Expert: W - 11/1/2008

Question
QUESTION: What would be the likely parents of a longhaired cat? Can a shorthaired father produce a longhaired daughter?

ANSWER: Hi Louis
This is all to do with genetics. Long hair is a recessive gene and as long as both parents have a recessive gene present it is possible for them to produce a long hair kitten.
Let me explain with Letters
In genetics each cat has two pairs of chromosomes , one it gets from its mother, on it gets from its father. So assume the chromosome responsible for long hair is B2r and the chromosome for short hair is B2D then we could have
Mother      Father
B2Dm B2rm     B2Df B2rf

Each egg from the mother could contain B2Dm or B2rm
Each sperm from the father could contain B2Df or B2rf

So the offspring could be  
B2Dm B2Df, short haired cat no recessive gene
B2Dm B2rf, short haired cat carrying long haired recessive gene
B2rm B2Df, short haired cat carrying long haired recessive gene
B2rm B2rf long haired cat

I hope this makes sense
ray


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Is it possible that a longhaired tortie can have a shorthaired tortie sister?

Answer
Hi Louis
As I said in my previous response it is possible for the litter to have a mixture of long haired and short haired kittens as long as both parents carried the long haired gene.
The poly genes( that is the multiple genes) responsible for the tortie colour may have some connection to the length of hair but that is remote. So the plain answer is yes, you could have a mixture of long and short haired torties in the litter.

Hope this helps

Ray