Red tabby with “dirty” paw

[NewKitty18]

I’ve been curious about this since our vet pointed it out. This very orange boy is about six years old. We know his mom is a calico and his sister from the same litter is a tortoiseshell. No idea about his dad. He was a neighborhood stray we took in several months ago.

My question is about these dark marks on his paw. I initially thought it was dirt, but it’s not. Is this just the equivalent of freckles or something else?

 

[di and bob]

It could be, I would keep an eye on them and make sure they don't get a lot bigger. It could be just a color difference too on his fur. If the vet didn't seem to be concerned, i would lean towards coloring.

 

[NewKitty18]

The vet pointed it out because she thought it was cool, so definitely not worried. I’m just curious about the mechanism because my understanding was that orange males couldn’t have black fur. I know orange cats often get lentigo on their faces, which he does have a bit of, but I haven’t seen this before.

I found a few websites that mentioned red tabbies with mutations that can lead to “blue” coloring, but I have no idea if that’s actually a thing or if it would look like this.

 

[Meowmee]

I’ve been curious about this since our vet pointed it out. This very orange boy is about six years old. We know his mom is a calico and his sister from the same litter is a tortoiseshell. No idea about his dad. He was a neighborhood stray we took in several months ago.

My question is about these dark marks on his paw. I initially thought it was dirt, but it’s not. Is this just the equivalent of freckles or something else?

I am not sure what it is. I read that orange males can have some black spotting so to speak without being male calicos. I notice his paws/legs look more cream too in the photos, while his body looks like a darker non dilute ginger. My Cinnamon who is a cream/buff also looks a lot darker often in pics though. But in person he looks quite light most of the time. My Merlin, a ginger tuxedo had the freckles etc. they often get on his mouth and lips. but his paws had mittens and boots.

 

[NewKitty18]

I am not sure what it is. I read that orange males can have some black spotting so to speak without being male calicos. I notice his paws/legs look more cream too in the photos, while his body looks like a darker non dilute ginger. My Cinnamon who is a cream/buff also looks a lot darker often in pics though. But in person he looks quite light most of the time. My Merlin, a ginger tuxedo had the freckles etc. they often get on his mouth and lips. but his paws had mittens and boots.

Interesting! His tail is cream colored also. It looks like candy corn.