I may get told off here but just curious :)

natandtom

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My queen is an out door cat , she was due to be spayed but upon going to the vets we found out she was pregnant and we didn't have the heart to abort the pregnancy through spaying. We are thinking of keeping 1 of the kittens and re homing two ( it will be a complete check I E tenancy agreement to state they are allowed a cat, house viewing, and a contract signed to state if for any reason they cannot give the furbaby a fever home they are to be returned to me) so I hope I won't be told off here.
Basically our girl is a black and white cat with a brown tinge to her fur, the kittens are two Tabby and one pure black (pics included) and we were curious as to wether it is common to have 2 tabbys and a pure black or wether they may be different fathers ? The litter ruby came from were all black and white and she doesn't venture far from the front garden and there aren't any tabby cats in the direct vicinity. We are a pretty tight knit community so we were naturally shocked to see 2 stunning twin tabbys within the litter
 
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ritz

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I would think it's fairly common. In Ritz' litter (abandoned in November, rescued in December after surviving a 20" snow storm ....) two cats were black and white, short hair; and two cats greyish tabby, long hair.
TCS had an expert in genetics answering a lot of questions in this thread, which you might find interesting.

PS: you probably already know (the hard way....) that cats can get pregnant almost immediately after delivering kittens. And 'kittens' can become mothers themselves as early as four months.
 

GemsGem

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They could be by the same father. :nod:

Boy kittens take their color genes from their mothers only.
Girl kittens take a gene from each parent.

You have a solid black and two brown tabbies.

Here's the interesting thing brown tabbies are actually genetically black tabbies. We just call them brown tabbies. - confusing yeah !
A brown tabby is basically a black cat with tabby pattern.

The tabby pattern is dominant over solid ( no pattern ) Dominant genes cannot skip generations. They must show themselves in one of the parents for the offspring to show them.
The mother doesn't have a tabby pattern - So this means that the father must have been a tabby - most likely a brown tabby ;)
 
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natandtom

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Fab :)
Thankyou , we are getting both mummy and babies spayed before re homing them including the one we will be keeping.
So if I'm understanding the tabbys are actually the black gene but with the brown added ? I always thought of it the other way around :) the only tabby we have in rubys vicinity is a ginger possible tabby but apparently he was spayed but ruby and this cat fight like we'll cat and dog, next door have 6 cats including a gorgeous brown and green eyed oriental but again they are all apparently spayed ♡ so it's all a bit confusing lol
 

kittycatkate

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My one cat came from a mother who  had a typical brown tabby coat. The kittens she had were mostly white + tabby blotches ( I call them Calibies - calico and tabby mix), then all black ones. 2 boys were black, two girls were the calaby coat, and mine is the same as the girls but is a boy. Unless the breed calls for it, most litters have at least one black or mostly black cat. If you look in a bright light, you will see the tabby stripes. 
 

biancavd

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It's definitely possible. The tabby, commonly known as agouti, is a dominant gene. Non-agouti (solid) is a a recessive gene. If, as you said, the father was a tabby like the mother, they both carry the non-agouti gene but don't show it as it's a recessive gene overthrown by the dominant tabby gene. That's how you get both tabby and non-tabby kittens (75% tabby, 25% non-tabby). I can go deeper into this if you wish, but the answer to your question is yes. (I am a breeder, thus I have some knowledge about genes, colors and patterns)

Congratulations with your kittens, I hope they are all doing good and are healthy. Enjoy it!
 
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