Colors of kittens

Could someone with experience tell me...do kittens change color as they get older? I know that cats don't develop points until they're several months old. I was wondering if that is the case for cats with other coloring. For example, I have a tortie cat who just yesterday had 7 babies. 5 of them are plain black (one has 2 tiny white spots, one on his belly and one on his chest). The other 2 are orange tabby. Might the 3 black girls develop tortie markings? It's so interesting to me that I have 5 nearly identical kittens in this litter! I'm hoping they start to look different; I can't tell any of them apart!

Here's Momma (Alice)



Here are the little ones, a few hours old





For more pictures and details on her complicated delivery, see the thread entitled "litter size:" http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=112547

I think any obvious marks,say a black 'n' white will always have the same marks.
A black cat could stay black or the fur might lighten a bit as it gets older and turn to say a dark brown shade.
If ones got obvious white spots It will probly have them forever.
It's possible you might see some lightening in patches of black as they grow,giving the kittens their tortie look.

Katie,

If you can't tell them apart use some fast drying nail polish on different nails or different paws as an identifier. You need to tell them apart so that you can wiegh them regularly to ensure constant development. AS to colour development...what can I say? Only time will tell!

It is possible. But look at those females really close. Normally torties have some red on them when born. I had one tortie rex who I thought was "black" when born. But a day later, noticed a few tiny red spots in the coat - she did become a nice tortie, but most of them have red that you notice when first born.

First of all, congrats on the LARGE litter! Looks like Alice and her babies are doing great! ETA, I read your other thread. So sorry to hear the birth was difficult for Alice and that one of the kittens didn't make it

I also have a Tortie cat who delivered 8 kittens (1-1/2 years ago)and two ended up being torties, one dilute and one like her mom. You could tell immediately. I'll post some pics to show you what I mean, in my next post.

The dilute did change drastically as she aged, but you could see the markings pretty much from the first day. I suspect your blacks will stay black, maybe with stripes and/or maybe grey. You will definitely see some other colors in there is they are torties (especially the reddish fur, which may be more like caramel in a dilute tortie) Btw, Alice is a beauty! And the babies are adorable!

ETA, My semi-long hair Tortie mama had 2 all blacks(1 short hair m/1 semi-long hair f), 2 Black/White tuxedos (short hair-m), 1 tortie(short hair-f), 1 dilute tortie(long hair-f) and 2 orange tabbies(semi-long hair-m).

Of the group, one of the blacks and both of the torties are smoked (their fur is white at the base of the hair shaft). I think smoked is the correct term, LOL.

Mama cat, before and a few weeks after delivery (you should see how fat she is now!):





This is the group, you can see the red markings on the tortie's back. You can only see the head and the butt of the dilute tortie in this picture, because two of her siblings are laying on her, LOL. But if you look closely, you can see some faint markings on her butt:



The tortie is laying with her belly exposed. The dilute tortie is sort of laying lined up in between two black cats(and on top of one of the black/white tuxedos)...you can see some red on her shoulder.:


This is both of them a few weeks later (dilute tortie- her name now is Fluffy)Sorry about the pictures, I had a horrible digital camera back then!:


The tortie (like mom) Her name now is Freckles:


Later pictures:

Freckles:


and Fluffy:


and now:
and

As you can see, the color marking do change quite a bit, but even though the pictures don't do it justice, you can definitely see some of the colors from the beginning. Or at least, some swirls of reddish fur in there. Torties, by definition, must have some combination of black, red and white. (in the dilute tortie, those colors will present in a muted form, like grey, peach and white- for example) The white can look like grey at first, but there should be some form of red in a tortie, from the beginning. And the colors tend to look pretty blended in the beginning and then much more noticeable as they mature.

I will also post some pictures of how the black ones turned out in my next post.

Jack looked all black when he was born.



This is Jack/Eeyore as he aged (please don't ask why we changed all of their names, long story, LOL)





This is what Jack looks like now:





He isn't really striped, he is smoked...meaning his fur is all black on the outer half of the hair shaft, but white underneath. So, the natural parting of his fur makes it him appear striped sometimes. When he is just walking around, he looks like a black cat.

This is Kanga, she doesn't live with us, she was adopted by a good friend. She was totally black when born, then grew and is a semi-long haired black cat now:

LOL, I went on a picture posting tangent there! Just wanted to give you some examples of color progression.

Originally Posted by KatiesCats

Could someone with experience tell me...do kittens change color as they get older? I know that cats don't develop points until they're several months old. I was wondering if that is the case for cats with other coloring. For example, I have a tortie cat who just yesterday had 7 babies. 5 of them are plain black (one has 2 tiny white spots, one on his belly and one on his chest). The other 2 are orange tabby. Might the 3 black girls develop tortie markings? It's so interesting to me that I have 5 nearly identical kittens in this litter! I'm hoping they start to look different; I can't tell any of them apart!

Here's Momma (Alice)

Here are the little ones, a few hours old

For more pictures and details on her complicated delivery, see the thread entitled "litter size:" http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=112547

Click to expand...

Here is an eight month photo history of my cat that has went from almost white to what he is now. And this is exactly what was expected. Persi

No, they won't change color. Looks like Daddy was black.

Wow, I guess Dad was black! The little black ones seem to be tabbies. I suppose time will tell as they get older. Thank you for all the pictures; they were very helpful (and besides, pictures of kittens are always cute). The babies are only 3 days old but, man, are they GIGANTIC. They're getting so big, so fast. I can't wait to be able to tell them apart and learn their personalities. So exciting

Stripes tend to show up to some extent in almost every color (other then whites). Just means that tabby is in the background (whether from parents or grandparents).