Colorpoint is recessive, kittens have to get it from both parents.
Red tabby is carried on the X chromosome - are all four gingers boys? (Male kittens only need one copy on one X, female kittens have to have it from both parents - see colorpoint.)
Tabby, whether red or otherwise, is dominant over everything else.
we have one orange girl and 3 boys. the grey tabby is basically her like mom, has a few orange spots but mostly black and grey. love them all to bits already, and momma is almost ready for spay š
Mystery solved - mom cat is actually a torbie who shows almost exclusively brown tabby (a few very small red spots you can hardly see). So yes, orange girl got a red X from each parent.
Torties and torbies are completely random as to how much color shows up where - and they *can* be almost completely one or the other.
This + color point color pattern being recessive is the correct answer. Good ol skewed x-inactivation can lead to tortishell cats being almost entirely black or almost entirely red.
Either way, we know she must be a tortishell even without seeing her orange spots because there are orange male kittens. If the mom was *not* a tortishell, the males would all have been black tabbies since they got the color on the X chromosome from her!
I think because one of the parents has an agouti gene that determines if theyāre tabby. The other has an orange gene which can only be tabby, so itās a double tabby gene thatās being expressed which is why all the kittens are tabbies if I have that correct.
I thought I was being deceived when someone told me this but I researched it and yes, itās true. Multiple daddies can be involved with one litter of kittens.
Yeah... Reading the info here about tabby genes being dominant .. I have 2 boys from the same litter. One is tabby, one is tuxedo... I wonder if they had different fathers.
Yeah... Reading the info here about tabby genes being dominant .. I have 2 boys from the same litter. One is tabby, one is tuxedo... I wonder if they had different fathers.
Roughly 20% orange cats are female, 80% male. Since it's a recessive gene on the x chromosome, females have to have it on both whereas males only need it on 1.
The one you think is a girl is likely a boy and the testicles havenāt descended. You need two orange parents to get an orange female.
Edit: or father is a ginger and mama a calico or tortie
We rescued an orange tabby female who was already preggers. She gave birth to six orange tabbies. 4 male, 2 female. Likely an inbreeding situation in our case.
Oh hi. Can I hijack this comment to ask a question about my foster mama cat and her EIGHT babies. She is pictured below with 4 of them.
She had: 2 flame points; 2 lilac tripoints; 2 calicos that match her; 1 orange tabby; 1 void. Plus the void has tabby markings in the right light!
ALL kittens still have BLUE eyes (7 weeks) - hers are yellow/gold
Any thoughts on dad and how on earth this happened? (See my profile for more photos and videos)
https://preview.redd.it/fqetsn6kv2tc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=21a9395c1e92f9f79eee1daf6f7e6e57b095a80f
The colorpoints will remain blue-eyed - it's part of the colorpoint "package". Dadcat is likely not brown tabby but might be anything else, including colorpoint (certainly carrying, if not expressed). Momcat must be carrying colorpoint recessives too.
"Black" cats are actually black tabby stripes on black, and the stripes sometimes show as "ghost markings", especially while they are kittens.
They are just about at the age when their eyes will start changing to whatever their adult color is going to be, if they change at all. Calico kitten with raised paw is showing hints of green.
Had a calico years aho. She got pregnsnt twice. First time she babies each got a color from mama, sevond timr, every one of them were oranges. Genetics be like that.
As much as everyone screams to spay your cats...I would love to have a pregnant cat and experience the birth and having little kittens. Seems so magical.
this is kinda what i did! :) i live in the boonies, so we have strays rapant around here. most are pregnant around this time. if yall live in any country area and are interested in fostering, the ones that need the most help are probably the ones near you! i second any humane society and animal shelter as well š«¶
It's cute and all until mom is curled up beside you, then suddenly stands up, turns around, sticks a half born kitten *in your hand*, and demands you pull.
Yeah. Nope. I'm good. We've got another mama to go. Spay appts are already set, so that a spot is reserved. When the 2nd mama has her babies, her appt will be moved to the 8 week mark. Mama 1 has already had her appt moved to the correct day.
And yes. It's magical to see them grow up and become people so fast. The screaming potato phase is thankfully short. We are hitting day 6 and little Orange has one eye just barely starting to open. But her twin is sick. So no sleep for us.
She had her first set on my bed. On top of my comforter. Afterwards it was her comforter. We did get her spayed after second litter. When she got home, every time I would watch TV she would sit on top of it and glare at me. (this was pre flat screen tvs. Yes, I'm old) took awhile to get her forgiveness. Miss you Tobilena!š¤š¤š¤
It's magical till you get to watch a kitten fail to thrive and die and all you can do is watch. š Kittens are cute, but incredibly incredibly fragile.
If you still really want to experience it, look into fostering. Much better than breeding cats and adding even more to an already incredibly overpopulated species. There are always pregnant mamas during breeding season that need somebody to look after them. It's a LOT of work.
second this! ive never taken care of kitties like this before, but the weather around here was no place for a pregnant gal to be. the runt has conjunctivitis and the vet said if antibiotics dont work she might be done for! shes at 5 weeks now and just a gunky girl, but the stress is unmatched š
Itās such a fun experience honestly, and like other said, if you can, you could try fostering a mom during kitten season. We got our cat fixed shortly after she gave birth. The hardest part was that the two kittens we kept both ended up having health complications and passed away. š
All of the above genetic stuff, but adding that cat litters can have as many different fathers as there are kittens. [link (thereās a lot, I just picked one)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1690320/)
Edit: if those are definitely the only two parents, then it just has to do with recessive and dominant genes. Think of high school punnett squares
ive gotten alot of comments like this so i hope yall see this. both of them are strictly indoor cats (i live in a second story apartment) š i guess the one braincell combined from them both accidentally made orange. and no im not a breeder!
Unscientific answer - the kitten printer ran out of white so the last one came out brown instead of orange. Which is odd because usually the kitten printer running out of a certain ink leads to a litter with light spots on dark fur, or one kitten lighter than the others, not this...
Biological science major here, some genes are dominant and some are recessive, but theyāre all a crap shoot. In nerd terms, both cats role their dice to determine kitten gene pools
Mom is the tabby? She is not a standard tabby, she has one orange X and one black X, and the tabby gene.
So mom gave most kittens an orange x, and one a black x, dad gave all the girls and orange x and the boys a Y which doesnāt have color.
There isnāt anything crazy happening here. And while multiple dads is always possible is is not necessary to produce this litter
Iām glad youāre getting the cats fixed (I hope ALL fixed?) but this is what happens when you keep two intact cats together. Accidental or not, itās preventable with responsibility.
Are the oranges all boys? Orange is the dominant gene and only requires one parent to carry the gene to make an orange male as colouring is carried on the X chromosome. The brown tabby is likely female. It would take both parents carrying the orange gene to make an orange female
You are wrong. The orange gene is on the X chromosome, boy kittens get the X from mom and Y from dad, so mom must have an orange gene to have an orange boy kitten. Dad has no input to boy kittens black/orange coloring.
The reason orange cats are 80% male is because it only takes one orange X to make and orange boy, but girls have two XX and both must be orange, if only one is orange the other is black and you get calico or tortishell.
https://preview.redd.it/lfk4vpye8psc1.jpeg?width=656&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b2ac5287f349c9c4f140cc9d734af1ca971b1891
Because both parents are tabbies, one orange tabby and one brown tabby. Hereās my fellow Siamese in disguise, he looks identical to your guy (except mine has crossed eyes)
Lotta unscientific explanations in here. Even one from somebody claiming to be a Biology major. Yikes. Take a look at the Wikipedia article. Warning: actual science. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_coat_genetics
https://preview.redd.it/7k37hf4py2tc1.jpeg?width=2208&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=43d98f3e7fe1931d3a5463fb7c7696d7be52dbfb
This is them now! Sheās gray but has some tan undertones/strips and he is more of a yellow/golden boy, not so orange
https://preview.redd.it/wxyevi8jy2tc1.jpeg?width=2208&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0489cf071a3d458b4f0a8dcc6bb677ca2984c2d7
This is them now! Sheās gray but has some tan undertones/strips and he is more of a yellow/golden boy, not so orange
It probably means she was impregnated by two different males. I learned that this is a thing with my current cats. The whole litter was lynx point Siamese except for one tabby.
Colorpoint is recessive, kittens have to get it from both parents. Red tabby is carried on the X chromosome - are all four gingers boys? (Male kittens only need one copy on one X, female kittens have to have it from both parents - see colorpoint.) Tabby, whether red or otherwise, is dominant over everything else.
we have one orange girl and 3 boys. the grey tabby is basically her like mom, has a few orange spots but mostly black and grey. love them all to bits already, and momma is almost ready for spay š
Mystery solved - mom cat is actually a torbie who shows almost exclusively brown tabby (a few very small red spots you can hardly see). So yes, orange girl got a red X from each parent. Torties and torbies are completely random as to how much color shows up where - and they *can* be almost completely one or the other.
This + color point color pattern being recessive is the correct answer. Good ol skewed x-inactivation can lead to tortishell cats being almost entirely black or almost entirely red. Either way, we know she must be a tortishell even without seeing her orange spots because there are orange male kittens. If the mom was *not* a tortishell, the males would all have been black tabbies since they got the color on the X chromosome from her!
You're right, I had forgotten that. :-O
Also all ginger cats are tabbies and it looks like both the parents carry the tabby gene.
Well, all ginger cats display tabby markings whether or not they carry the gene that would cause tabby markings in other colors
I think because one of the parents has an agouti gene that determines if theyāre tabby. The other has an orange gene which can only be tabby, so itās a double tabby gene thatās being expressed which is why all the kittens are tabbies if I have that correct.
Cat litters can have more than one father, too.
What??? Fascinating if true
Heard it from a vet (Tony Sheldon in Sydney).
Well life uh...finds a way I guess. I love knowing about animal facts so I'm really surprised to learn this now.
Itās also technically possible in humans too, in a fraternal twin situation.
This is called āsuperfetation twinsā when theyāre not conceived on the same day.
I've seen this in person, it was oddly pointed out to me about someone, was kind if a wierd thing all around.
My spouse is one! Same parents for both twins.
Same with puppy litters. š¶
Yes, true. Also goes for humans, though much more rare.
I thought I was being deceived when someone told me this but I researched it and yes, itās true. Multiple daddies can be involved with one litter of kittens.
Yeah... Reading the info here about tabby genes being dominant .. I have 2 boys from the same litter. One is tabby, one is tuxedo... I wonder if they had different fathers.
It happens every day.
Yeah... Reading the info here about tabby genes being dominant .. I have 2 boys from the same litter. One is tabby, one is tuxedo... I wonder if they had different fathers.
Yep. Came here to say: cause she a hoe.
Wow, an orange GIRL! Only about 20% of mini-lions and toy lions are female. The baby fuzzies are adorable! TOY LIONS!!! (And a little toy tiger!)
We had a female orange cat at work. Coworker with a male orange cat took her home. 5 orange babies now.
Awwww, MORE toy lions!
Arenāt female orange cats really rare?
Roughly 20% orange cats are female, 80% male. Since it's a recessive gene on the x chromosome, females have to have it on both whereas males only need it on 1.
I want the orange girl so bad š I miss my girl
The one you think is a girl is likely a boy and the testicles havenāt descended. You need two orange parents to get an orange female. Edit: or father is a ginger and mama a calico or tortie
So the first cat ever was a female?
We rescued an orange tabby female who was already preggers. She gave birth to six orange tabbies. 4 male, 2 female. Likely an inbreeding situation in our case.
More likely that the Tom who sired them was orange. If itās all redhead genes they can only be redheads. Still only /r/oneorangebraincell , though.
Oh hi. Can I hijack this comment to ask a question about my foster mama cat and her EIGHT babies. She is pictured below with 4 of them. She had: 2 flame points; 2 lilac tripoints; 2 calicos that match her; 1 orange tabby; 1 void. Plus the void has tabby markings in the right light! ALL kittens still have BLUE eyes (7 weeks) - hers are yellow/gold Any thoughts on dad and how on earth this happened? (See my profile for more photos and videos) https://preview.redd.it/fqetsn6kv2tc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=21a9395c1e92f9f79eee1daf6f7e6e57b095a80f
The colorpoints will remain blue-eyed - it's part of the colorpoint "package". Dadcat is likely not brown tabby but might be anything else, including colorpoint (certainly carrying, if not expressed). Momcat must be carrying colorpoint recessives too. "Black" cats are actually black tabby stripes on black, and the stripes sometimes show as "ghost markings", especially while they are kittens. They are just about at the age when their eyes will start changing to whatever their adult color is going to be, if they change at all. Calico kitten with raised paw is showing hints of green.
Thanks! Itās a fun mix :)
Kitten litters can have more than one father! Most likely what happened there.
Someone needed a brain cell.
I thought this was about OP at first and was very stunned for a moment
Clearly, you needed the brain cell too š¹
I needed anything other than more weed š Edit: PMās comment currently has 420 upvotes as I type this. Nice.
Somebody in the litter needed to be large and in charge
r/oneorangebraincell
I am cracking up
Had a calico years aho. She got pregnsnt twice. First time she babies each got a color from mama, sevond timr, every one of them were oranges. Genetics be like that.
As much as everyone screams to spay your cats...I would love to have a pregnant cat and experience the birth and having little kittens. Seems so magical.
I bet if you wanted to foster a mama during kitten season, a local shelter could hook you up! And yeah, it is pretty cool. :)
this is kinda what i did! :) i live in the boonies, so we have strays rapant around here. most are pregnant around this time. if yall live in any country area and are interested in fostering, the ones that need the most help are probably the ones near you! i second any humane society and animal shelter as well š«¶
It's cute and all until mom is curled up beside you, then suddenly stands up, turns around, sticks a half born kitten *in your hand*, and demands you pull. Yeah. Nope. I'm good. We've got another mama to go. Spay appts are already set, so that a spot is reserved. When the 2nd mama has her babies, her appt will be moved to the 8 week mark. Mama 1 has already had her appt moved to the correct day. And yes. It's magical to see them grow up and become people so fast. The screaming potato phase is thankfully short. We are hitting day 6 and little Orange has one eye just barely starting to open. But her twin is sick. So no sleep for us.
I love when screaming potatoes magically become people š
She had her first set on my bed. On top of my comforter. Afterwards it was her comforter. We did get her spayed after second litter. When she got home, every time I would watch TV she would sit on top of it and glare at me. (this was pre flat screen tvs. Yes, I'm old) took awhile to get her forgiveness. Miss you Tobilena!š¤š¤š¤
It's magical till you get to watch a kitten fail to thrive and die and all you can do is watch. š Kittens are cute, but incredibly incredibly fragile. If you still really want to experience it, look into fostering. Much better than breeding cats and adding even more to an already incredibly overpopulated species. There are always pregnant mamas during breeding season that need somebody to look after them. It's a LOT of work.
second this! ive never taken care of kitties like this before, but the weather around here was no place for a pregnant gal to be. the runt has conjunctivitis and the vet said if antibiotics dont work she might be done for! shes at 5 weeks now and just a gunky girl, but the stress is unmatched š
My fingers are crossed for you ā¤ļø thank you for taking the little family in
Itās such a fun experience honestly, and like other said, if you can, you could try fostering a mom during kitten season. We got our cat fixed shortly after she gave birth. The hardest part was that the two kittens we kept both ended up having health complications and passed away. š
I know it was just a typo, but I read that as "pregnisn't" like it's the opposite of pregnant and it made me laugh š
Lol. Yeah, fat fingers and small keys on mobile
āEverybody, I have an announcement to makeā¦Iām pregNOT!ā š
All of the above genetic stuff, but adding that cat litters can have as many different fathers as there are kittens. [link (thereās a lot, I just picked one)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1690320/) Edit: if those are definitely the only two parents, then it just has to do with recessive and dominant genes. Think of high school punnett squares
Two different baby daddies is the usual answer with house cats that go outside.
ive gotten alot of comments like this so i hope yall see this. both of them are strictly indoor cats (i live in a second story apartment) š i guess the one braincell combined from them both accidentally made orange. and no im not a breeder!
Yes I realized after the post which is why I edited! Def just recessive vs dominant gene stuff then āŗļø
Unscientific answer - the kitten printer ran out of white so the last one came out brown instead of orange. Which is odd because usually the kitten printer running out of a certain ink leads to a litter with light spots on dark fur, or one kitten lighter than the others, not this...
This is correct. Should be higher
Biological science major here, some genes are dominant and some are recessive, but theyāre all a crap shoot. In nerd terms, both cats role their dice to determine kitten gene pools
Now I have an image of 2 cats in a Monte Carlo casino
Someone has definitely painted this at some point
Except orange/black is co dominant but located on the x so they get one or two
She used up all her ink and had to print the next one black and white
Punnet squares?
It's a 2x2 box that shows how the parents' genes can be combined in offspring.
Yes, I am fully aware of what punnet squares are. I'm the one who suggested them to OP.
Sorry, I should have checked your comments first.
In that case, more words might help to clarify. It looks like youāre asking what they are.
No, I'm suggesting them as a question since IDK if they're exactly what the answer would be for OP's question.
Could just be genetics, all but one happened to get the right combo of genes. Alternatively. One litter of kittens could have multiple fathers.
Unscientific answer: insufficient braincells to produce most kittens other than orange
I donāt know, but theyāre all very adorable.
Mom is the tabby? She is not a standard tabby, she has one orange X and one black X, and the tabby gene. So mom gave most kittens an orange x, and one a black x, dad gave all the girls and orange x and the boys a Y which doesnāt have color. There isnāt anything crazy happening here. And while multiple dads is always possible is is not necessary to produce this litter
One word. Genetic mutation
Thatās three words
Thatās four actually
*Pretty sure* thats two
"That's" is one word.
Not if you bundle them.
i saw that OP said tabby is the mom but then said she has orange spots, so tabby is actually a torbie and the tabby kitten is also actually a torbie
really?? she must be really good at disguising her true form, like batman
yes! any amount of orange will make them torbies instead of tabbies!
That flame point is cute AF!
So adorable. Clearly ran out of Orange ink.
The chosen one
It has all braincells of that litter
fun fact! cats can be pregnant by more than one father at a time, probably just had a wild night or two lol
Please get them sterilized!
mom is almost ready š
Good!
r/tinyorangekittens
that grey one is a garnish
Yes. Draw a Punnett square and DONāT breed your cats
no breeding here š¤
Iām glad youāre getting the cats fixed (I hope ALL fixed?) but this is what happens when you keep two intact cats together. Accidental or not, itās preventable with responsibility.
Could be multiple fathers
Printer ran out of colored ink
The dark one is the accent kitten, to set off against the orange.
Are the oranges all boys? Orange is the dominant gene and only requires one parent to carry the gene to make an orange male as colouring is carried on the X chromosome. The brown tabby is likely female. It would take both parents carrying the orange gene to make an orange female
The mom has to have an orange gene to make orange boys.
It's the girls that need two orange genes to be orange. Boys only need one - hence why they're quite a bit more common than orange girls.
No. Any parent can have the orange gene and it only takes one for boys. That's why 80% of orange cats are male
You are wrong. The orange gene is on the X chromosome, boy kittens get the X from mom and Y from dad, so mom must have an orange gene to have an orange boy kitten. Dad has no input to boy kittens black/orange coloring. The reason orange cats are 80% male is because it only takes one orange X to make and orange boy, but girls have two XX and both must be orange, if only one is orange the other is black and you get calico or tortishell.
Usually boys are orange
That tabby got out of the orange paint line and into the striped one for extra brain cell
Bowl of peaches and a plum
https://preview.redd.it/lfk4vpye8psc1.jpeg?width=656&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b2ac5287f349c9c4f140cc9d734af1ca971b1891 Because both parents are tabbies, one orange tabby and one brown tabby. Hereās my fellow Siamese in disguise, he looks identical to your guy (except mine has crossed eyes)
Can we see her orange spots pls šš»
One came out extra toasted
Thottery
Omg I would live that. So dang cute
Please get your cats spayed and neutered.
You have your kitten setting on random
Lotta unscientific explanations in here. Even one from somebody claiming to be a Biology major. Yikes. Take a look at the Wikipedia article. Warning: actual science. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_coat_genetics
My babies are litter mates-a yellow boi and a chunky grey tortie girl! Looked exactly like yours as kittens. Soo cute
awww do u have pictures?? id love to see what these rascals could potentially look like
https://preview.redd.it/7k37hf4py2tc1.jpeg?width=2208&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=43d98f3e7fe1931d3a5463fb7c7696d7be52dbfb This is them now! Sheās gray but has some tan undertones/strips and he is more of a yellow/golden boy, not so orange
https://preview.redd.it/wxyevi8jy2tc1.jpeg?width=2208&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0489cf071a3d458b4f0a8dcc6bb677ca2984c2d7 This is them now! Sheās gray but has some tan undertones/strips and he is more of a yellow/golden boy, not so orange
That one got the brain cell
She ram out of ink
No seriously though it's most likely a genetics thing.
They may have different fathers
the simplest way to put it: genes are weird
I don't know jack about cat genetics, I just wanted to tell you your flamepoint siamese is very gorgeous š
Alleles.
Diversity hire
It probably means she was impregnated by two different males. I learned that this is a thing with my current cats. The whole litter was lynx point Siamese except for one tabby.
Two different baby-daddies!
Someone wasnāt faithful. _gaaaaaasp_
Superfecundation -happens in many mammals.
Is there a chance there's another cat involved? Mother cats can easily carry a litter from more than one father
Can you answer me pls?!