What Color Would My Kitten Be?

[Clara.W]

I'm sorry I don't know the technical terms for any cat identification, but I can't help wondering about this kitten.
Her mom is grey with a little bit of white and orange, and her dad is a color that I haven't seen much. He is a solid tabby, but his stripes are dusty orange with a greyish brown undertone. I don't know if the photos show this very well, but her darker colors are the same as what her dad has.
What would she be classified as?

 

[lutece]

She's a lovely girl! I would describe her color as dilute calico. I'm seeing patches of blue (gray), patches of cream tabby, and white markings.

 

[Clara.W]

She's a lovely girl! I would describe her color as dilute calico. I'm seeing patches of blue (gray), patches of cream tabby, and white markings.

Thank you!

 

[nurseangel]

Hi, welcome to TCS! Gracious, what a pretty girl! She has the most unusual coat, and I can understand why you wouldn't have been able to pinpoint a classification. I wouldn't have known, either.

 

[Willowy]

She's a lovely girl! I would describe her color as dilute calico. I'm seeing patches of blue (gray), patches of cream tabby, and white markings.

The color may be off in the picture, but the dark patches don't look blue to me. What are the chances she has one of the modified dilute colors like caramel or taupe?

 

[lutece]

The color may be off in the picture, but the dark patches don't look blue to me. What are the chances she has one of the modified dilute colors like caramel or cinnamon?

My guess is that it is just the color in the picture, because everything in the picture is a bit pinkish in tone. Blue cats are difficult to photograph accurately and often look pinkish or brownish in tone because of the lighting and photography.

Here are some random examples off my phone of blue cats appearing to be different tones in different lighting conditions... I just grabbed a few pictures from the last month... these cats are all the same color (some are the same cat).



In a tortie or calico, the cream patches also have a tendency to be mixed in to the blue patches ("brindling") which would give the effect of a more pinkish color, you can see this effect in the photograph of the OP's cat from above where the colors are mixed together.

What are the chances that she would have a rare color? Theoretically possible, although not likely.

The chocolate gene is rare in the domestic cat population, but chocolate cats do sometimes appear. Full color chocolate (not dilute) would be much more brown than the cat in the picture, she's definitely not chocolate. Dilute chocolate (lilac) would be a remote possibility, but would generally appear more pinkish and lighter in color than the cat in the picture. This is a lilac tortie OSH for comparison:


The cinnamon gene originally came from the red Abyssinian and is even more rare in the domestic cat population than chocolate. Full color cinnamon (not dilute) would be a reddish brownish color. Dilute cinnamon (fawn) is a light beige color, not a grayish color as in the picture. She's clearly not either of those colors.

Caramel (dilute modifier or Dm) is even more rare and as far as I know has only been seen in a few lines of pedigreed cats. It apparently originated in silver Persians in England, and was introduced into Oriental Shorthairs when a breeder used chinchilla Persians to introduce the silver gene into her Oriental cats. I have never seen a caramel in person. It is theoretically possible, but extremely unlikely to appear in a random bred domestic shorthair. Here is a discussion of caramel and its history.
http://www.caramelapricotfederation.co.uk/genetics.htm

 

[lutece]

Also, as far as I know there is no genetic test for the caramel (Dm) modifier, but it's very easy to test for chocolate / lilac and cinnamon / fawn, if the cat appears suspiciously pinkish in person. Chocolate and cinnamon are on the same locus ("Brown") so that would be just one test through UC Davis.
Cat Coat Color

 

[Clara.W]

My guess is that it is just the color in the picture, because everything in the picture is a bit pinkish in tone. Blue cats are difficult to photograph accurately and often look pinkish or brownish in tone because of the lighting and photography.

Here are some random examples off my phone of blue cats appearing to be different tones in different lighting conditions... I just grabbed a few pictures from the last month... these cats are all the same color (some are the same cat).

View attachment 297939 View attachment 297940 View attachment 297941 View attachment 297942

In a tortie or calico, the cream patches also have a tendency to be mixed in to the blue patches ("brindling") which would give the effect of a more pinkish color, you can see this effect in the photograph of the OP's cat from above where the colors are mixed together.

What are the chances that she would have a rare color? Theoretically possible, although not likely.

The chocolate gene is rare in the domestic cat population, but chocolate cats do sometimes appear. Full color chocolate (not dilute) would be much more brown than the cat in the picture, she's definitely not chocolate. Dilute chocolate (lilac) would be a remote possibility, but would generally appear more pinkish and lighter in color than the cat in the picture. This is a lilac tortie OSH for comparison:
View attachment 297938

The cinnamon gene originally came from the red Abyssinian and is even more rare in the domestic cat population than chocolate. Full color cinnamon (not dilute) would be a reddish brownish color. Dilute cinnamon (fawn) is a light beige color, not a grayish color as in the picture. She's clearly not either of those colors.

Caramel (dilute modifier or Dm) is even more rare and as far as I know has only been seen in a few lines of pedigreed cats. It apparently originated in silver Persians in England, and was introduced into Oriental Shorthairs when a breeder used chinchilla Persians to introduce the silver gene into her Oriental cats. I have never seen a caramel in person. It is theoretically possible, but extremely unlikely to appear in a random bred domestic shorthair. Here is a discussion of caramel and its history.
http://www.caramelapricotfederation.co.uk/genetics.htm

The color of the Lilac cat that you posted is very similar to the undertone in her darker patches. Her dad came from a batch of cats that we're almost all that color. One was notably darker. Some had short hair and some had long. That color was very apparent in all but the rich dark brown one.

 

[lutece]

C Clara.W is your cat's mother also closely related to that group of cats? In order to produce kittens that are lilac or chocolate, both parents must carry the recessive chocolate gene. Because the chocolate gene is rare in the general population, you are more likely to see chocolate or lilac in an inbred colony where the cats are all closely related to each other.

 

[Clara.W]

C Clara.W is your cat's mother also closely related to that group of cats? In order to produce kittens that are lilac or chocolate, both parents must carry the recessive chocolate gene. Because the chocolate gene is rare in the general population, you are more likely to see chocolate or lilac in an inbred colony where the cats are all closely related to each other.

Her mother is a dilute calico. Mostly grey with a little light orange and white. She is not related to the dad at all. I don't know anything about cat genetics or colors at all, so I don't know if that makes sense.

 

[Clara.W]

The color may be off in the picture, but the dark patches don't look blue to me. What are the chances she has one of the modified dilute colors like caramel or taupe?

I'm not sure what the chances of that would be. I don't know the genetic history of either parent. I found a photo on Google that is very similar to her color with better lighting, but her brown, striped patches have a much lighter undertone to them than the cat in this photo. Almost lilac or lavender. I don't know if I have the correct terms for it though.

 

[lutece]

The cost of a genetic test for chocolate and cinnamon through UC Davis is $40. You might try it! You would request the test for the "Brown" series.
UC Davis Cat Coat Color Tests

 

[FrankieNMurphy]

She/he is too young to tell. Cats' colors will change over time, so who really knows what color she will be? Besides, who cares what color she is?