Why do cats give birth to multiple colored kittens that don't look like the parents?

Question

I always wondered how a cat can give birth to multiple kittens and they all look different. There is a stray in the neighborhood that is a grey calico, her kittens are two gray and white, orange and white and a dark calico.

Answer 1

It is possible for female cats to have kittens with different fathers, as the female cat will generally mate with several male cats.

A female may allow up to 30 matings, and studies have shown that if only one single mating is allowed only 50 percent of the queens will get pregnant. They will allow mating will various males and this can result in a variety of different fathers for the same litter. Each kitten has only one father and kittens within the same litter may all have different fathers.

Answer 2

Cats, like dogs, can have their eggs fertilized by multiple males. This means that all of the kittens could potentially have a different father, creating a nice pool of possible colors all in one litter.

Also, calico coloring is almost ALWAYS seen in female cats because red is a sex-linked color and black is a dominant color. Only females can have the dominant black and sex-linked red at the same time. (Complicated, I know) Calico mothers often have calico daughters, but their sons will probably resemble their fathers. An orange tabby mother who mates with a black and white tom may also have a calico daughter.

Answer 3

Different Colored Cats

Answer 4

If you don't know who the father cat was, then that may be where the weird colors are coming from. Since the mother is a grey calico, then she might've had different colored parents too.

My mother-in-law has a black cat and when she was younger she had all black kittens except for one...and it was a siamese. Weird how that works!

Answer 5

Multiple Dads!! My daughter rescued a littler of 5 orphaned kittens. There were 4 tigers and a Siamese! Cats can conceive by more than one male, so it can get really interesting when you see the resulting litters! =)

Answer 6

Because cats frequently have several fathers per litter.
Your kitty could have one that looks like every male in the neighborhood!
PS: my husband has black hair, I have a light red-brown, oldest son has blonde, and youngest plain old medium brown - almost as bad as the cats!

Answer 7

because they are from different fathers a cat can have 5 0r 6 kittens all by different tom's

Answer 8

They probably just come out looking like an aunt or grandma or cousin just like us humans and also did you know a female cat can get pregnant from more than one male? Yes that's right.

Answer 9

And female cats can become pregnant by more than one male.

"Furthermore, cats are superfecund; that is, a female may mate with more than one male when she is in heat, meaning different kittens in a litter may have different fathers."

Answer 10

Heredity. Apparently fur color is up for grabs. I'm not sure how dominant and recessive genes work with kitty kat fur color, but that's what it's all about. Also--interbreed mating would enhance this gene pool variation somewhat.