short and long haired combined?

I wish I could get a picture of this, but it won't come out.

One of my kittens is mostly black short haired, but he also has a lot of gray long hairs that are sparse but evenly found all over his body. Maybe 1 in 30 of his fur is like that. I've never seen anything like it before. Is he unique? How would you describe that?

I think that is common on kittens--a kitten coat, or kitten fuzz. Since you describe him as "mostly black short haired", he will probably grow up to be a black shorthaired cat. As he grows, the kitten fuzz will diminish and he should become a sleek black cat, solid black with smooth fur.

Sometimes kittens will show a fever coat--genetically dark fur that shows up as lighter than it ordinarily would be. But as they get older, that fades as well and they get their adult fur coloring.

hmmm sounds like some kind of transition phase going on in the kitten coat, as Callista said.

Re the length if the kitten is a few months old I would say the kitten is getting the guard hairs growing in and they're coming in noticeably longer. He may be semi-longhair as an adult.

Re the color....
I too have to at least wonder about fever coat .

Or ... hmmmm..... some "reverse coat" Smoke weirdness??? Do you happen to know if either of the parents was a silver or smoke?

Or who knows? it really could be something unique.
Of course every cat is unique in their own way!

The mom is a short haired black - looks almost Bengal, she's super sleek.
The dad is a long haired black.
But, one of the kittens is a long haired silver (with curly hair! He's really cute.)

So the break down is, 3 short haired black with charcoal striping and a spot here or there of white (like mom).
I long haired silver.
I long haired black and white (two patches on his stomach and chest).
And then this super gorgeous mix.

It's possible it's a transition. But around his face and ears, there's no question, he's a long haired cat. And the longer, lighter colored hair is becoming more noticeable as he gets bigger. When he was little, we though he was gray - we thought there were 4 black, 1 silver, and 1 gray. He almost has tortoiseshell markings, but his primary color is black. It's like he gives the impression of a tortoiseshell.

He's remarkably unphotogenic, not because he's not beautiful, but it just doesn't come across. This one's blurry in the face, but it's the best I could find to show what is fur looks like.

Also, the red only comes out in photos, but to look at him he looks black. You only see the variations in color when you get right up to him.

Very interesting! .
I don't know if what i am seeing is the correct color because this looks like the lighter hairs are more of a brown than grey. but it may be the lighting in the photo or he difference in monitors or browsers. Almost looks like he could be ticked tabby. but if both parents were non-agouti black, not tabby of any kind, that's not possible except as some kind of ghost tabby thing. . So I dont know. Wish I could see some clearer pictures. now and as he grows up.

One can't have a true smoke or silver unless one of the parents is a smoke or silver. That's because it is a dominant gene ( the Inhibitor gene). It doesn't skip generations; it can't be carried hidden but passed on to a kitten, like a recessive gene can.

But some Black Smokes can look just plain black until you part their hairs and see they have white roots.

I'm not sure how you're using the term Silver about the littermate. Silver ( in the way it is used in the cat fancy) doesn't mean a cat that is all pale grey all over, or blue with very pale blue/ grey/ ilver at the very tips, such as in the Russian Blue or Korat, and also seen in some random-bred "Domestic Shorthairs".

Silvers and smokes have guard hairs that are white at the roots. and undercoat is white or nearly so There are different names depending on how far the white extends on the hairs. For example a Chinchilla / Shell is when the hairs are nearly entirely white with the color just at the tips.
In a smoke, the white does not go very far
. But they can go through a stage of development where they are in "reverse coat", where the outer coat is white and undercoat is dark. and in that stage the dark part can be even dark to the roots. Very odd!

Hey, I wonder if the kitten has been sunbathing? Black cats who sunbathe often get a sort of rusty brown tone to their coat. It's really quite pretty.

Here's the lot of them just after they were born. You can't even see which one has the white overcoat, or whatever you'd call it. But you can definitely see which one is silver.

Here's a couple more. See if they help you seeing what I'm talking about.
It's so odd - the red can only be seen in pictures.

One of my cats had those funny long white hairs up and down his back when he was little, but they fell out as his adult coat came in. They made him look like he was wearing a cheap, poorly tailored pin striped suit! View media item 168135
He also looked like he would be a long haired kitty, but only the hairs on his tail are long now.

See I would call that 1 newborn kitten Blue. but I can absolutely see why you would use the word silver to describe him. It is a very light, silvery color of blue. looks like blue with silver tipping like in a Russian Blue or Korat. ( but it's not silver in the sense of the Inhibitor Gene , that is responsible for the Silver & Smoke divisions of breeds.

ck2d said:

Here's the lot of them just after they were born. You can't even see which one has the white overcoat, or whatever you'd call it. But you can definitely see which one is silver.

DSCN0658.JPG

• ck2d
• May 13, 2013

Click to expand...

And re your mystery kitten, I am stumped too. The reddish seen more in pictures may be from sun, from saliva from grooming.

Or genetic causes can be just polygenes adding a warmer tone to the coat., Or do you see any ghost tabby striping on that kitten's body ( not just tail or legs but torso). because another idea is the kitten is genetically ticked tabby that means individual hairs are striped with paler color, but because the kitten is non-agouti , it is very subtle , so it does not show up obviously but shows up in a certain lighting and photos. In that first photo you posted in this thread , he does look pretty ticked. But that is only possible if one of the parents is ticked ( which could be impossible to see in solid black cats)

Re the long white/pale grey hairs, StealthKitty that is very interesting your kitten had that and they fell out and the kitten ended up shorthair.

Fever coat is still always a possibility when a kitten is getting some white hairs. I don't think that usually makes them longer , though!

Actually all those kittens look almost like they had whitish tips on the hairs at birth.

The curly hair you mentioned earlier is interesting too! Hmmm could there be a little Rex mutation going on in that kitten???

I know this post is 2 years old but I'm curious if your kitten still has that coat. My cat is a year old and has a similar coat. She is short hair black & white with a longer white coat. It's thicker on her stomach and hind legs. I haven't been able to find an answer on the internet and I've never seen a cat have a coat like this.

Yes, and I have a new kitten, same thing.  I don't know if no one ever talked about it before, or if a cat had any long hairs it was just considered long haired.  The shelter my son volunteers at recognizes three types now, though - short, long, and half short half long.

Thank you for your response. I've always had either short haired or long haired cats. I assumed my cat would be long haired but she still has the thick fluffy short hair under the long, white, sparse hairs. I wonder why I can't find any information on it. It's good that your sons shelter has started recognizing it as a coat in itself.

ck2d said:

Here's a couple more. See if they help you seeing what I'm talking about.

DSCN1017.JPG

• ck2d
• Jul 14, 2013

It's so odd - the red can only be seen in pictures.

Click to expand...

I have an identical kitten that I found.did you ever find out its coat?

Pic of kitten

I don't know if anyone is still watching this thread but I wondered if you ever found out what the deal was with the long white hairs? Did your cat outgrow them, so to speak? My cat, Emmett, is 10-11 years old and I only just noticed similar hairs on him in the last week or two. They are on his sides, low by his belly; on the outside of his legs; and the outside edges of his neck to just below his cheeks. I don't know what they are or where they came from. I wasn't worried until I saw something mentioned on here called "fever coat". What is that? Should I be worried? He has been sick recently so is that it? If you have any ideas let me know! Thanks!

I don't know what a fever coat is precisely but i'm gonna guess it just means the kitten/cat had a fever and it made the melanin not appear in the hairs or something like that.

I'd like to see updated pics of the baby too.