Such thing as a mixed litter?

emeraldlily90

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I have recently posted pictures of my cat Mickey who is 11 yrs. And that made me remember something odd about his litter. The litter consisted of 4 kitties, all male, all with black and white coloring. Mickey was the youngest in the litter and is a shorthair. The oldest was all black and a longhair. I didn't get to see the other two grown up because we gave them away, but I'm pretty sure they would have been longhair too. The kitties mother was also a shorthair. I once heard that one litter of kittens may have different fathers. Is that even possible? Or is it just that Mickey got the shorthair gene from his mother and not the others?
 

sandtigress

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Well, in the simplest sense short hair is a dominant trait - a cat will be short-haired if one or two copies of the "short-haired' gene. Since short hair is dominant, long hair is recessive - a cat has to have two copies of the "long hair" gene in order to have long hair.

So if Mickey's parents were both short-haired, but had one copy of the short-hair gene and one copy of the long-hair gene, they would look short-haired but be able to have long-haired offspring.

But yes, cats can indeed have offspring by different fathers, but I don't think that would have had to happen to get the mixed fur length in your Mickey's siblings.

I hope that helps!
 

celestialrags

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It is possible for cats to have different males breed them when in heat and have a "mixed litter" Long hair is recessive so mom probley carried the long hair gene and it is possible to have about 50/50 LH/SH.
 

goldenkitty45

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Its possible, however the long and short hair gene can be gotten from the same parents. If the mom and/or dad was carrying the longhair gene (recessive), then you can get both long and short hair from the same parents.

Shorthair is dominant so its more likely that the majority of the kittens would be shorthair and not longhair
 
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