Do Black Cats Always Have Black Kittens? 3 Interesting Points

‘Do black cats always have black kittens?’ is a question that to be answered correctly needs unpacking.

For a kitten to have a solid black coat, both parents have to have the black color gene present (BB), cats of all colors mate, and produce offspring.

The mother and father’s genetic makeup combined will decide the color of the kittens. Cats aren’t monogamous therefore black cats do not always give birth to black kittens.

I Have Proof!

Our American Shorthair was taken in from the streets at just a few months old. He has many siblings that are still on the streets and many of them are black cats.

Coco’s sister is one of these cats and she just recently gave birth to two kittens.

One kitten is black and the other is a very light color and so far looks like a Colorpoint Shorthair.

I managed to take a picture!

Do black cats always have black kittens? No and I have the proof…

Google Images

If you google ‘black cat kittens’ and then click on images, you can find several images of female black cats with their litters and the kittens vary in color.

You can see images of black female cats with black and white kittens, tabby cat kittens, white kittens, and so on…

The Science

According to the research that I have done, when a litter of kittens is born you can expect each kitten to have half of the chromosomes from each of its parents.

These chromosomes contain DNA molecules and a kitten receives 2 pairs of genes from each parent.

As you have probably guessed these genes determine all aspects of the kitten’s makeup.

A 50/50 share of its parent’s genetics decides everything from the cat’s eye color, fur color to even the temperament of the cat.

All of us all born with dominant and recessive genes. Dominant genes appear physically and characteristically and recessive genes will be simply carried as genetic code.

For a solid black kitten to be born, both parents have to carry the ‘B’ gene.

This B gene controls the production of eumelanin and this is the pigment that produces black fur.

It makes a lot of sense when you break it down like this…

The Odds

The Tech Museum of Innovation found that the BB, Bb, and bb combination of parents’ genes, greatly affect the chances of black kittens being born.

When cats mate, producing kittens and both parents have the dominant BB gene, all kittens will be black.

When cats mate, producing kittens and both parents have the Bb then the chances of seeing black kittens are 3/1.

When cats mate, producing kittens and one of the parents has the bb gene and one has the Bb gene, then it is 50/50 whether the kittens will be black.

Multiple Fathers?

To complicate things further, cats can give birth to a litter that has been produced with the aid of more than one father.

This is called superfecundation.

This is also common in dogs and can increase the likelihood of a cat giving birth to kittens of multiple different colors due to the complex genetic makeup of the litter.

My Thoughts

I find this subject fascinating especially as we have an all-black American Shorthair called Coco and he was born to a Siamese Cat with beautiful blue eyes.

It’s a nice thought knowing that she carries a gene that enables her to produce all-black kittens.

One of the things that I find most rewarding about writing this blog, is finding out info like this.

It’s stuff that I could never have guessed in a million years, yet once you have the knowledge, it’s so eye-opening.

I often wondered why so many of the kittens that were born to Coco’s mother were black.

Well now we have the answers and the pieces to the puzzle regarding black cats are starting to come together.

Summary – Do black cats always have black kittens?

Do black cats always have black kittens? In short, no.

For a black cat to be born, both parents must have the B genes as part of their make-up.

Black cats breed with cats that don’t have B genes or cats that have b recessive genes as well as cats that do have B genes.

As a result, there’s a lot of variables and it’s very common to see black cat have litters that are a mixture of colors.

Resources

The Nest – Odds of a Pure Black Cat in a Litter by Susan Paretts