Are solid black cats rare?

jezahb

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I had an interesting discussion with some of my cat loving friends lately about black cats. They have all had upwards of 30 cats in their lifetimes (from childhood until now) each and quite a few black cats. Also a number of them worked in shelters or vets...and upon seeing my cat Khaleesi we realized she has no white on her. Not even a small white belly spot like most black cats I have known have had, she has NO white. She is black, sometimes she looks dark brown instead (depending on the lighting) but still, solid. This lead to all of us realizing every single black cat any of us had known/owned/seen had some white markings. Is a solid black cat relatively rare or have we all just happened to not see the large number of them out there? I am curious now!

(sorry if this is the wrong area for this question, but I didn't know where to post it!) 
 
bluebird gal

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We have two that are solid black DSHs.   Both their noses, and pads, are black .. both even have black patterns on their pink tongues.   However, each of them do have a stray white or silver hair here and there in their fur.

Will be interested to see the response to your topic
 
 
jcat

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I think they are - most black cats seem to have at least a few white hairs on their chests or bellies. One explanation I've read - perhaps an old wives' tale - is that entirely black cats were killed during the witch hunts in Europe and the colonies because they were supposed to be associated with the devil, so they were removed from the gene pool. A white spot on an otherwise black cat was considered a mark of innocence, which is why it's sometimes called an "angel's mark" or "God's finger".
 
betsygee

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jcat said:
I think they are - most black cats seem to have at least a few white hairs on their chests or bellies. One explanation I've read - perhaps an old wives' tale - is that entirely black cats were killed during the witch hunts in Europe and the colonies because they were supposed to be associated with the devil, so they were removed from the gene pool. A white spot on an otherwise black cat was considered a mark of innocence, which is why it's sometimes called an "angel's mark" or "God's finger".
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  I never knew that bit of folklore, jcat.  Thanks for sharing it.  Interesting question, jezahb!  I have a black cat but she has the 'angel's mark' on her belly.
 
bluebird gal

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jcat said:
I think they are - most black cats seem to have at least a few white hairs on their chests or bellies. One explanation I've read - perhaps an old wives' tale - is that entirely black cats were killed during the witch hunts in Europe and the colonies because they were supposed to be associated with the devil, so they were removed from the gene pool. A white spot on an otherwise black cat was considered a mark of innocence, which is why it's sometimes called an "angel's mark" or "God's finger".
Click to expand...
Interesting.  On our boys Si has like 3 white hairs; 1 on his left forearm area, 1 right where his tail starts and 1 on his left side near his shoulder.  And on Monty he has 4 white hairs;  1 in the middle of his chest, 1 right between his ears, and 2 on his rump near the tail also.

I'm rather interested in where the individual white hairs might come from since they are not a spot nor a patch.  Just a random, single white hair.
 
GemsGem

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I think black cats do seem rarer in the domestic cat population compared to the pedigree cat population. Pedigree breeders choose what colours they put together to produce the colours they want in their kittens. Domestic cats don't normally get humans intervening and mate with any colour cat they want.

I think this is where the WHITE SPOTTING gene comes in. This white spotting gene is very dominant over other colours it can be thought of as a mask over the colour that the cat naturally carries. It can result in cats with just a white toe,to white feet, a white streak on nose, white belly, white bib and legs to white over most of body, leaving only few patches of colour, or even a completely white coat.

Because this gene is so dominant over other colours. When a cat carrying white mates with a another cat carrying white all kittens will have white marking of some kind. When a cat carrying white mates with a solid colour cat (not carrying white) Most not all but most of the kittens will have white, then they pass the white on to their kittens and them on their kittens and so on.

This spreads throughout the domestic cat population until more cats have white on them than don't have white. This is why you see more domestic cats with white markings of some kind than completely solid colours all over like black.

Hope this make sense.
 
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I have a solid black female cat that came in from the cold as a stray. She has the odd white hair here and there. I thought it was a grey hair...like her 'mother' was getting, LOL

Her nose and pads are solid black as well. I call her Venus. She's a loving, affectionate little girl.
 
chiarabab

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GemsGem said:
I think black cats do seem rarer in the domestic cat population compared to the pedigree cat population. Pedigree breeders choose what colours they put together to produce the colours they want in their kittens. Domestic cats don't normally get humans intervening and mate with any colour cat they want.

I think this is where the WHITE SPOTTING gene comes in. This white spotting gene is very dominant over other colours it can be thought of as a mask over the colour that the cat naturally carries. It can result in cats with just a white toe,to white feet, a white streak on nose, white belly, white bib and legs to white over most of body, leaving only few patches of colour, or even a completely white coat.

Because this gene is so dominant over other colours. When a cat carrying white mates with a another cat carrying white all kittens will have white marking of some kind. When a cat carrying white mates with a solid colour cat (not carrying white) Most not all but most of the kittens will have white, then they pass the white on to their kittens and them on their kittens and so on.

This spreads throughout the domestic cat population until more cats have white on them than don't have white. This is why you see more domestic cats with white markings of some kind than completely solid colours all over like black.

Hope this make sense.
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This is very interesting for me. Fletcher was born from a solid white mother and brown mackarel tabby with white father. The litter of four consisted of three white kittens and one black: that was Fletcher. For his first months of life he seemed a black smoke, but now he has some soft grey-ish fur on his chest and belly while the rest of him is a dark black with a lot of reddish highlights in the sun. The only real white on him is a pair of white whiskers. I am unsure of the genetics involved, can you explain it to me? Thanks!

The litter:
image.jpg

image.jpg


Fletcher as a baby:
image.jpg

image.jpg


Fletcher now:
image.jpg

image.jpg

 
GemsGem

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chiarabab said:
Fletcher as a baby:
image.jpg

image.jpg


Fletcher now:
image.jpg

image.jpg

Click to expand...
Okay i will try and expain

All cats carry two copies of a colour gene. They get one copy from each parent.

Fletcher is black and his mom was white. So the mom cat must carry the white spotting gene and the black gene. You can not see the black gene colour on her because the white spotting gene is completely masking the black gene but it is there you just can not see it.

Fletcher's father was a brown mackeral tabby and white. Brown basically means black, they are called black tabbies in some countries. So he carries the black gene and the white spotting gene as well.

Fletcher must have got one black gene from his mother and one black gene from his father thats why he is all black. If the other kittens are all white in the litter they either got two coppies of the white spotting gene or they could have got one black gene and one white spotting gene. But the white spotting gene is masking the black gene on them same as it is doing on mom cat.

Gorgeous looking cat by the way
 
GemsGem

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On second thoughts after reading your post again

I think fletcher actually has one copy of the black gene and one copy of white spotting gene.
But the white spotting gene is only expressing itself a tiny bit. That would explain the white whiskers, the tiny bit of grey colour on his chest and why he almost seemed like a smoke when a kitten
 
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