The silver gene

missymotus

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I've heard many times at shows that silver cats always have a different coat feel than other colours.

They say silvers are always plusher, in every breed.

I know this is true for my Oci's, Demetri's coat is different to the other 2. Not a huge difference but it is indeed a bit more plush.

The only other breed I've seen it in is Brits, the silvers don't have the crisp coat of the blues. They still 'crack' but just feel different.

Anyone heard of this before?
 

goldenkitty45

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It might be. Friends of ours show silver ASH and I got to pet them - normally the ASH has a harder coat, but the silvers have a softer one.
 

kai bengals

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Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

It might be. Friends of ours show silver ASH and I got to pet them - normally the ASH has a harder coat, but the silvers have a softer one.
That's interesting and says something about how sleek and silky bengal pelts are.
The silver bengals were created using silver ASH's and some of their pelts feel rough when compared to the brown and seal bengals.

Jacks pelt always felt more coarse to me than any of my other cats.
 

kitytize

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I have never seen or felt a silver Somali in real life, so I can't comment. I have not heard anything about silver being softer either. But I will say I think silver Somalis are beautiful.
 

goldenkitty45

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Will have to see if its any difference in Jack's coat when we get him - providing he's a cinnamon-silver and not just a cinnamon
 
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missymotus

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Originally Posted by Kai Bengals

The silver bengals were created using silver ASH's
Same with Ocicats, so I assumed it was because of the ASH. No one has picked it up on my cats but they keep saying it whenever a silver tabby BSH is being judged and they say it's silver in all breeds.

It's less noticeable in my cats though than the silver and blue BSH I touched.
 

nekochan

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Hmmm, I think the only silver cat I've touched was a teenaged stray kitten I rescued once... She was not a purebred I don't think, but she looked like an Egyptian Mau with a dark silver coat (darker silver color than the purebred Maus I've seen) and black spots. She didn't seem to have any different coat texture than other cats. Now, my brown tabby, Church, has the SOFTEST fur I've ever felt on a shorthair, and plush!
 

anmccleod

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I doubt Sylvie is a purebred, because she was a stray, but her coat is so thick & full, if you rake your fingers through her fur it will stay that way for hours!
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by anmccleod

I doubt Sylvie is a purebred, because she was a stray, but her coat is so thick & full, if you rake your fingers through her fur it will stay that way for hours!
Mouse's was like that. she also was just a DSH, but she had that 'double coat' you see in Russian Blues. gorgeous girl!
 

goldenkitty45

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That's one of the "standards" in the RB's - you have to be able to run your fingers thru the coat and it stays that way. My RB's had an excellant coat. Many of the modern RB's dont' have that plushy coat like they once did
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

That's one of the "standards" in the RB's - you have to be able to run your fingers thru the coat and it stays that way. My RB's had an excellant coat. Many of the modern RB's dont' have that plushy coat like they once did
that's a shame. that was one of Mouse's most beautiful features... she was the softest cat i had ever touched!
 

epona

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Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

That's one of the "standards" in the RB's - you have to be able to run your fingers thru the coat and it stays that way. My RB's had an excellant coat. Many of the modern RB's dont' have that plushy coat like they once did
I could be wrong, but wasn't that a problem to do with outcrossing to Siamese or somesuch? I am sure I heard somewhere that it interfered with the plush coat in some lines - which makes sense as Siamese coats are ultra-short and lie flat unless they're sick. You can't leave fingertip-trails in a Siamese coat like you would with an RB and nor would you want to. I can't remember why it was done but it was ages ago now.

As far as silvers having a different coat texture, to me as a scientist it makes sense, in that pigment molecules aren't distributed in the hair shaft like they are with other cats - and those pigment molecules could make a difference in the feel of the coat. Radar my bicolour Cornish Rex x Moggy has rabbit soft white hair and rougher black patches - pigment is laid into the surface of the hair shaft, and really it makes sense that there would be differences in texture caused by pigment distribution within the shaft.
 

goldenkitty45

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To a point. But during that time if they hadn't bred to the blue point Siamese, the RB's would have been lost.

I think its cause of more extreme style of RB's (especially in CFA). I showed my boy in the 80's and its been a long time since I've seen a RB with a coat like he had. Even the judges were impressed.

If you have RB's going back to the Tsar Blu lines, they are the better ones. Some of the other lines now I just don't like. Seems the coats are being lost in the extreme types.


http://www.russianblue.org/cfa/tbzanegrey.html

http://www.russianblue.org/cfa/tbzanegrey.html

http://www.russianblue.org/cfa/tbzach.html

http://www.russianblue.org/cfa/tbfitzwilliam.html - my RB had this one in his pedigree and the next one too

http://www.russianblue.org/cfa/tbfitzwilliam.html


More modern RB's

http://www.russianblue.org/cfa/malibu.jpg

http://www.russianblue.org/cfa/malibu.jpg

http://www.russianblue.org/cfa/2007_...E_EVGENY_1.jpg


They haven't changed a lot, but I feel they've lost some of that plushiness.
 

abymummy

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Back to the point though....

Silvers do have a different kind of coat I feel. Silver ASH, silver coons all "feel" different. According to the breeders of these two breeds, it's a different kind of grooming as well! Silver coons have a more cottony coat and silver ASH's have softer coats.
 
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