What kind of cat is our new kitten?

Hello. This is our new kitten. She was one of a litter from a grey short hair tabby stray. Her litter mates were predominantly ginger tabby short hairs, one blue grey short hair, a fluffy brown tabby....and her! Just trying to work out what the options are for her breed. She is 3.5 months old, and already 5.5 pounds. How did this fluffy monster come from a petite short hair stray tabby??

There are several possibilities, the father of the kittens may be long-haired, but your kitten was the only one who received that gene. Or her father may not be the father of the others - it is possible for one litter to have more than one father if the mother mated several times. Do you know if your kitten was born larger or smaller than the others? If so, that reinforces the hypothesis that she comes from a different mating up to several days apart from the others. Whatever the reason, she is going to be gorgeous cat.

As said, several possibilites.  How many were they kittens in total?  two? gingers shorthair, a blue shorthair, and two longhair tabbies?

So, momma must be a bearer of the long hair gene.  "you must be two to dance tango" here.

The father could be a shorthaired carrier as momma, or a longhair.  Both are easily possible here, statistically speaking.

The father was a ginger.   So daddy was a red tabby, short or longhar....

OR therew were two of them - which isnt that common as theory says, but does happens.    Sometimes proved by an impossible genetical combination incoherent with one father,

Thanks guys. Here is a picture of the mother and the whole litter. I guess it's just a genetic throwback

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Further to that my friend took one of the ginger tabbies....a male. He is so small compared to our girl. The vet thought we had the age wrong from her size until she saw her teeth were all appropriate for that age. Just very interesting how 2 litter mates are so very different.

I have nothing knowledgeable to add to your question but just let out the biggest Aweeeeee.. They are so sweet! Just precious.. i wanna climb in there with them! 

My first question would be was she around more than 1 tom. If not then its something in either her or the Tom genetic background. Some of my regular shorthand long tails throw bobtail multi toed kittens. And I usually have one large kitten and a runt but most time it's a male kitten but not always. Doesn't matter lol kittens are the

The mother HAS to be a torbie/tortie (or calico or red, which she obviously isn't!) to have red kittens. . .and, yes, looking at her picture I believe I see some red bits on her. Since at least one female is dark, not a torbie, that means the father cat was dark, probably a tabby too. Possibly dilute, a solid blue or a blue tabby, but that may have come from past generations because I think half the kittens will be dilute if one parent is. So your girl inherited the dark gene from both parents, dilute from somewhere, and it looks like the other female is a torbie so she got the red from mama and dark from the daddy cat. The reds are probably all boys---if any are female that means they had a different father from the non-red girls. No way to tell what father the boys had; boys get their color from mama only.

Long hair is recessive so it could have come from many generations back. The father may have been especially large, or it could have shown up from past generations, no way to know. She's a lovely girl!

Willowy said:

The mother HAS to be a torbie/tortie (or calico or red, which she obviously isn't!) to have red kittens. . .and, yes, looking at her picture I believe I see some red bits on her. Since at least one female is dark, not a torbie, that means the father cat was dark, probably a tabby too. Possibly dilute, a solid blue or a blue tabby, but that may have come from past generations because I think half the kittens will be dilute if one parent is. So your girl inherited the dark gene from both parents, dilute from somewhere, and it looks like the other female is a torbie so she got the red from mama and dark from the daddy cat. The reds are probably all boys---if any are female that means they had a different father from the non-red girls. No way to tell what father the boys had; boys get their color from mama only.

Long hair is recessive so it could have come from many generations back. The father may have been especially large, or it could have shown up from past generations, no way to know. She's a lovely girl!

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That is very helpful. So if boy cats get their colour from their mother, here is another piece of the puzzle. This cat is from the same mother, is male, and is 1.5 years old. Does this mean the mother is the one with the fluffy dilute blue gene?

Both parents would have to carry the longhair gene to pass it on, and I think it's the same with dilute. So, yes, she must carry both. What a gorgeous boy! In his case he got the dark gene from his mother instead of the red. She can pass either one on to her offspring.

Also, poor mama cat, having all those babies! Any way she can be spayed?

Good to know! Thank you. I did ask that same question myself. My understanding is that she won't let anyone get close enough to take her in. I do know that all of her kittens have been found safe loving homes, as did our girl. Not optimal, but certainly better then nothing.

A humane trap can be rented or bought. It's the only way to get ferals in for fixing! Having litter after litter will shorten her lifespan.

Handsome boy - he could make a Big Carrier on Shows if he had the right papers.  And yet we know beyond any doubt he is "just" a barn moggie from a shorthaired momma...  Even if the momma is a very sweet woman.

Re the coloring.  It seems I made an Oops (again).   I fell of trace, as moms carrying red often get tortie girls.   Which our girls arent.   So I instincively took for granted the boys red comes from dear daddy.   Which is false, the red color sits on the X-gene,  and dad gives them per definition the Y-gene.  The X-gene comes from momma - and thus - red on boys comes from momma.

- However, GIRLS can get red from daddy too, as they get one X-gene from daddy too.

On the family photo shown we see some red on mommas forehead, so she is red carrying, a diluted torbie?    And as @Willowy suggested, in the lottery of genes, the boys got the red colors, and the girls got the diluted black colors...  Such things happens in the life!

So a second father isnt necessary in this analysis.   There could be, but isnt necessary.