Conference misery::feline_v1

    Me mum and dad had a 15 year old black cat they took to Florida when they
    retired... After 2 years in the Florida sun he turned RED!!
    
    Edd 

    If the light is just right, you can see this sable in Panther and
    Eirene. If the sun is shining just right on Nikolas, you can see
    blue highlights. However, none of them have anything that resemble
    tabby markings.
    
    Deb

    Hi Gary -
    
    We call that the licorice cat. My daughter some years ago had a
    Burmese and he was like that also, the little black kitten we
    befriended (Bombay?) the same too. In  one light source they are
    soooo black in another the brown shows up and they look like licorice.
    
    Probably somewhere along the way the genes are poping out here and
    there.
    
    Barbara

    Yup - the tabby markings will sometimes show through a lot or
    just a little - my seal point siamese has some penciling on her
    face - my Timothy is brown/black and when in the sun, looks reddish.
    He is 1/2 siamese - so is Alexander (WeeZoo) 1/2 siamese, but the
    funny thing about WeeZoo, is he is black/black with no striping
    or penciling - really black and very short hair - Timmi has a little
    longer hair.  Then there is Nikki who is black/black also - he is
    who_knows_half_anything - sure doesn't have any siamese that is
    obvious!  Timmi has lots of siamese traits - vocal, demanding,
    lovey, long body, long tail, good sized ears - he is a real lover
    boy.  Black boys are WONDERFUL!!!  Oh yeah, Mister Miyagi is
    black and white, but he is brown/black.  My friend has a black
    and white and his Classic Tabby markings are clearly visible.
    We are waiting to see how long they will be visible.  In the
    sun he really looks strange!!  Fun.. colors & patterns - patterns
    and colors !!
    
    

    Nikki has brown (I call it rust) patches in his fur which can only
    be seen in the light.  And you're right, when they close their eyes,
    you can't see them at all (the cat not the spots).
    
    I read in one of my cat books that the brown/rust patches are a
    result of being exposed to the sunlite.  Nikki looks jet black,
    but once in the light, his color changes dramatically.
    

    RE: 5
    
    I heard that too - one of my friends used to show an all black,
    and she let him go outside - his coat eventually started looking
    reddish - someone said it was from the sun.  I wondered if that
    was really true.  hmm.  interesting

    Yes, Max is a VERY handsome cat.  I know I'm biased, but he is a
    striking animal (considering that he is monochrome).  
    
    Gary

    Genetics books say that every cat is a tabby underneath.  The color
    of the cat masks the tabby markings.  Pointed cats show their tabby
    markings when their point color starts coming in as kittens.  It
    first shows up on the face in the tabby pattern and then fills in
    later (if the cat is a solid point, not a lynx point)
    
    With my older Birmans, I can see which tabby pattern they are masking
    when they start to shade.  If the body shading comes in swirls and
    circles, they mask classic tabby and if it comes in in stripes they
    mask mackerel tabby.  One of my females masks ticked tabby (the
    most desirable to a Birman breeder since it causes more even shading
    on the body.)
    
    What pattern of tabby is your black masking?
    
    Jo
    
    PS - Ken and I like to call the reddish coloring on black cats rust.
    As in, leave them out in the weather and they will rust.
    

    Gee, if your black cat gets rusty, you can wash him in tea to
    remove the rust!  Heard that last night at the cat club meeting.
    
    re: 8  I think my Timothy is masking McTabby under his black.  He
    weighs about 14 lbs. and is very long and high and very meesie
    (siameesie) - he is a lovely animal!!
    
    E.T.
    

    Nebula, who is half seal-point Siamese, looks black in indoor light
    except for about five white hairs on her chest (pretty common amongst
    black kitties), but you put her in strong sunlight, she is actually
    very dark brown with black points, and has some tabby striping on her
    back.  (No one knows what her father was; Neb and her littermates were
    for sale very cheap!  She is a sweetheart, though!)  When she was a
    little kitten, it took her a while to figure out that she should not sit
    in the hallway in the dark with her tail sticking out or she would get
    her tail stepped on a lot (she wore a white collar so we could see
    where the front part of her was!) even though The Fickle, who is a
    spotted kitty, didn't have this problem.  Now when you see them
    sitting, Neb always tucks her tail in, but Fickle's tail is usually
    straight out (her tail is stripped, like a raccoon) unless she is cold.
                       

    My friend [the noble traveller from Kate's note] is black with no
    discernable markings in sunlight, houselight, and fluorescent light.
    
    Sunlight & houselight leave her looking a rich velvety black.  The
    fluorescent light makes her look slightly blue-ish (but it does
    the same to me ;-)).
    
    [I _did_ finally find where she's staying with a foster family while
    her people are away for two months. Apparently the first day the
    sitters left her home alone she pooped in protest on their bed,
    so they've been putting her out before they go to work.  I think
    I convinced them to try shutting her in the cellar instead.  They
    were openly skeptical when I talked to them about the high-risk
    to black cats at this time of year, but changed their tune after
    talking to the HS & the PD.]
    
      Ann