kitten Changing COLOUR!!!

[Snugasabug]

Our little Licorice has been changing colour. When we first got her, she was a dark brown/black kitten. She then seemed to darken up to black...but recently she is turning silver! We were calling her our "silver-belly-girl" as her tummy was the first to turn gray, but now her legs and head are black and her body is gray!

We love her to pieces. What colour will she turn next?! Picture #1 - First day we got her - 8wks old. Picture #2 - 12 weeks old and very much looks like a black cat. Picture #3 was taken yesterday and she is 16 weeks old. Hard to believe it's the same cat! Will she stay silver in colour? She doesn't seem to be shedding at all. I wonder if this is thanks to her food changes from the wonderful advice in the Food Forums.

[Jim Hall]

wow thats neat i never heard or saw that

[ancientgirl]

She's adorable!

[14+kitties]

Licorice is not going to live up to his name if he keeps doing that!! How cute!

From what I have been reading cats can change colours. Sometimes it's a very subtle change. Others pretty dramatic. In Licorice's case I would say it's pretty dramatic.
I have tabby cats. One in particular was grey striped just like her sister when she was younger. It made it difficult to tell them apart. As they got older her sister developed a sharper face, always looks angry, so I found it easier to tell them apart. Now at two years old Squeak is turning red. The undercoats on all of mine have a reddish/orange tint. Squeak is the only one who's top coat is changing too.

[14+kitties]

Ah, that last picture you can really see the stripes in her. I would think she has tabby markings and her stripes are just becoming more noticable. That is completely normal.

[RolandsMom]

wow. gorgeous kitty! Her tabby marks are definately starting to show! My little guy is going through the same thing, only his marking are coming out on his tail a little. Its so cool to see them changing colors!!

[catlover2]

If you blow into her coat and you see white fur next to her skin (tho this may not be seen until she's older), she's a black smoke. They often have "ghost" tabby markings as kittens that disappear when in adult coat. Another possibility is silver mackeral tabby if the tabby markings continue to be more prominent, but she doesn't have the typical tabby markings on her face, so to me she looks more like a black smoke. Very sweet kitty!

[Snugasabug]

I will add 2 more pictures taken today. She looks silver when she is in full sunlight, but normally she looks more like these....

[ariatgirl]

I'm glad I found this posting..In July we found a stray kitten someone had dumped in front of our house out in the country and at the time he was a dark brown/black...Now he's started turning grey! His stomach is a complete grayish white and he's started to turn on his sides,back of the head, and tail. I've never seen a cat change like this! What is even weirder is the grey isn't in stripes its solid. He's a character and we love him dearly. Your cat by the way is beautiful!

[lUvMyLaB<3]

i see this is an old thread but i just wanted to add that my cat tickels when we first got her as a foster she came with her sister who was a smoke tortie. She was a almost identical to tickles but she had the light undercoat and side by side you could see the difference it was really neat, her name was scoobydoo. And i agree about the cat in the pic being a black smoke. In sunlight u may see tabby type stripes, and her undercoat will be silver and lighter than her top coat.

[Dracko]

Gingko was really light colored when I got her:



Her body is quite dark now.



I don't think it's that unusual for animals to change colors as they mature.

[catlover2]

With the "Siamese" colouring, it's not unusual, but usual, for the body coat to darken with age. The formation of pigment varies with the temperature; fur on cooler areas of the body, such as the ears and paws, is darker than the fur on warmer areas such as the belly. Siamese kittens are born nearly white, and the points darken as they get older. Siamese in cool environments tend to be darker than those in warm climates. As the cat ages, its pale body color may darken considerably due to poorer circulation.

Gingko is a lovely sweet "tortie point".

[ariatgirl]

I posted above. When we found him (in july) he was black/brown, now he's turning completely grey. Here are some pics of him.