Do colours run in families?

[Kazz]

Based on DM's search for a ginger kit it made me think, based on Smudgleys ginger boy (in the rescue) and a friend who just got a ginger kitten - are most gingers born into tortie litters, from tortie moms?
If you have a ginger what other colours were in the litter and what colour was the mom?

[bobbie3917]

if your looking for a ginger tom its best to find a ginger mom as boys get there colour off there mum and girls get it off both of them
so a ginger tom will come from either a ginger or a tortie mum
and why girls can be tortie and boys cant

so in my litter i am due in a little less than 3 weeks i know that all the boys will be some sort of red

hope this helps

[Kazz]

Ha Ha so there is a link brilliant.

Ta :D

DM walk around the streets and look for a tortie cat then follow her home and leave your number with them;)

[Moli]

Ha Ha so there is a link brilliant.

Ta :D

DM walk around the streets and look for a tortie cat then follow her home and leave your number with them;):lol: :lol: :lol: I can just see DM following a Tortie Cat home:roll: :lol: :lol:

[CJK]

i didnt realise torties were females only. I lvoe thier markings.

[Luke]

Yes...i think gingers often are in a litter with torties, Clementines brothers were shaded gingers. I know of a fair few gingers that have had tortie sisters actually.
As for why torties can only be female, something too do with the chromosomes (sp) that give the red and black colour not being compatible so to speak with the male gene (i read that somewhere, so not sure if its true)

[Donna]

Chloe my tortie/white was a litter of four. Her three brothers were completely black.

[Fran]

Hovis, who I posted a piccie of a few weeks ago was the only ginger in the litter. The others were - 2 black and white boys, 1 grey tabby girl and 1 grey tabby boy. Mum was tortie tabby dad was black and white...

[Mags]

Cassie's brothers and sisters were black & white.......

[dinahsmum]

Ha Ha so there is a link brilliant.

Ta :D

DM walk around the streets and look for a tortie cat then follow her home and leave your number with them;)

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
..........................but maybe it's not so bad an idea!

[bobbie3917]

Chloe my tortie/white was a litter of four. Her three brothers were completely black.

so im guessing that there om was black as well :-D

[Donna]

i cant really remember, there were a few adult cats around at the time, and I was new to cats so didnt really think to look at the mother (oh how bad am I??) I dont think she was black.

Misty my black cat had a completely black mum and all her sisters and brothers were black too except one silver/grey tabby cat who was gorgeous!!!

[Kay]

so im guessing that there om was black as well :-D


Chances are that their mom was a tortie as you can get black and red males from a tortie mom. If she carries dilute and mated with a dilute or dilute carrier male you could also get blue and cream. Colour is all down to genetics. It's really interesting.

[Kay]

[Misty my black cat had a completely black mum and all her sisters and brothers were black too except one silver/grey tabby cat who was gorgeous!!![/quote]

Misty's father would have been either a brown tabby that carries dilute and her mum would also have carried dilute. This is where the silver tabby came from.

[Naomi]

My mum's older cat was a tortie and white and in her last litter she had a gorgeous ginger kitten, two were ginger and white and one black & white one

[Donna]

[Misty my black cat had a completely black mum and all her sisters and brothers were black too except one silver/grey tabby cat who was gorgeous!!!

Misty's father would have been either a brown tabby that carries dilute and her mum would also have carried dilute. This is where the silver tabby came from.[/quote]

It is all foreign to me Kay :oops: You are clever to know all this tho!:lol:

[Booktigger]

You can get tortie males, but they are very rare - there are 2 ways actually, one is an extra chromosome, hence being sterile. Can't remember the wording on the other, but it is some kind of pigment condition that humans can get. And about 75% of gingers are male - think that is more cos they are more likely to be tortie than ginger, but could be wrong. I fostered a dark tortie mum and kits the other year - there were 3 ginger males, a black male and a black female. Black is also a recessive gene. There is an article on Messybeast about what colours you will get from what parents, will look it up later.

[Fran]

I thought black was dominant Booktigger and that blue (grey) was dilute of black :?

[Booktigger]

Blue is a dilute of black, but I think the gene for black is a recessive one, so you can get black kittens popping up unexpectedly. Will check the article I was reading later.

[bobbie3917]

i only know the basic stuff im no good on dilute at all and reds can get me mixed up aswell (having a red i should really be reading up on it :lol: ) and then silver can get me going as well (Minx carries silver so more reading there LOL)

i do know that u can have a male tortie but i thought it was only the extra chromosome way i didnt know about the other way
and i also know that its rear to have a red girl.

stafford colours are so easy but i think i have my work cut out for me in cats lol

i have reds, silver and dilute to read up on (cos Minx carries silver and is blue)

[Booktigger]

Here is a good article about cat colours, and what colours are dilutes of what etc.
http://www.messybeast.com/self-solid.htm

And here is the article about the two different kinds of male torties - it is quite far down though. Am sure the other way is somthing that is seen in humans (although never figured out how)

http://www.messybeast.com/mosaicism.htm

[Fran]

Very interesting articles. I find colour genetics very intriguing if not a little complicated :shock: It's so easy in Labrador Retrievers but cat colour genetics is very complicated :?

[bobbie3917]

thanks BT and i agree with u 100% Fran