White cats and head patches?

I have noticed something about white cats lately.

I saw a pic of Jen L's new kitties and was they had a patch of black on their heads. I also saw a pic on the cheezeburger thread and saw two white cats with the same markings, a black thatch of hair between their ears.

I have always thought that the Edster has a patch of a light yellow color in the same place on his head, It's not really noticeable unless you look at it a certain way.

Does anyone else know of or have seen a white cat with a colored patch between their ears?

I Think Thats Fairly Common Richard As It May Indicate That Thaty White Cats, Shall We Say Has Mixed Parentage And Is Showing The Colors Of Thier Dads!!!
Although Normally They Will Have Shadings On Thier Flanks As Well.:d:d:d

My Little Man Hermes has grey between his ears.

Hoodinis litter (and the litter before his) were all white with a tabby striped colored tail and the head color patch in the same color as the tail. Hoodini has tabby stripes in his tail, he just has to be in the right light for them to be visable. He was the only kitten out of both litters that didn't have a white head lol.

They are called Turkish Van markings when they just have a little color on their heads and tails.
Here is a link that gives a lot of info and some photos too.
http://www.cfa.org/breeds/profiles/a...rkish-van.html

I can't remember if Jen said what breed her mom cats were, it is possible they have some Turkish Van in them.
If you scroll down in the link I posted, it mentions other cat breeds with the similar colored markings.
Richard, you don't even need to make up a joke about Turkish Vans, the link does that for you too.:D

One of the barn cats I had adopted (and he's in an awesome barn now) was pure white with grey between his ears. Sooooo gorgeous. One blue and One green eye as well. Buddy is his name.

At the cat hospital I worked in we called those devil horns, because every patient we saw who had that little splash on the head was SCARY at the vet's. :)

I guess having a Turkish Van beats having a New York Cab?:rolleyes:


VC,

Thanks so much for that link, That answers many questions I had about the Edster.

The water thing is so right on.

Just as I opened the thread he was moving his water bowl back and forth.
Like a hockey player with a puck on his stick.....

He is a 'water baby', Another mystery solved!

Jenn
Ed does have a spot on of brown in his left eye, which are green!

CB,
He also is a real Bees turd about having people prod him. I took him for grooming twice and the guy that groomed him could not finish the job because he went psycho on him.

I was sooo embarrassed because when I put him on the counter the guy remarked that he remembered him and that he was a challenge to groom!

The truth hurts?:D:eek:;)

Our Reese has a patch of the loveliest shade of grey/blue on her head.

Coming back in after reading the link about Turkish Vans. I'm guessing there is some of that in Reese, as she also has some grey at the very end of her tail.

Interesting . . . . .

Rie found a home for a stray she called "Dottie" because it was all white with 2 very black dots between her ears. She was a cute kittie!

YUP. ALL the white babies, in both litters have color on their heads. Some more than others. Some just a few hairs. And while there is a possibility they have the Turkish Van markings, It is also "proof" that they are not deaf cats.

It was explained to me that there are 2 (possibly more) ways a cat can be white. 1) the absence of color......the cats with blue eyes and without hearing. The gene that programs the lack of pigment in the hair and eyes, also affect the hearing. and 2) the white gene spotting the cat with SO many spots of white that there is no dark color showing. These cats tend to have eye color OTHER than blue and can hear. Their hair has pigment and that pigment is white. And these are the cats who might show a bit of that other color.

I have had several other kitten with ths look. And even one of the mom cats has a very tiny spot of grey on her head.

Our rescue is named Purrl. She is an all white cat with heterochromia (odd eyes). She was born with a black smudge of fur on her head between her ears. It faded away and turned white by the time she was 5 months old. She is 100% deaf. So cats with the color smudge can be deaf. Deafness is attributed to the color eyes, not the fur color. Blue eyed white cats are 85% deaf. That is true whether they have 1 or 2 blue eyes.