Do Black Cats Have Black Skin? 2 Interesting Facts

Do black cats have black skin? Well, this isn’t a simple question to answer as there are 22 breeds of domestic cat with a solid black coat.

Do Black Cats Have Black Skin?

The likelihood is that a cat’s skin will be a lighter tone than its fur color. Black cats with a solid black coat usually have gray skin.

Melanin determines the color and there are two types, eumelanin, and phaeomelanin. Eumelanin absorbs light making a cat’s fur appear black and its skin to appear gray.

Melanin and a Cat’s Skin Color

Eumelanin and phaeomelanin play a huge role in determining the coloration and patterning of a cat’s skin and fur.

The density of these two types of melanin can vary all over a cat’s body and this is why we have cats with patterns and varying colors.

The color of the cat’s skin is closely linked to the color of its fur.

Cats with darker fur generally have darker skin and the opposite is true for cats with lighter fur.

Changes in Skin Color

A cat’s skin color can actually change and this can be related to age much like a human going gray.

It can also be related to illness or some sort of trauma so if you have any concerns about your cat and any visible changes, be sure to contact a professional.

Small black dots could be a sign of fleas so do the necessary research and or contact your vet.

My Final Thoughts

So, do black cats have black skin? Well, we have an American Shorthair called Coco and we have noticed that his skin is a very light color compared to his fur.

This is really noticeable around his mouth and above his eyes.

Have you noticed that the fur above the eyes is either thinner or goes in a different direction to the rest of the fur, exposing the skin color beneath?

From certain angles, you can really see Coco’s light skin color in the eyebrow area.

We chuckle when Coco is asleep with his head upside down as we can see the light gray skin around his mouth and his teeth and tongue are often showing lol.

When Coco has had visits to the vet he has returned with fur missing on his leg where he had been shaved.

This was another opportunity to get a glimpse of his skin under all of that black fur.

I suppose a good way to see the true color of a cat’s skin is to look at the inside of the ears.

Some black cats appear to have completely black ears and others clearly have lighter colored skin on the inside.

There are theories that a black cat is basically a tabby cat in disguise and that certain dominant genes made the cat black.

Maybe if you look closely, you may see patterns on your black cat’s skin?

That would be very interesting indeed…

You can read more about black cat genetics here.

As I mentioned earlier, health issues can affect a cat’s skin tone so I would check your cat’s skin regularly and pay attention if you see any changes.

I will definitely being doing this going forward…

I really enjoy writing these blog posts as I’m learning new things all of the time.

Simple questions like ‘do black cats have black skin?’ can open up a whole discussion on melanin, genes, health, and more…

I will continue to add new blog posts to this website on a regular basis so feel free to have a look around and see if I have answered any other questions that you may have relating to black cats.

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