cat , kittens and paternity?

Question

This is probably a daft question but my cats kitties are now 9 weeks old

She doesnt stray - just keeps close in our garden so when she came home pregnant I assumed our other cat called Kev was the father

Mama cat is grey and her kitties are 2 black fluffy, 2 creamy ginger and a tuxedo (black& white)

My other cat (poss the dad???) is black and white (mainly black with white splodges)

It amazed me the colours of the kits when they were born as they were so different....daft question but with cats fur whats the distinguising factor that makes the colours??

Mama cat has now been spayed and we are keeping all but 1 of the kits ( my parents mum are having one!) and all kits will be spayed when ready

Any suggestions how I can determine who the dad is?? I dont want to chase for kitten support or anything just wondered as the colours of the kits have stumped me

Answer 1

The color of your cats and the kittens are clues to who is -- and isn't -- Daddy.



"Mama cat is grey and her kitties are 2 black fluffy, 2 creamy ginger and a tuxedo (black& white) My other cat (poss the dad???) is black and white (mainly black with white splodges)"



Red is a sex-linked colour; its carried on the X chromosome. A red male MUST give red to ALL of his daughters, making them either red, cream (red with a dilute modifier on the color gene), or tortoiseshell.



A red, cream or tortoiseshell female MAY give red to any of her offspring, male or female.



Tortoiseshell cats are ONLY female (or males with an extra X chromosome).



So... because you have cream kittens in the litter and mom has no red or cream on her, you know that these kittens MUST be girls and their dad MUST be red or cream. Unfortunately, more than one dad may have sired these kittens, so you only know that your male is not dad to the cream girls.



Because your female does not have white on her, the kittens with white on them were sired by a male who has some white, also. When a solid cat and a bi-colour (any color with white) cat mate, approximately half of their kittens *should* have white, also... although cats don't read genetics text books. ;-)



Feline colour genetics are fun, eh?!



...Pam

Answer 2

As it is possible that Kev is not the father of ALL of the kittens, the coloration patterns on the kittens result from quite complicated cat genetics.



When the reproductive cells (sperm and egg) are created in the cat's body they split in two so when they are joined the kitten has the proper number of chromosomes. So the genes carrying the color patterns have been shuffled around to start with and they the combinations (which can include "cross-overs" from both sex cells) come together the number of possibilities for color is also increased.



That's why you can look more like an aunt, uncle or grandparent than your actual parents.



It is something that makes a litter of kittens quite fascinating as they can be so different.

Answer 3

Yes, it is true. One of my cats came from a litter that there were two different fathers. She is a short haird tortie and some of her litter mates were long haired orange and white cats. I had never heard of this until the owner of the momma cat had it checked out because of how oddly different the kittens were. She said that they could test the kittnes and basically tell if they shared the same father or not. Very weird!!!

Answer 4

Kittens in the same litter can have several fathers so there can be a real variety of colors and markings. Thanks for spaying them and your plans to neuter the rest when it is time.

Answer 5

A cat can have kittens from each tomcat that bred her during her cycle.

Answer 6

i read somewhere thats its possible for a cat to get pregnant by two different cats



.