Litter of Kittens?

[MULTICATMOM]

THE CAT CAN GET PREG BY MULTIPLE OTHER CATS. EACH PREG DEVELOPES IT'S OWN AMNIOTIC SACK. THEREFORE THE CAT CAN BE IMPREGNATED BY AN PLAIN OLD ALLY CAT & STILL GET PREG BY A SIAMESE.
UNFORTUNATELY, I LEARNED THAT WHEN I HAD A PREG "FOSTER" SPAYED. A DIFFERENT VET TOLD ME THE DAY BEFORE SHE WASN'T PREGNANT, SHE NEARLY DIED ON ME. HOPE THIS IS USEFUL KNOWLEDGE.

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Say my parents both have brown eyes. How did I end up with blue eyes? It's the same concept with cats having kittens. Unless a cat is a specific breed that has a particular color pattern, like Bengals have spots for example, all colors can be represented in a cat's genes, some dominant and some recessive.

The best thing to do is google it like Aly suggests, but to try to summarize, and to the best of my knowledge - here goes. Cat genetics are different than human genetics. Usually with a human there is one egg and one sperm fertilizes that egg. With cats, there are many egges and more than one sperm fertilizes each egg, which is why, like Aly mentions, a litter of kittens may have more than one father. Each egg and each sperm have their own genetic make up. If a brown tabby mom and an orange tabby dad create one kitten, that kitten could be any combination of colors from brown, to orange to calico and even white or black. It all depends on what color genes the egg and sperm are carrying. I take it you have studied this in biology yet, because you'll go through all the different combinations of dominant and recessive genes and how you can get a blue eyed baby out of two parents with brown eyes.

And maybe to help you....maybe...a white woman and a white man could have a black baby. If both the white woman and man have black genes in them, it's possible their baby could be black. What appears on our surface is not all that we are carrying in our genes. Also, just on a side note, I learned in my biology class that "black" genes are dominant when combined with "white" genes, which is why, if a black woman/man and a white man/woman have a baby, it will more than likely be "black" or at least have more "black traits" than "white traits."

Also, like someone else mentioned, different colors are not different breeds. They are just different colors. For example, Tubby was all black and Cracker Jack is orange and white. They are both of the domestic short hair breed, they are just different colors.

Probably confused you more here.......

[SammyCat]

Thank you sooo much that really cleared it up!!!!

[rosethecopycat]

Just the thought of more kittens can really scare a lot of people who spend time and money on rescue efforts, just to save one at a time.

It is very daunting to think that if with my STONGEST effort, I personally, can rescue and find homes for 6-12 kittens (cats) per year, and that only amounts to one or two litters someone decides to 'let happen'.

As far as the colors/breeds go, it is hard to determine, without purebred (papered) cats what will be in a litter.

A Siamese cat may not have any Siamese looking kittens.
The genetics is very interesting, to me too.

Do enjoy your kitten, and do have her spayed too.

Welcome to PT.