tweed cat

tannerke8

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Dec 31, 2012
Messages
3
Purraise
2
Hi all,

Happy New Year!

I am new to this site and wanted to see if anyone has any thoughts on our cat's coloring. I have never seen another like him, and our vet also says he is quite unusual. His name is Neptune and he's getting to be an older gent these days.

best,

Karen


 

smitten4kittens

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 30, 2012
Messages
1,449
Purraise
42
Location
pennsylvania
He is adorable! He does have an unusual coat. I've never seen another cat that looks just like that. I love his pink nose and white whisker pads.
 

mewlittle

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Oct 20, 2012
Messages
1,633
Purraise
127
Location
usa
AWW I WANNA STEEL HIM HE IS SOOO CUTE:) thats a compliment :)

and why does one of his pics have orange on it?
 
Last edited:

el60

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Aug 3, 2012
Messages
48
Purraise
5
Wow he is beautiful and his marking are very different. Very pretty cat and love his name
 

mrblanche

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 28, 2008
Messages
12,578
Purraise
119
Location
Texas
I'll bet the orange is sunlight coming from that side.

That is a very unusual coloring, I have to say.  Would you call it "merle?"  Has he always been that color?
 
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #6

tannerke8

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Dec 31, 2012
Messages
3
Purraise
2
Thanks all for the compliments! Yes, the orange color on his left side is just a reflection from a nearby cabinet.

I don't really know what to call his coloring. His fur has always been salt-and-pepper, but his appearance has really changed over the years. I'm uploading 3 photos we took right after we adopted him in 2001 (when he was at least 1 year old). He was much darker then and has gotten gradually lighter since - except for his nose, which is now almost entirely black (which you can see in the last photo). The white splotch on his tail has also disappeared, for the most part. It's strange to view these photos at the same time, he looks so different. We of course realized that his appearance was changing, but it's hard to appreciate how much without looking at the photos. He doesn't even look like the same cat, really.





 

mewlittle

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Oct 20, 2012
Messages
1,633
Purraise
127
Location
usa
Omg I think he has vitiligo were black people or animals slowly turn white its a pigment mutation
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #11

tannerke8

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Dec 31, 2012
Messages
3
Purraise
2
That is an interesting thought indeed! I don't know much (really anything) about that condition. Does it always involve loss of dark pigment over time, or can it go the other way too? I ask because one thing I have noticed about Neptune is that while overall his fur has gotten much lighter, there are two places he has gotten darker. One is his nose. When we got him in 2001 it was entirely pink, but now it is almost entirely black (just a little spot of pink left in it - this can be viewed in the picture of Neptune sitting on the wooden steps, which was taken a couple days ago). The white "splotch" on his tail has also been greatly reduced over time. It's really obvious in the early pictures, but is hardly noticeable in the other recent photo, where Neptune is standing on a green patterned carpet. At any rate he's definitely got something unusual going on with his coloration!
 

Willowy

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 1, 2009
Messages
31,886
Purraise
28,287
Location
South Dakota
Vitiligo makes the affected areas totally white---no pigment at all, it doesn't make them lighter colored like that. I'd guess that it's some kind of wacky mutation of the pointed/snowshoe gene.
 

redvelvetone

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Nov 26, 2011
Messages
597
Purraise
28
Location
Pennsylvania, USA
Yeah, he does kind of look "reverse pointed" in his younger photos, with the colors switching (darker areas getting lighter, lighter areas getting darker) as he gets older. Of course that still does not explain the salt and pepper in his fur.

I'm GUESSING though as I am no expert, but perhaps he does have some weird color gene mutation....

Either way, lovely fella!
 

stealthkitty

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
May 20, 2012
Messages
450
Purraise
20
Location
in transition...
This link might have the answer. It does mention vitiligo, but about a third of the way down it shows a brindled black and white cat, and says it could be caused either by a genetic mutation that prevents red pigment from being produced, or it could be that the cat is a chimera.
 

cat person

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Oct 31, 2010
Messages
1,880
Purraise
27
Is it possible to have a pure domestic cat, that, is silver ticked/silver tipped/grizzled like in Jungle cat hybrids (Chausies)? If so, that would be a highly grizzled cat. I have NEVER seen a pure domestic cat like that. I really really LOVE that pattern
.
 
 
Last edited:

minka

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 4, 2011
Messages
2,437
Purraise
49
Location
Denton, Texas
Wow, ive never seen that either. Cats rarely change color as it is, that is such a dramatic change! :O
 

my4llma

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Oct 23, 2010
Messages
9,556
Purraise
247
Wow what a beautiful cat
 Never saw 1 like it!!
 

speakhandsforme

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Sep 11, 2011
Messages
1,174
Purraise
47
Location
Chattanooga, TN
I would have said fever coat, but I doubt he could have had a fever for all of his life.

Maybe you could post another set of pics in the Breeders' Forum? They're very knowledgeable on coat colors and might have some more ideas.
 
Top