Chocolate kitten?

I am a wildlife rehabilitator and a couple of weeks ago I was at our local shelter picking up some baby squirrels. I always take a walk thru of the kitty intake area because its right there at admissions where I often pick up critters. Like most shelters its a sad state and honestly most never make it from that room. Kittens are especially vulnerable because they nearly all end up with URI symptoms which is a sure excuse for euthanasia. Anyway...it was mostly adults that day with the exception of a single cage full of kittens. There were a couple tabbies, a black and white tux and two oddball livery chocolate colored tuxedo babies. I picked up the smallest brown boy and half serious told the admissions director to alert me should he and his litter mates come to the point of being euthanized. Well Saturday she called and let me know that while she was gone all but one single kitten had been put to sleep. Of course I went immediately and picked up the remaining baby and brought him home. He was very thin but is gaining by the day. My question tho.....has anyone ever seen such a color in the general non purebred cat population? He's a very rick chocolate color....I can see a hint of striping on the inside of his legs but otherwise it is solid. Thru dozens of kitten rescues I've personally not seen a kid this color and find it striking. My intentions were neutering and placement but I'm seriously considering making him a permacat.

Oh dear....I'm not sure what happened to my photos.....I'm doing this from my mobile so that could be the issue. I'm sorry.....hopefully you can still get the general idea.

Oh my gosh!  What an adorable baby!!!  Thank you so much for rescuing him!
 

Is the young lady in the background sticking her tongue out at you, or is she playing "Cat got your tongue" with the kitten?  That is one of Spice's favorite games with me.

The picture quality isn't quite good enough to say if he's a chocolate tabby.. What color are his pawpads (the ones that aren't pink due to white)? Could we see a pic taken without flash in day light?

*edit* Misread the post, so he's not tabby? The face looks like he has tabby markings there, but with moggies the color may not be even like with purebreds.

I will try to get some more pictures....he does have a scant stripe on his face and a couple inside his rear legs....otherwise he is solid in color.

NorthernGlow said:

The picture quality isn't quite good enough to say if he's a chocolate tabby.. What color are his pawpads (the ones that aren't pink due to white)? Could we see a pic taken without flash in day light?

*edit* Misread the post, so he's not tabby? The face looks like he has tabby markings there, but with moggies the color may not be even like with purebreds.

Click to expand...

I say tabby too and agree these photos don't show the colour very well. Could also be a fever coat lightening the black, seems to have an odd coat texture to. 

Paw pads will tell more about the colour, unless they are just pink. 

He's adorable

OK........here are a few more...these are in natural light...and no I don't make a habit of feeding cats ON the bed lol...its just the only way I could pin him down.

Oh and all of his paw pads are pink...of course all his feet are white...I do think he at least has some slight tabby markings....mostly I was just curious about the color and if this appears often in moggies? I have worked in the animal health field for 15 years and have been involved with rescue even longer and I've seen all colors but nothing Chocolaty brown other than in the purebred population. I had considered some weird fever coat but it just didn't look as "frosty" grey to me...but I guess depending on color it could look different.

Maybe the tabby stripes are just so faint that it looks solid? It is a color you don't see that often. But I guess you'll have to wait until he has his adult coat to know for sure what he's going to look grown up. He's an ultra-cute kitten, whatever color he is!

Yes Callista....its entirely possible he is tabby striped under there....I have a cat who I kept from a lot if 16 rescues last season who was at the time entirely black...he's now a very dark tabby....mostly I was just curious about the base color be it tabby or self....either way he seems a strange color. He's a very sweet boy and is gaining weight and eating well! I hate that his siblings perished...if more people could spend a day in that place they'd surely think again before allowing random breeding between their animals :/

I have never seen such a beautiful chocolate color on a moggie before... At least not in such large patterns. Please post some more pics of the little angel.

What I love are those huge ears! Just look at that--like he's wearing a couple of radar dishes! He'll grow into them, I guess. Actually, he's got rather big paws too. Maybe he'll be a big cat when he's grown.

His ears are funny. I think he might have a little bit of Vampire Bat in him. "I vont to suck ur blood"

He looks just SO amused in this picture too

Looks chocolate in the new photos, but an unsound colour. Doesn't appear tabby in the new pics.

What does "Unsound" mean? That it's not quite chocolate? Or that the kitten has had a fever coat diluting it?