The Blues

Originally posted on my private blog- posted to http://indikon-tonkinese.blogspot.com/ on 06/01/11

My litter has been puzzling me no end, especially young Wendell. I've noted before that he doesn't really look like a lilac, he's too dark, in fact he looks distinctly blue. Then I thought he was lightening off and would look more lilac-y in turn. Then I thought perhaps this was caramel, then? He looks very little like his Mama anyway, who is a solid lilac, and I couldn't work out why that was. The other kittens, too, they look rather darker than I would have expected for a lilac, especially Monty and Kenneth. But they couldn't possibly be lilac could they, because of their parentage it wouldn't be possible, genetically.

But yesterday the penny dropped! Dad cat is apricot, which means he has the orange making gene masking his true colour. I've only considered this orange colour when thinking about what he could pass on to his children, but of course this isn't the case... he will also be passing on his masked colour too. Bingo! I don't know why, but this had completely passed me by... I'd only ever considered the red colouring.

So I don't have a litter of lilacs after all... I have a litter of blues! And possibly blue- based caramels. There could be lilacs and lilac caramels in the mix as well, but they all look more or less the same to me so I think they are the same colour. We'll see, I'm sure Dad cat has lilac offspring, so lilac ought to be possible but I don't think we have any.

That's OK though. I like blues... I have two of my own! And suddenly the colour of my litter makes sense.

I do feel a wally though! Ah well, I'd been rather too smug about having sexed the kittens correctly (at the vet the other day it was confirmed that we do indeed have four boys and two girls) so it's no more than I deserve really, pride goeth before a fall and all that! I'm also feeling a little daunted, I must admit, at the prospect of deciding between more possible colourways... I suspect I would have been wiser to have chosen a different stud and left both red and caramel until I'd got a little more experience! But no matter, I'll get there in the end, I'm sure :)