Reddish Fur by tail of blue point?

[slowblink]

As my blue point siamese gets older, I'm noticing some reddish fur right by where her tail begins. I'm curious about this, anybody have explanations for why this would be?

photos of reddish fur (it was hard to get a good photo of this) and her coloring for reference

 

[di and bob]

As cats age, they do turn different colors at times, she may even have some flame point genes in here that are making an appearance. Hair loses its melatonin as any animal ages, and the flame color may have just been hidden by the blue point coloration.

 

[Willowy]

Pointed cats do change a lot with age, but I think in this case it's just discoloration/dead fur. She looks a wee bit plump and may not be able to groom that area as well as she used to.

 

[slowblink]

She's almost 10 months, if that helps. We are slowly moving from free-feeding for her and getting more into wet foods but yes, she's got a few extra lbs at the moment

I'm curious about the flame point, the breeder does have flame point kittens from time to time, but I didn't think they came from the line she did (her parents were a blue & a seal point).

 

[lutece]

Red point (flame point) cannot be carried. If her parents weren't some type of red or tortie, she would not be a tortie point. It doesn't have the appearance of tortie point, either.

My guess is that it's discolored coat, and this doesn't necessarily mean that it's dirty! Blue coat hairs can also get "rusty" reddish when they are grooming a particular area a lot... probably some effect of saliva or heat. I also often see blue mother cats' belly fur get "rusty" from being nursed on by their kittens.