Kitten colors

My friends outdoor cat is pregnant, she'll be having her babies in 2-3 weeks, I'm trying to help him figure out what color her kittens might be, the mom is tortoise shell, and we suspect that the dad is black, but we can't be sure because she lives outside. So what are some possible colors? And is it possible for her to have a calico baby?
Here is the mom

Oh what a pretty kitty :heart3:

Mother is a tortoiseshell ( which is black and red ) and father is a black.

Male kittens take their color genes from the mother only.

So the male kittens will be either black or red. Or If both parents carry the the dilute gene then you could also get blue or cream.

Female kittens take one color gene from each parent.

So female kittens will be either black or tortoiseshell. Or if both parents carry the dilute gene then could also get blue or dilute tortoiseshell ( blue and cream )

I don't see any white on the mother cat, so unless the father has any white on him, there will be no calico kittens.

GemsGem Thank you! And does it matter how much white? I think he has a small white patch on his chest (if the one we suspect is actually the dad)

abbygibson1212 said:

GemsGem Thank you! And does it matter how much white? I think he has a small white patch on his chest (if the one we suspect is actually the dad)

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Yes, it is possible then if he has a small amount of white. But the kittens would only have a small amount of white too.

GemsGem Okay thanks! That's pretty simple so i think we'll know what to expect now. Also it's her first litter and she's kind of a small cat, I was guessing that she'll have 3 or 4, what do you think?

abbygibson1212 said:

GemsGem Okay thanks! That's pretty simple so i think we'll know what to expect now. Also it's her first litter and she's kind of a small cat, I was guessing that she'll have 3 or 4, what do you think?

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Is the picture of her a recent one ? It's hard to tell but she doesn't look that big in that pic. If so, it doesn't look like she will have a big litter.

They do really fill out in the last couple of weeks before birth. So unless she starts looking like she swollowed a beach ball I would say probably a smallish litter. :lol3:

Did you know kittens can have different fathers?  This produces a variety of colors in one litter.

R riley1 I know, the two male cats that always hang around are both black. So we suspect one of them. But you never know!

abbygibson1212 said:

@Riley1 I know, the two male cats that always hang around are both black. So we suspect one of them. But you never know!

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Could be both!