Rusting

Quicksilver is now 6 months coming on 7. Last month I noticed she is starting to go ginger on her mouth area and dark brown/ginger on her front paws. My friend says that it is normal rusting, but says that she might turn ginger. I just wanted to know if my silver baby will go ginger and if so why?

Does she spend a lot of time in the sun? Sometimes sunlight can cause a cat's color to rust. Certain mineral deficiencies can also result in rusting, but if you're feeding a quality cat food, that shouldn't be an issue. It could also be that your cat's full color hasn't finished developing, since she is young.

My Wissy is a long haired black cat, and much of his fur has gone rusty. He's pretty much an indoor boy too (well 90% of the time).

Originally Posted by Chinakit

My Wissy is a long haired black cat, and much of his fur has gone rusty. He's pretty much an indoor boy too (well 90% of the time).

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I think I had read somewhere on this site that when a black cat starts turning like that, it means they aren't getting enough of some mineral or some type of nutrition.

Hopefully someone with actual knowledge will come along soon to answer this, or you might consider posting it in the "health and nutrition" section. What do you feed your kitty?

http://www.cat-world.com.au/Black.htm

Here is a good article about cats rusting and some of the nutritional or other health causes of black fur turning reddish. When I found Spot, much of his underbelly was reddish brown. After treating his thyroid condition and feeding him good quality food (I think he had been literally eating garbage before I found him as a stray), almost all of his fur grew back in black. In an older cat, definitely get the thyroid and kidney values checked out, and talk to your vet before supplementing your cat's diet.

In silvers, its known as "tarnishing" - and in pet quality, its common. No your cat will not be turning into a red tabby I think its due to the other colors in the background - maybe the brown tabbys are causing it.

I know Ox's fur will develope a reddish tint in the summer months when he spends a bit of time outside but them it goes away. He is now turning gray but that is due to his age.

I thought rusting around the mouth had something to do with the type of dish they were using? My mom's dog did that all on his chin....but for the life of me I can't remember what it was from

My kitten is silver, and around 6 months she started to get some rust color around her mane and on her belly. I think she's developing more colors as she grows older.

Thats weird, I have never heard of that

Originally Posted by furry4fury

I thought rusting around the mouth had something to do with the type of dish they were using? My mom's dog did that all on his chin....but for the life of me I can't remember what it was from

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Your mum's dog was probably drinking/eating from a plastic bowl, the plastic can hold bacteria and the breakdown in the plastic can cause noses to go grey/white, mouth and hair problem around the mouth. Solved by using a metal or ceramic bowl. -- Does anyone know whether cats have this problem too? Not a problem for our two, they've both got metal dishes, but curious?

Cats have a tendancy to get acne on their chins from the plastic bowls. I know it often shows up as black spots, but I haven't heard of it causing rusting in cats.