno probably doesn't have the gene for white spotting.

The genetics of "lockets" (small white spots on the chest) and "buttons" (small white spots on the belly or armpit) are not well understood. It's believed that sometimes a locket can just be random. During early development of the kitten before it is born, pigment cells start out at the top of the body and migrate down towards the chest and belly, similar to "paint" dripping down from the back towards the belly. Since lockets and buttons occur along the midline of the body, it's possible that these could be caused sometimes just because the "paint" didn't get all the way down and cover the body completely. Other times, lockets and buttons appear to be inherited in a bloodline, so it's possible there are recessive factors involved. We don't really know... but my guess is that there are probably several different reasons for solid colored cats having lockets, sometimes random and sometimes due to a recessive factor.

 

[Juniper_Junebug]

Generally white spotting will show more white than that, so Juno probably doesn't have the gene for white spotting.

The genetics of "lockets" (small white spots on the chest) and "buttons" (small white spots on the belly or armpit) are not well understood. It's believed that sometimes a locket can just be random. During early development of the kitten before it is born, pigment cells start out at the top of the body and migrate down towards the chest and belly, similar to "paint" dripping down from the back towards the belly. Since lockets and buttons occur along the midline of the body, it's possible that these could be caused sometimes just because the "paint" didn't get all the way down and cover the body completely. Other times, lockets and buttons appear to be inherited in a bloodline, so it's possible there are recessive factors involved. We don't really know... but my guess is that there are probably several different reasons for solid colored cats having lockets, sometimes random and sometimes due to a recessive factor.

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond! I love reading your posts on genetics and have learned a lot from them!