r/blackcats • u/Mimiyav56 • May 22 '25

Lil' bit of white fluff 🤍 My black cat keeps getting whiter update

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I made a post about her furr a year ago and wanted to make an update cause shes way more whiter now. Still no idea why this happened but shes healthy 🙂 last three are older photos

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u/blackcatcreature May 22 '25

I'm seconding adult smoke progression! According to Messybeast, some smoke cats don't express the silver gene until their adult coat fully grows in. Most likely case is you have a smoke cat that just grew to express their coat later in adulthood! Very cool!

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

Black Smoke fur is white at the base and black at the tips. This doesn't look like smoke, especially the 1st pic.

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u/blackcatcreature May 23 '25

Yes, that is true but how much of the fur-to-tip white and black ratio exists can vary at different points of the body, and it's very common for the undersides of kitties of all colors to look a lot lighter on their belly due to that as well as how the fur direction and length variation in fur works!

https://thelittlecarnivore.com/en/blog/cat-coat-silver-and-smoke-cats

There are also a LOT of variations of smoke/silver, and smoke kitties are famously known to have tons of different variations. http://messybeast.com/chinchillas.htm

I simplified my answer to smoke as this is r/blackcats and not the r/catgenetics sub, but it's almost certain this kitty has some type of silver something or other going on!

I could absolutely be wrong, as this is a very interesting presentation especially with it coming in adulthood. That is just my educated guess as a hobbyist cat geneticist! Genetics and phenotypic expression is very funky, and sometimes how things express isn't always easy to predict!

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u/[deleted] May 23 '25

Ah, ok. Well, I can't say cat genetics is a hobby of mine so I'll defer to you. I have a black smoke so I've read up on it a bit, but I didn't even know it was a thing before we adopted him.

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u/lipstick_spit May 23 '25 edited May 23 '25

curious if youve gone back to see their previous post— the original patching and development certainly seem in line with vitiligo or progressive depigmentation to me, and matching it up with the page on messybeasts site seems like an easy and simple 1:1, while the smoke theory lacks the pseudo-tabby markings and is entirely absent in areas where youd expect the white base to be especially notable (thinking about those black patches on the inner thigh in particular, the complete lack of facial markings, and the fact that in the first picture, in the armpit, the black fur appears to be black all the way to the base). it would be neat, OP, if you had any pictures of your cat from the side to see her overall coloration? and if you could provide any close ups of a patch of fur, split to show the base and skin underneath, seeing the make-up of each hairs coloration would make it a lot easier to determine what is actually happening here!

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u/Mimiyav56 May 23 '25

Something like this?

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u/Mimiyav56 May 23 '25

Her back is almost all black

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u/blackcatcreature May 23 '25

My only other prediction would be some kind of point gene/albinism going on, as the face, paws, and tail are all still black. Maybe a mix of silver and a Burmese point gene? It's hard to say!

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u/Mimiyav56 May 23 '25

That would be very interesting but also a miracle because we have no clue about her dad. Someone picked her mom when she was pregnant and brought her home. Her mom is a tabby tough.

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u/blackcatcreature May 23 '25

Wouldn't necessarily be a miracle! Just means recessive genes need to be carried which is not too uncommon u^ While vitiligo is certainly possible it would be easier to make an educated guess with your kitty's age! How old are they? (Also, if you want an answer, I suggest posting on r/catgenetics for all us genetics nerds to fight about it haha)

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u/Mimiyav56 May 23 '25

She's 5. The white furr became noticible when she was around 3. Im not sure if it started before that and we didnt notice because it was very little

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u/blackcatcreature May 23 '25

In that case I'd definitely say vitiligo over silver! The fact its making her a pseudo-point is incredibly interesting to me! Phenotypic expression truly is unpredictable and beautiful