About black cats, witches, and pics of `Ebby not so black`!!

I am putting quotes for this first bit as I am copy-typing it from a book. :)

Quote:

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A cat that is completely black is comparatively rare. Most black cats (apart from pedigree Black Shorthairs) have a small patch of white somewhere on their body, usually under the chin or on the face. The reason for this has to do with medieval superstition. We all know that cats were persecuted during the Middle Ages because they were associated with Devil worship and witchcraft.
Black cats in particular were singled out for the worst treatment, but those with a touch of white on their black coats were more likely to be given the benefit of the doubt. A white patch was thought to be a sign of innocence and was referred to as an `angel`s mark`. As a result of this grisly selection process, totally black cats became exceptionally rare, while those that were black with a touch of white survived.

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Now on to Ebby`s coat colour. As anyone who has seen her picture knows, she is a black cat, and yes, she does have the `angel`s mark` too, in fact two of them plus two easily missed tiny white dots on her right side. But now the sun has begun to shine I have noticed she is not ebony black as I thought, more mahogany black. I hope you will be able to see what I mean in these pictures. :)

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...a/fc33b4b2.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...c/fc33b4af.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...8/fc33b4ae.jpg http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...4/fc3df9b0.jpg

Christine

Boo is transfixed!! Your little girl is a real beauty.

Ebby is beautiful.

My George also has those redbrown effect when he sits in the sun. Pretty isn't it.

I read somewhere that this is a reaction between the cats salvia when cleaning the fur and the black hair causes this temporary colour change. (I have no idea if this is true or not)

Wow! Ebby is a BEE-U-TEE-FULL Cat! I love the color! She looks a little mahogany to me, too. Beautiful cat!

Yup, my lucky is black & white, until he sits in the sun. The black turns a really pretty dark red/brown.

lovely !!!

She's gorgeous. :D My RB Pepper also had a reddish brown tint to his coat. Since he loved to lay in the sun, I always thought it was due to the sun bleaching out his black fur. :)

she is sooo pretty!

Amadeus is like this, too. From what I've read (and I'm no expert) is that he's actually a black tabby. Basically black on black and you can only see it when he's laying in the sun. As he's gotten older he's faded a little bit and you can see it easier now. Elvira started out as a black kitty with just 4 or 5 white hairs on her chest, but now she's turing into a tabby! She's got grey tabby strips coming in on her sides and she's a year old! I've never seen anything like it......

http://users.pandora.be/bernardgabri...0op%20poef.jpg

My Sydney (RB) was like that too! He also had a few white hairs, scattered over his furr!

Ebby you are a beauty with your shiny fur -but you have known that before, isn't it:) :)

My Ali cat is completely black with the exception of a few "gray" hairs she's gotten as she's aged.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...e/fc5ca6eb.jpg

If I only were a tom!!!!

Our Naomi had just TWO white hairs under her chin :)

Ebby is such a beautiful kitty! Ozzie has a reddishbrown tint to him also when he is sitting or laying in the sun. He also has a alittle white hair on his body.

Guinness gets that Mahogany color when he lays in the sun too, kinda looks like mink fur. He has no white spots, but does have a scatterned white hair, here and there...he is my little angel :)

Robyn

As a kid I had a black cat named Paddy (RB) that was black. In the direct sun you could see the mahogany you talk about, but in tabby-like stripes. His mom was siamese and his dad was orange with stripes, so maybe that had something to do with it. In any other light, however, and he looked black.

Thanks for all your responses to this thread. I am glad to see/read that Ebb`s reddish colour is common to so many Pet Talk black kitties, I really like the colour! And thanks for compliments about Ebbs too...maybe the red tinge is caused by her blushing so much after my telling her all the nice things you all say when you see her pictures!:D :D

Chris

Diva is nearly completely black, with white hairs scattered in her armpits.:p

CB the kitten is completely black as far as I can tell.