Do kittens' fur colors change to match their mom as they grow?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! There is no way to really know. Calico cats are always female and can have grey tabby kittens depending on her and the father's genetics. The fact she is under the deck with the kitten makes me think she is likely the mother. But you can not tell based on her color pattern if she is or not. Good luck!

That's a great question! Color genetics in cats can be somewhat complicated, but essentially, tortie cats carry two separate genes for coat color - orange and black. Color genes are carried on the X-chromosome in cats, so only females can have both orange and black coloration - females have two X chromosomes, while males have one X and one Y. This is why torties and calicos are always female :) Each of her kittens will inherit one color gene, either orange or black. Depending on the color of the father, and whether the kittens are male or female, each kitten could easily end up with a gene for just one color. For example - a boy might get the "orange" gene from mom and nothing from dad (since males have one X and Y chromosome, so only one color). A girl might get the "orange" or "black" gene from mom, but not both - so whether or not she is a tortie would depend on the gene she gets from dad. So, in simple terms, it depends on the color of the father and the sex of the kittens - but can easily happen!

Hi there and thanks for posting. The color will depend on the male and female genetics for the colors. If the golden color is dominant, then there may more golden colored offspring than white colored offspring and if the white is dominant, then there may be more white colored offspring than golden colored. It all depends on their genetic makeup for the coat colors. I hope this helps and thanks for posting on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Yes, I agree that Mango look to be a male and Mango is not a calico from the photo. Calicos are white, orange and black. mango look to be orange and white. https://www.petcoach.co/article/calico-cats-are-almost-always-female-rarely-male/ I hope this helps!

Hi, thabks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Yes it is possible that some or all could have the longer Persian hair if the mother. Though it is also just as possible that they could have short hair. I’m not sure who is in the pictures you posted, parents or kittens. I hope this helps!

Please send this kitten to me! He is adorable! He may shed out completely black or stay silver tipped. Unfortunately it is not possible to determine the breed just from color. He will of course grow a lot more, he is just a young kitten. He is probably going to be what we call a domestic medium hair or domestic long hair cat.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! They are all super cute regardless! It is too hard to tell in the kittens as they are so young. As for the mother. Unfortunately there is no way for us to distinguish between those 3 breeds from a picture. If you have pure bred papers then I would trust that or you can look in to DNA testing. I wouldn't buy a pure bred animal with out proof they are what the breeder says they are. I wish you the best!