Why is the end of her tail grey? I didn't think she could have grey with her coat color.

[TobiDaDog]

There is a big grey patch on one side of Reese's tail that I've always wondered about. It really stands out against her red and black coat - it's hard to capture in pictures but it is slate grey and only visible from the bottom side. She isn't grey anywhere else on her body that I can see, just shades of cream, black, red and orange like a typical tortoiseshell. I didn't think that a cat could have grey AND black. Am I wrong?

 

[FeebysOwner]

She is very pretty! She looks like a DLH dilute torbie (tabby/tortoiseshell) with white. The red/orange and black of a tortoiseshell, when dilute typically display some cream and gray. Each one of these cats have their own very distinct and unique markings - just like her big fluffy tail with gray! Based on that one pic, her front legs look a bit gray too!

 

[TobiDaDog]

She is very pretty! She looks like a DLH dilute torbie (tabby/tortoiseshell) with white. The red/orange and black of a tortoiseshell, when dilute typically display some cream and gray. Each one of these cats have their own very distinct and unique markings - just like her big fluffy tail with gray! Based on that one pic, her front legs look a bit gray too!

Thank you! She does have some cream on her as well. One entire hind leg is light cream colored. It's very cute! I would have never considered her to be dilute though with her deep reds, so that's interesting.

 

[thefiresidecat]

agreed she's a dilute coloring.

 

[catloverfromwayback]

She does have impressive colouring! I wouldn't have thought she was dilute either, with those deep reds, but it makes sense with that blue-grey patch on her tail. She's got it all! Lovely girl.

 

[StefanZ]

It can vary somewhat, it can.
Although I wouldnt be surprised if she had a wound there at some occasion, perhaps as a kitten. If so, its eadily happen the new hair have a different nuance than the other hairs.

 

[TobiDaDog]

It can vary somewhat, it can.
Although I wouldnt be surprised if she had a wound there at some occasion, perhaps as a kitten. If so, its eadily happen the new hair have a different nuance than the other hairs.

If nothing else, that very could be with how beat up she was when we found her. There's no telling what the poor little thing went through, but along with all the infections, she carried a slight limp on her hind leg for months. And she was cripplingly terrified of the sound of men and their voices for a very, very long time. She would run and hide if she even heard a masculine voice on the television. We'd find her hiding and shaking for ages afterwards. I'm sure she had some sort of trauma...who knows how deep her scars go.

That aside, I'm very interested to know that she would be considered a dilute torbie! Torbie I knew, but the dilution is a surprise. You learn something new every day.