Can black cats have orange and grey kittens?

Hello!

The kitties in my profile are orphans and I'm wondering about their breed.
The feral cats in my area are all black or black with brown. Can the babies I have be related to them? I haven't seen any that even remotely look like them.

Thanks!

(I ask because the people in my neighborhood are terrible about fixing their pets. I see this white, long haired cat outside all the time and she is CRAZY in heat)

Its likely that the mom of these kittens is either a calico or a tortie. If you've never seen any calicos (white with black/red patches) then mom is a tortie - same thing but without the white.

Blue is the dilute version of black, and both parents have to show it or carry it. Depending on if the red is a male or female:

Tortie/Calico mom X Black/Blue dad - Red males, Black/Blue males, Black/Blue females, or Tortie females.

Tortie mom X Red dad - Red or Black/Blue males, Red/Tortie females

Originally Posted by xourtney

I'm wondering about their breed.

Click to expand...

I think you might be confusing breed with colour They are just domestics, of either short, medium or long hair.

Thanks for all the help. I know very, very little about cats.

White in cats is like paint, it masks whatever color is underneath it. So while that white cat in your area looks just white, she could really be any color under the sun.

Orange is also tricky. As said in the posts above, one of the parents has to have some orange to produce orange kittens. However, there have been cases where a black cat might be a tortie or a brown tabby a brown patched tabby. The red part is just too small to see, and all it takes is one red hair to make them a tortie or a patched tabby.

So in short, the answer to your question is "yes." Apparently black cats CAN still produce red kittens even though they don't have much visible red.

There was a case of a "black" rex female that was shown to Grand Championship as a black cat. When she was bred to another black male, she produced a TORTIE!

They were shocked, but knew that their black female had to be a tortie; so after looking the cat over again and again from ears to tip of tail/toe, they finally discovered a very tiny spot of red on on foot. No one ever noticed it, owner, judges....etc.

The cat had to be re-registered as a tortie in order for the pedigree to be correct. Unfortunately she had to give up the title too (Grand) and really could not compete as a tortie against other torties...but at least she produced quality kittens