What did my cat's parents look like?

Well, mine is a feral/stray and we never saw his mother, so I can't help but wonder, lol.

He is a large orange mackerel tabby with fluffy, medium hair and some white patches. And I do know that he had a sibling that was a black and white tuxedo kitten that did not survive.

Is it possible to have a good guess on the coat color/length/pattern of his parents based on that?

Here's a pic of him in his favorite pose.

He sure is a beauty! Looks very soft and cuddly. I wouldn't know what his parents looked like though. Also, it's entirely possible the tuxedo kitten had a different father as female cats in heat will mate with multiple toms. Our kitten is a DSH brown tabby, but apparently the father was a black longhair, so it's difficult to predict. (I don't know what the mother looked like.)

Thanks! You're right, I didn't even think about the other kitten having a different father, but it very well could be because they were all homeless kitties!

To get a red male the mother must have red in her somewhere. That means she could be a red tabby or a tortie or calico. The red gene is sex-linked and dominant. The father could have been any color, he just didn't contribute to your boy's color.

What is his name?

GoldyCat said:

To get a red male the mother must have red in her somewhere. That means she could be a red tabby or a tortie or calico. The red gene is sex-linked and dominant. The father could have been any color, he just didn't contribute to your boy's color.

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Yep, but I'm going to say that the mama cat was for sure a calico/tortie, because that's the only way she could have had both a black & white and a red. Red tabby females can only have red boys and red or calico/tortie girls. So unless the B&W was actually a tortie, there's just no way she was a red tabby. If the B&W was a girl that would mean the daddy cat was dark (because girls get their color from both parents) but if it was a boy we still don't know what daddy looked like (because boys only get their color from their mamas).

This is interesting -- my tabby had kittens 6 weeks before I adopted her. (Sadly the kittens were all adopted out before I got her, though the person in charge of re-homing the cats tried to get the runt back for me.  ) She had a blue boy, a tabby boy, and a red girl, who was the littlest. I saw pics of her kittens and wish I had copies. (Hmmm I could always call and ask I guess...) I'd just been asking about her coat in another thread and the consensus was that she was a warm brown tabby (she has a creamy red undercoat). I have much to learn!

If she had a red girl than she must be a torbie . And the daddy cat (at least the red girl's daddy) was red. Some are "secret" torbies and only have one little bit of red that is barely noticeable (even maybe just a pink toe). And she must carry the dilute gene to have a blue kitten.

Wow! Thanks willowy and goldycat! Such interesting stuff! And goldycat, his name is Sebastian.