# Long or short coat?



## vinya12 (Jan 29, 2008)

When can you tell if a kitten is going to be long or short coat? from what i can remember from my last reascue 12 years ago. i could tell by 5 weeks. but can you tell earlyer ?


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## we love bsh's (Mar 28, 2011)

Iv never had a longhair yet i would imagine there would be a difference between a short and long coat from the start however im not 100% on that,Sorry.


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## Treaclesmum (Sep 26, 2011)

I think it varies greatly between different kittens!! When we had a litter of kittens when I was a child, we could tell the sleek shorthairs from the longhairs at about 6 to 8 weeks, but with other kittens they can go through a fluffy phase followed by a shorter coat, and then the coat can puff out again - very hard to tell!!


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## Aurelie (Apr 10, 2012)

I am only going by my own very limited experience, but we got our first cats at 8 weeks old, they were very short haired black moggies who stayed that way until they were about four months old. The photos below of Baloo and his brother Charlie show how Baloo ended up - we did not see that coming!

(apologies for photo quality - it was 13 years ago )


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## vinya12 (Jan 29, 2008)

lol awwww there lovely. One of my own cats was very very fluffy as a kitten. then went short hair then went to semi long coat

she was a beautiful baby 

















short coat here 









now like this


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## Treaclesmum (Sep 26, 2011)

Aww that tabby kitten looks like my Tabby!! He stayed that fluffy all his life!! I'm not sure how Pixie's going to end up, because she was quite fluffy when we got her at 11 weeks but as she's grown she's gone short haired, but now as she's entering a growth spurt her fur seems to be fluffing out again... Treacle was similar (they have the same fluffy daddy!) but she actually has long hairs inside her ears, and the fur on her back and tail is really long, even though it mostly lies flat against her body... maybe another Balloo coming up...?!?


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## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

Her tail looks a bit of a give-away in the 2nd photo.


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## Babette (Jul 3, 2008)

Look at the parents. If they have short hair the kittens most likely have short hair too. The kittens have to have the longhairgen from both parents to be longhaired. 
http://www.bricksite.com/NFOkillinger?id=217150 , here you can see 3 small wideos of longhaired kittens 8dage= 8 days , 3 uger = 3 weeks, 4 uger = 4 weeks.


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## Treaclesmum (Sep 26, 2011)

If a kitten has one long hair gene and one short hair gene, they might end up looking like quite a fluffy medium hair, even though it won't be as long as a longhair! And yes, the tabby kitten does have the classic fluffy tail even in her 'shorter hair' phase! 

Pixie's mum is shorthaired but she has a really bushy tail, and her dad is long-haired all over, so who knows how she will turn out?! You can see hairs growing outwards from her tail


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## vinya12 (Jan 29, 2008)

cosmos mum is short hair but cosmo is quite fluffy. As I rescued her I dont know what the dad looked like. cosmo is only 3 weeks so it could be kitten fluff lol


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