Definition of smoke?

epona

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Not at all noticeable as a youngster, but as he's matured (he's now nearly 16 months) my Radar is changing colour... very noticeable now on his tail when he swishes it that his black fur has pale roots, not so noticeable on the rest of his black patches which are in places where the fur is very short and lies close to the skin.

After hand-grooming him this morning I had a look at some of the black hairs that had come out and lo and behold they are indeed now pure white from the root to between 1/3 and 1/2 of the length of the hair.

Just wondering if someone could clarify for me the categories of smoke/tipping etc. and run through the genetics - I'd be most grateful!
 

goldenkitty45

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If you have his pedigree and neither parent is a smoke then he's not a smoke.

Cats don't carry smoke - its either there or its not. Many black smoke Cornish rex are not really smoke, its sometimes hard to really tell if its a true smoke or not.

Can you take a picture of the parted hair and we can tell if its a true smoke or not.
 
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epona

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no pedigree, we were shown his mum's pedigree just out of interest but since he's a moggie I didn't study it in depth or get a copy as it wasn't relevant, and his dad was the local scruffy old tomcat of indeterminate parentage who I didn't actually see but who is apparently 'white with a bit of black on him'


I was just curious about the definitions and genetics of it as a curiosity more than anything else, it doesn't bother me what Radar is particularly but it got me thinking. I spend too much time thinking
 

goldenkitty45

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On a shorthair cat like Radar with a very close lying coat, it can be hard to tell. I've seen some smoke orientals and they are VERY white under the coat. Like I said, the rex are another story.

Their smoke is more greyish rather then true white because its nothing but undercoat. The breeder I got my rexes from said she usually went by stripes on the back of the head/neck of kittens if they were smoke or not - if they had striping they would wind up smoke rexes. Rex breeders were crossing a lot of black and black smokes together and over time, its very hard to tell.
 
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