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- Jul 5, 2018
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I am a first time cat owner and my little big boy, Radish, is about 8 months old now. I did a lot of research before I got him (which is how I found this community!) but I never could find a definitive answer on when I could expect him to start losing his super soft kitten fur and growing in his adult coat. (This particular bit of research was so that I could prepare myself with lint rollers and extra brushing and stuff.) I found sources ranging from starting at 5 months to 7 months, with all agreeing that the adult coat should be in by 1 year. I'm just super curious because I read that when kittens shed their kitten coats and get adult coats, it's supposed to be noticeable--like puffs of kitten fur coming out as the adult coat comes in. He doesn't shed very much at all (when I brush him, hardly anything comes off). He was initially a skinny little guy at 2 months and then, around the 5-month mark, started noticeably growing what my husband and I refer to as his "mutton chops." They've just been growing and growing since then--this past weekend he was reclining on my lap and his little face just looked like it was poking out of a fur-lined parka hood. His fur, especially his muttonchops, is still as cloudy soft as it was at 2 months, and I honestly wouldn't mind if he stayed like that as an adult, but should I be concerned that he is still so puffy and hasn't seemed to start shedding his kitten fur yet? In the community's wise collective opinions, is he going to get his adult coat one of these days, and when do you think that will happen? Has anyone had a "late bloomer" kitten fur shedder, or is the shedding actually not as noticeable as the sites I've read make it out to be? Or is he maybe doomed to suffocation in muttonchoppery (a semi-serious thought that's crossed my mind from time to time, as we live in a tropical climate!)? The Humane Society listed him as a "domestic mediumhair," "size: Small" (it was true at the time), and that's all we know about him, other than his age.
Pics, of course (apologies for all of the sideways photos; I don't know how to fix that and I swear they are oriented correctly in my photo gallery):
Here he is around 2 months old. No chops in sight, just a cute little puff of pom-pom behind each ear which I told him I hoped he would keep as he grew up. And did he...
Coming up on 4 months, still pretty clean- shaven (and getting gangly). In hindsight, can kind of start to see his pom-poms are starting to stick out under his ears, but nothing too extreme.
5 months here, you can see that white rim starting in around his face. This is when we started calling his pom-poms "muttonchops" instead.
7 months! I didn't think he could get muttonchoppier, until...
...this past weekend. 8 months. He is disappearing into his face fur!
Bonus photo, also from this past weekend. He used to fit so nicely into my lap, and now he overflows!
Thanks for your thoughts!
Pics, of course (apologies for all of the sideways photos; I don't know how to fix that and I swear they are oriented correctly in my photo gallery):
Here he is around 2 months old. No chops in sight, just a cute little puff of pom-pom behind each ear which I told him I hoped he would keep as he grew up. And did he...
Coming up on 4 months, still pretty clean- shaven (and getting gangly). In hindsight, can kind of start to see his pom-poms are starting to stick out under his ears, but nothing too extreme.
5 months here, you can see that white rim starting in around his face. This is when we started calling his pom-poms "muttonchops" instead.
7 months! I didn't think he could get muttonchoppier, until...
...this past weekend. 8 months. He is disappearing into his face fur!
Bonus photo, also from this past weekend. He used to fit so nicely into my lap, and now he overflows!
Thanks for your thoughts!