Gray Cats turn Gray?

[Jill McQuown]

Persia was probably 3 years old when she adopted me. The vet guessed, based
on looking at her teeth. So that would make her now 5-1/2.

I've noticed when she rolls over on her back, she has grey (white-ish) fur
on her belly. Her front paws also seem to be getting a tad lighter. Is my
chubby gray cat going gray?!

Jill

[m. L. Briggs]

On Sun, 24 Aug 2003 02:41:50 -0500, "Jill McQuown"
> wrote:

>Persia was probably 3 years old when she adopted me. The vet guessed, based
>on looking at her teeth. So that would make her now 5-1/2.
>
>I've noticed when she rolls over on her back, she has grey (white-ish) fur
>on her belly. Her front paws also seem to be getting a tad lighter. Is my
>chubby gray cat going gray?!
>
>Jill
>
>
Could it be attributed to the shedding season? MLB

[Hopitus2]

Your chubby gray cat is gorgeous....remember I said I believed that with her
coloring, little heart-shaped face, and eyes, she closely resembled the very
rare Korat cat? Who cares if she has a few gray hairs on her belly? She is
truly soft and cuddly looking.


"m. L. Briggs" > wrote in message
...
: On Sun, 24 Aug 2003 02:41:50 -0500, "Jill McQuown"
: > wrote:
:
: >Persia was probably 3 years old when she adopted me. The vet guessed,
based
: >on looking at her teeth. So that would make her now 5-1/2.
: >
: >I've noticed when she rolls over on her back, she has grey (white-ish)
fur
: >on her belly. Her front paws also seem to be getting a tad lighter. Is
my
: >chubby gray cat going gray?!
: >
: >Jill
: >
: >
: Could it be attributed to the shedding season? MLB

[Jill McQuown]

Hopitus2 wrote:
> Your chubby gray cat is gorgeous....remember I said I believed that
> with her coloring, little heart-shaped face, and eyes, she closely
> resembled the very rare Korat cat? Who cares if she has a few gray
> hairs on her belly? She is truly soft and cuddly looking.
>
Oh, she's definintely soft and cuddly, and truly a loving gal, too. I'm
just wondering if I'm going to wind up with a (ahem) white cat as she gets
older!


> "m. L. Briggs" > wrote in message
> ...
>> On Sun, 24 Aug 2003 02:41:50 -0500, "Jill McQuown"
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> Persia was probably 3 years old when she adopted me. The vet
>>> guessed, based on looking at her teeth. So that would make her now
>>> 5-1/2.
>>>
>>> I've noticed when she rolls over on her back, she has grey
>>> (white-ish) fur on her belly. Her front paws also seem to be
>>> getting a tad lighter. Is my chubby gray cat going gray?!
>>>
>>> Jill
>>>
>>>
>> Could it be attributed to the shedding season? MLB

[Yoj]

"MaryL" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Jill McQuown" > wrote in message
> .. .
> > Persia was probably 3 years old when she adopted me. The vet
guessed,
> based
> > on looking at her teeth. So that would make her now 5-1/2.
> >
> > I've noticed when she rolls over on her back, she has grey
(white-ish) fur
> > on her belly. Her front paws also seem to be getting a tad lighter.
Is
> my
> > chubby gray cat going gray?!
> >
> > Jill
> >
> >
> >
> It's possible. I've noticed the same thing on my sister's gray cat.
>
> MaryL

I noticed something I found even stranger. Skeeter is a black cat -
very black, except for a couple of white "designs" on her underside.
When I brushed her recently, I noticed that all the hair in the brush
was light gray. She still looks shiny black, so I guess that must be an
undercoat. Or something.

Joy

[EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)]

Yoj wrote:
>
>
> I noticed something I found even stranger. Skeeter is a black cat -
> very black, except for a couple of white "designs" on her underside.
> When I brushed her recently, I noticed that all the hair in the brush
> was light gray. She still looks shiny black, so I guess that must be an
> undercoat. Or something.

That's quite possible - I had semi-long haired black cat (black tabby,
actually - although the tabby markings were only visible in direct
sunlight). he was what the vet called a "smoke" tabby, because he had a
soft, fine white undercoat, which made the black not quite so black in
some areas.

[MaryL]

"Jill McQuown" > wrote in message
...
> Hopitus2 wrote:
> > Your chubby gray cat is gorgeous....remember I said I believed that
> > with her coloring, little heart-shaped face, and eyes, she closely
> > resembled the very rare Korat cat? Who cares if she has a few gray
> > hairs on her belly? She is truly soft and cuddly looking.
> >
> Oh, she's definintely soft and cuddly, and truly a loving gal, too. I'm
> just wondering if I'm going to wind up with a (ahem) white cat as she gets
> older!
>
>

I doubt if your cat will actually turn white. I had a beautiful gray cat
who lived to be almost 20. There was some change in coloration as he aged,
but it was slight and was most noticeable around the mouth. He most
definitely did not turn white-haired, and I have never heard of that
happening (of course, I'm not an expert, either).

MaryL

[bewtifulfreak]

Yoj wrote:

> I noticed something I found even stranger. Skeeter is a black cat -
> very black, except for a couple of white "designs" on her underside.
> When I brushed her recently, I noticed that all the hair in the brush
> was light gray. She still looks shiny black, so I guess that must be
> an undercoat. Or something.

I think so....when we brush our black rabbit, all the fur that comes out is
light gray, and when he moults (which is *always*!), he's got gray tufts
sticking out. Even with our black cats, they brush out gray. So, yeah,
must be the undercoat, cuz our cats are *very* black. So is the rabbit,
actually, but he doesn't look it as much with all those tufts sticking out;
we tried brushing him for about half hour one night to get as much as we
could out, and he was tufty again the next day! He is one *fluffy* bunny
(and he's just figured out how to use that cat door, little bugger).... :)~

Ann

--

http://www.angelfire.com/ca/bewtifulfreak

[bewtifulfreak]

Jill McQuown wrote:

> I've noticed when she rolls over on her back, she has grey
> (white-ish) fur on her belly. Her front paws also seem to be getting
> a tad lighter. Is my chubby gray cat going gray?!

I do know cats sometimes change color a bit as they age, but I think it's
usually a lot later. She might be going gray, but more likely, like someone
else mentioned, it's a seasonal or undercoat thing. :)

Ann

--

http://www.angelfire.com/ca/bewtifulfreak

[[email protected]]

bewtifulfreak > wrote:

> Jill McQuown wrote:

>> I've noticed when she rolls over on her back, she has grey
>> (white-ish) fur on her belly. Her front paws also seem to be getting
>> a tad lighter. Is my chubby gray cat going gray?!

> I do know cats sometimes change color a bit as they age, but I think it's
> usually a lot later. She might be going gray, but more likely, like
> someone else mentioned, it's a seasonal or undercoat thing. :)

My mother had a black cat who turned a rusty orange-brown when she got
older. I don't know if that's common or not. It looked like someone had
left her out in the rain. :)

Joyce

[Marina]

"bewtifulfreak" > wrote
>
> LOL....yeah, I was going to mention that, I think a lot of black cats get
> brownish as they get older, but I think some of that may be the sun, too.
> Has anyone had an older black cat who didn't go out much and still got
> rusty? I know some older dogs do get a bit gray, usually around the
muzzle,
> so I imagine cats' coat colors do sometimes change with age as well.

Well, my Frank is going brown. He is indoors about 11 months of the year,
and goes outside for one month, or like this summer, 6 weeks. His Dad also
went brown when he got older. The texture of his fur is changing, too. It
used to be smooth and shining, now it's softer and fluffier.

Nikki, on the other hand, is not going brown, but she suddenly has a lot of
white hairs along her back, which used to be completely black except for
three white hairs on the rump. She is really turning into a little grey old
lady.

--
Marina

[JBHajos]

On Tue, 26 Aug 2003 04:09:09 +0100, "bewtifulfreak"
> wrote:

>I do know cats sometimes change color a bit as they age, but I think it's
>usually a lot later. She might be going gray, but more likely, like someone
>else mentioned, it's a seasonal or undercoat thing. :)

Our Hobo, at 11, is not going gray but his apparent "undercoat" has
definitely surfaced. Originally, and for years, he was a creamy-white
kitty with pale yellow rings around his tail and some pale yellow
around his ears and forehead. All white otherwise. For the past year
and a half or so he's had several surgeries and injury treatments,
requiring shaving. Wherever he was shaved, the hair grew back a
*dark* yellow!! Other areas are also changing so that now he's about
half yellow! He's still beautiful but sometimes I sorta miss my
creamy-white fellow...

Jeanne

[bewtifulfreak]

JBHajos wrote:
> On Tue, 26 Aug 2003 04:09:09 +0100, "bewtifulfreak"
> > wrote:
>
>> I do know cats sometimes change color a bit as they age, but I think
>> it's usually a lot later. She might be going gray, but more likely,
>> like someone else mentioned, it's a seasonal or undercoat thing. :)
>
> Our Hobo, at 11, is not going gray but his apparent "undercoat" has
> definitely surfaced. Originally, and for years, he was a creamy-white
> kitty with pale yellow rings around his tail and some pale yellow
> around his ears and forehead. All white otherwise. For the past year
> and a half or so he's had several surgeries and injury treatments,
> requiring shaving. Wherever he was shaved, the hair grew back a
> *dark* yellow!! Other areas are also changing so that now he's about
> half yellow! He's still beautiful but sometimes I sorta miss my
> creamy-white fellow...

Aww, I can understand that. It's hard to say whether that is age or
undercoat, because cats don't all go gray when they get older; black go
brown, white go yellow, and so forth. So hard to say with that one. Hope
in any case that he's doing well after his surgeries....

Ann

--

http://www.angelfire.com/ca/bewtifulfreak