Expert: Marcia Owen - 4/7/2011

Question
Dear Marcia,

I have a Siberian Forest female kitten from a reputable breeder who share all her progress since the very beginning. Her mother is a golden mctabby and father is a red classic tabby with white. At the time of birth, the breeder thought she is a warm brown classic tabby with white. After three weeks, her fur light up a bit and the breeder said she might be a tortie mctabby. At 8 weeks old she thought the kitten is a golden mctabby. By the time when I pick her up (she was 12 weeks), both me and the breeder thinks she is a golden shaded. Now the kitten is approaching 16 weeks old and I think she light up even a bit more and looks like pale gold. Could you tell what her color will eventually be? Could she turn into a silver? Both her parents carry sliver.

Thank you for the help!

Answer
Dear Yingying

From what you say she will not be a silver unless one of her parent was actually a silver as the silver gene is dominant which means one parent MUST be a silver to produce a silver kitten - silver is not carried.

It is virtually impossible for me to say what colour your kitten will be but I would suggest doing a DNA test.  UC Davis in California will be able to do these tests by you ordering a test and sending them the cheek swab.  Their website is http://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/

Alternatively your other option would be the enter your cat into a show and ask the judges what they think she might be as they will have a lot of experience with Siberians.

Regards

Marcia.