#given how the numbers worked out it's more likely that he was agouti and non-pointed

[pangur-and-grim]

Hello Greer!

I’m a long-time foster who recently came into possession of half a litter of nine kittens— at eight weeks old they’re EXTREMELY neonatal (the biggest ones are around 20 ounces) and I suspect there are multiple fathers given the wide array of colors. I was wondering if you could guess what their dads looked like! You don’t have to, of course, it’s just idle curiosity on my part.

(Kittens from three weeks ago, with their mother.)

(Kittens from yesterday when we took our half of the litter).

There are two Siamese (one seal point, one tabby point), one black, one spotted tabby, one mackerel tabby, a third grey tabby whose markings I don’t know, and three solid greys.

We think there was at least two fathers, one to explain the coloration of the black kitten and one to explain the Siamese. Is it possible there was only one? Or even three?

(As a tax, here’s the smallest and most Belephegor-like kitten. At eight weeks old, I swear she felt like less than a pound! All the smallest ones are staying with their mom and the old foster.)

hmm.....there might just be the one father?

let's start with the mother: she's shorthaired, dilute black, agouti but carries the recessive for solid-coloured (since she has solid kittens), mackerel tabby but carries the recessive for classic tabby, non-pointed but carries point.

now if there's just the one father, he could be shorthaired, black but carries dilute, agouti but carries solid (OR just pure solid), ticked tabby but carries the recessive for classic tabby, non-pointed but carries pointing. in other words, a guy that looks like this:

or this:

HOWEVER there might also be the silver/inhibitor gene at play, given the unusual look of this kitten in the back.

though that could also be a fever-coat, which would mean the kitten will eventually grow out of it and look solid-coloured.

if the kitten does have a silver undercoat and ghost striping that doesn't fade with age, then it's a smoke (which is what silver is called in sold-coloured cats), which would mean the father is a silver ticked tabby:

or a black smoke, with a ticked ghost pattern:

the litter could all be explained by one father, but that doesn't mean there aren't multiple. in any case, they're a batch of very cute and colourful kittens!