Reverse Engineering A Cat

vince

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 23, 2017
Messages
2,172
Purraise
3,540
Location
metro Detroit
I didn't know where to put this, so if it's in the wrong forum, please move it.

Anyhow, I took in a little stray orange kitten last fall. I believe she was born of a feral in the neighborhood, and I'm trying to figure out which of them were her parents.

She's all orange, with medium-length hair and a fluffy tail. She's about 6 pounds at seven months. I think her mom was a tortoiseshell short hair, and her dad was a big shaggy all-orange tabby. Does that sound consistent with an all-orange tabby? Don't know much about cat genetics, so I thought I'd ask here.
 
Last edited:

lutece

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 8, 2018
Messages
4,499
Purraise
5,739
Yes, it's possible for a tortie shorthair mom and orange longhair dad to have an orange longhair female kitten. The gene for longhair is recessive, so the tortie mom would have to carry longhair. I bet she is cute; I'm sure we would all like to see pictures :)
 

Willowy

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 1, 2009
Messages
31,886
Purraise
28,287
Location
South Dakota
Yep, all orange females have an orange daddy, and their mother has to be either tortie or orange. So it sure sounds like those are the parents.

2 shorthairs could have a longhaired kitten if they both carried the gene, so that's not a huge indicator of his paternity, but it does sound very likely he's the guy.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4

vince

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 23, 2017
Messages
2,172
Purraise
3,540
Location
metro Detroit
Here's a recent picture taken about three weeks ago. Unfortunately, I didn't get her tail in the photo. It's about 2 1/2 inches diameter and about as long as her body. I don't really know whether to call her short- or long-haired. Her hair is shaggy like the assumed dad, but not real long.

Thank you for your input. There are people who feed ferals in the neighborhood, and of those, I thought the two I mentioned were the most likely mom and dad. I never had a camera to photograph them when they made their infrequent appearances.
 

Attachments

StefanZ

Advisor
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Sep 18, 2005
Messages
25,995
Purraise
10,642
Location
Sweden
In unsure cases the tail is usually revealing. Here I think she will count as shorthair, even if her hairs are somewhat longer than in some other shorthairs.
 
Top