# Colour / Breed Question for the experts!



## Leam1307 (Feb 12, 2010)

Ok a wee question for all the breed/colour experts on here.

A couple of weeks ago i picked up a grey and white 8wk kitten, he was kinda what id call Russian Blue colour of grey with white v on his face a grey jaw and then white underneath and paws. He is now just over 12 wks old and the grey has now lightened alittle (just slightly) but each week i can see marking coming through. He now has 4 lines that fan out from the top of his head and go straight down his back and hes got dark grey spots appearing on his sides that go round to the white part of his belly. His tail is stripy and his eyes have chenged from kitten blue to a stunning kind of azure blue/green (im not sure if these will continue to change as he grows. He also has a sort of double coat in that he has a smoth fluffy layer, which you see as you look at him then he has a slightly longer thiner layer which you can only see close up, its like a layer of fuzz all over him.

I dont know what breed the parents are and i never saw them as i got the wee boy from my aunts neighbour who's little girl got sick 2 days after they got him from "breeder" (use that term loosly considering he was covered in fleas and dirty) although apparently the mum was grey too but they didnt see dad as he was out.

Can you tell breeds just from coat paterns / colours etc? i dont have any pics of the spots as they dont show up on camera but heres a pic of him the other day (just an excuse to show off a lovely boy!) Just curious as ive never had a kitten before and i thought they were born with their markings.


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## catcoonz (Aug 4, 2012)

can you place a photo of the kitten showing all the kitten and not so close up please.
gorgeous kitten though.


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## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

YOu can't tell breed just from colour I'm afraid. 

This boy is a lovely blue and white (his stripes should fade out as he's not a tabby). He looks like he could have ped in him but who knows what. And yes, his eyes will continue to change.


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## Alaskacat (Aug 2, 2010)

Scrummy kitten, the markings are probably ghost tabby and will fade with time, but I breed colourpoints so not sure I am anywhere near. Blue is the dilute of black so could be from a black and white mog if they carried dilute (again I think). You can DNA test to find blood group and if he carries colourpoint if you wanted to give you a bit more info. 

He is adorable - under 8 weeks judging by the blue eyes though. Moggies are blue sometimes - he has lovely Snowshoe pattern if he was colourpoint though.

I wouldn't worry about the breed as he seems happy and healthy and is very very pretty.


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## Leam1307 (Feb 12, 2010)

Sorry, hope these are better, although looking at the pics there are stripes on his legs that are showing up with the flash that you cant see just by looking at him in normal light. Does that make him tabby in patern? are the spots disjointed stripes or something? Also would be interested if you can tell what kind of crosses he might have in him (i know hes really only a moggie by breed standards etc) I just like investigating these things.

Sorry for the positions he wasnt in a mood to stand up lol Oh the pics should be clickable, instead of the huge pics, just getting the hang of this.


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## Leam1307 (Feb 12, 2010)

Alaskacat said:


> Scrummy kitten, the markings are probably ghost tabby and will fade with time, but I breed colourpoints so not sure I am anywhere near. Blue is the dilute of black so could be from a black and white mog if they carried dilute (again I think). You can DNA test to find blood group and if he carries colourpoint if you wanted to give you a bit more info.
> 
> He is adorable - under 8 weeks judging by the blue eyes though. Moggies are blue sometimes - he has lovely Snowshoe pattern if he was colourpoint though.
> 
> I wouldn't worry about the breed as he seems happy and healthy and is very very pretty.


These were taken at the weekend there, he is now 12weeks, although the eyes appear more blue here than they do in photos ive just posted today. Im not worried about breed (hes getting done in a months time) i just like trying to find these things out. (did the same with my horses etc although thats abit easier) Edited to say, i thought ghost markings were visable at birth and then faded, his have only just started to appear... .will they go again.

Sorry for the drappy spelling hes currently sitting trying to paw at my hands lol


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## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

His tabby marking SHOULD fade out again - he isn't a tabby - tabbies also have white 'spectacles' round his eyes and white stripe to the inside of his ears - you may still be able to see this stripes / spots in certain lights but it doesn't make him tabby. Basically all cats are tabby underneath and if they have the self gene (solid) then it covers up the tabby, but sometimes it doesn't cover it up completely. If he was a tabby he would be a spotty tabby.


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## Leam1307 (Feb 12, 2010)

Thanks Spid! i didnt know that about the eyes and ears! lol im not sure if i want the markings to go or not, i quite like them, abit unusual i think.


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## catcoonz (Aug 4, 2012)

he looks a ticked tabby to me, 
does anybody else think this.
ghost markings in my experinece do disappear as they get older. i have a blue mc he looked solid until 9 weeks old then started to get his tabby marking through.
he does look tabby to me and a very beautiful boy.
im fasinated to find out what crosses he is.
im going to have to research now.


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## Leam1307 (Feb 12, 2010)

Thanks Catcoonz! hes a little devil in disguise really! am scratched to bits with him climbing up my legs. I wish i had got him from the "breeder" myself so i could have seen mum and dad but then i wouldnt have went to that type of breeder anyway. Oh i weighed him today and hes 1283g!!! Someone on here before when i first got him thought he might have some BSH in him, what do you think? But showing by lack of knowledge here i didnt think they came as tabbies, i always thought they were solids.


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## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

CC if he's tabby where's his specs and ear liner? He *has to have those* for a tabby as far as I am aware.


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## catcoonz (Aug 4, 2012)

of course spid, you know more than me, yes tabbies do have these markings but i have seen a TICKED TABBY WITHOUT the eye liner effect. 

as to the question regarding BSH, i have no experience with this breed but other members on the forum do and will post soon.


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## Leam1307 (Feb 12, 2010)

Thank you's for the replies, espec at this time of night! i think he did look alittle BSH when i first got him as he was quite chubby and slightly flat looking in the face but since he has grown he seems to have lost abit of the chubbyness and is no longer as flat.

This kitten stuff is all very confusing! im just glad i dont breed! working out colours etc would be impossible for me. :lol:


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## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

catcoonz said:


> of course spid, you know more than me, yes tabbies do have these markings but i have seen a TICKED TABBY WITHOUT the eye liner effect.
> 
> as to the question regarding BSH, i have no experience with this breed but other members on the forum do and will post soon.


Really? And they weren't just ghost markings that hadn't faded? That's interesting - would love to see a photo.


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## catcoonz (Aug 4, 2012)

its much easier when you know the pedigree line.
spid has more experience than me so what she says pretty much goes lol.
either way your kitten is gorgeous and more photos as the kitten grows would be great.


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## catcoonz (Aug 4, 2012)

spid said:


> Really? And they weren't just ghost markings that hadn't faded? That's interesting - would love to see a photo.


really but i cant prove this to you as i was fostering at the time sadly otherwise i would have loved to place a photo for you all to see.
when we homed her normally we put a description on the cp form but nobody could decide exactly what she was, even at 2 years old the markings stayed the same so in the end as we had to have a pattern written down we put ticked tabby. we waited ages for the pattern to disappear or change but it never happened.
she was the hardest to rehome, came in at 5 months old then at 2 years finally found a home.
i will ask around the foster homes to see if we can hopefully get a photo of her, i would love to show everybody.


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## spotty cats (Jul 24, 2012)

catcoonz said:


> he looks a ticked tabby to me,
> does anybody else think this.


Looks like a solid to me, with ghost markings.


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## Bottroll (Sep 27, 2012)

Leam1307 said:


> Thank you's for the replies, espec at this time of night! i think he did look alittle BSH when i first got him as he was quite chubby and slightly flat looking in the face but since he has grown he seems to have lost abit of the chubbyness and is no longer as flat.
> 
> This kitten stuff is all very confusing! im just glad i dont breed! working out colours etc would be impossible for me. :lol:


I've been breeding BSH for almost 10 years, and he doesn't look like a BSH to me. Nose, tail and legs are too long and hes far too pinched in the jowl, his eye shape and contour are all wrong for a BSH as well and his bicolour pattern is incorrect for the breed, mitting is't permitted in BSH (unless its a colourpoint & white) and that pattern isnt bred for in BSH. It can be confusing for people when they see a fat cute kitten, but in reality they they look nothing alike, you can always pick a domestic from a pedigree BSH when you've seen enough pedigree kittens  He's also not a genetic tabby, the ghosting is simply a trait of the pattern gene he carries, his spotting will fade as he grows and should be gone by the time hes 9 months old (give or take). I do think you have a very pretty little domestic, he looks sweet in your pics


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## Bottroll (Sep 27, 2012)

Few pics from Google of BSH Kittens

2 pics of BSH Tabby's 


















A solid Blue BSH









Some BSH Bi-colours so you can see the difference


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## Guest (Oct 19, 2012)

He is really cute, I love his spots! Your other tabbies are gorgeous too, but might I be cheeky and comment that they look like they could benefit from signing up to Weight Watchers


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## Leam1307 (Feb 12, 2010)

NexivRed said:


> He is really cute, I love his spots! Your other tabbies are gorgeous too, but might I be cheeky and comment that they look like they could benefit from signing up to Weight Watchers


Lol yes they could! I have a post on the health section for dieting ideas! they keep stealing Callens food as he only eats small amounts, then when he goes back its all gone!

I see the difference with the BSH, i cant find who it was that said it on here but he has kinda grown and elongated since i took the first photos, doesnt look much like he did.


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## Soupie (Sep 2, 2008)

Blue and white bi-colour with ghost spotting - he is not a ticked tabby (ticking strips out the tabby pattern) in any way shape or form.


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## havoc (Dec 8, 2008)

> Oh i weighed him today and hes 1283g!!!


For 12 weeks that's OK. I like my kittens to be a minimum of 1.3kg when they leave here at 13 weeks.


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