Conference misery::feline

    I don't know what causes it, but my friend also a long haired black
    whose coat is turning a brownish orange. This change has been occuring
    for over a year now. He has change his color very much in the last
    6 months. It looks like has a bad dye job.

      Is this an outdoor or indoor cat?? We had a black male who was in
    sorry shape when we got him and his coat was sort of a sad-reddish, but
    after a few weeks of indoor living and good food---and much brushing
    and shedding, he grew a luxurient shiny-black coat again...
    
      Might be that the cat is going through a 'molting' phase and the old
    coat is slowily being shed...
    
       JM

    Pam,
    
    If your cat is indoor/outdoor like my all black longhair male, Nikki,
    then it is probably the sun that is doing it.  Even a black indoor cat
    who sits in the sun a lot will often display the "rust" color
    throughout their coat.  Nikki has much of it through his, and so does
    my neighbor's cat who is also an all black longhair.
    
    Nice to see you noting!
    
    -Roberta
    

    	When our all black cat sits in the sun too much, he turns a very
    dark brown and you can see (when he is in the sun) these classic tabby
    markings! There are stripes, swirls, and the "M" on his forehead! Now
    that he is in coat, and there is very litte sun for him to lie in, he
    looks just plain black. When we first got him, he was named Blackie,
    and I almost changed it to Hershey because of all the brown. Some how
    he became Teddy. I wouldn't worry about the color change. Teddy turns
    brown every spring.
    Mike

    My Miss Moffet, when a young cat, was a classic blue grey tabby.  About a 
    year after we found her she turned a golden brown/grey smallish-mushie 
    tabby markings. If it wern't for the bright ginger tabby gusset (that 
    she was born with) on the back of one of her front legs, I would swear it 
    was a different cat.
    
    She does still have some color variation between winter and summer,
    turning more ginger the closer to summer we get.
    
    She is the only one of my kitties that changed, color that is.

    Pippin goes through the same thing every year - seems like that about
    the end of summer she starts getting this reddish cast to her fur and
    then the smokey/grey undercoat gets more pronounced.  This year her
    collar really looks outstanding - it's smokey grey, shot through with
    some black and red.  By Spring she'll be back to mostly black and then
    start the change again in the fall.  
    
    My mother-in-law's cat looks really strange this year - 4 black legs,
    black head and the rest has turned this unusual shade of red/orange. 
    She's outside all day so maybe that has something to do with it but my
    cat is always in doors. ?????????????
    
    
    Giudi

    We had a black cat when I was a kid (actually, Jeremy still lives w/
    my mom, he's 13) and he looks like a striped tiger kitty when he's
    sitting in the sun. His coat is really a dark brown, more than black
    and he's getting lighter as the years get on. It's funny tho, cuz you 
    can't see the striping in regular light, he just looks like a black 
    kitty.
    
    Bon

    Thanks for all of your input!  I am so glad to know that it is only my
    paranoia setting in.  She is actually and indoor/outdoor cat - but in
    the winter (god forbid she should get her feet cold) stays in mostly.
    She is a very spoiled kittycat and does relax on her bed (she has her 
    own bedroom - until the baby comes) in the sun so this all makes alot
    of sense.
    
    So thanks to all of you - and yes Roberta I do try to get in to notes
    once in awhile!  I hope to get in more often.
    
    THANKS!

    Pam, are you saying you are going to be mom to a human child soon??
    
    Congrats, if so!
    
    -Roberta
    

    Yep!  Thats what I am saying!  and Thanks!  I just hope Spooky can
    adjust better than I am at this point!
    
    She is so used to be an "only child" that she may be a tad ticked off!
    
    Thanks

    Folks who have silver or blue cats have this problem with the 
    cats "rusting" in the sun.  I have since discovered three 
    different human shampoos to correct this problem in Shadow for
    show - Shimmerlights, So Silver and Silver Lights (by avon).
     
    
    And congrats on your impending motherhood.....

Nancy,

There's another shampoo that I found that I like even better than the
Shimmerlights.  It's by Jirmack (sp??).  It's their shampoo for white
and Silver hair.  I used it on both PIMA and Kyra for the last show and
really loved the results!  My mother likes it for her hair too!

Holly

    
    NDC, I've used Lightening shampoo on Callie and it works well.  I
    cannot remember the manufacturer off the top of my head (can you jo?).
    I got it at the cat show after a couple of Persian breeders that were
    showing blue creams recommended it. She is a fairly light blue and when
    I used it she was a beautiful silverish tone! I also get the rusty
    color on her face from her teary eyes.  After a while her cream blaze
    really turns rusty.  Is there a color class for blue reds? ;')
    
    

Is that the "ring 5" shampoos?  I used to use that whitening shampoo on 
Pita and Silver (two Korats) but I seem to like thie Jirmack better.  I
will try it on PITA the next time I show her.  It worked great on PIMA
(A blue/cream Cornish Rex).  

Holly

    
    Holly, thanks for the info on the Jhirmack.  I'll try it on 
    Callie and see which one I like.  I'll check the bottle tonight
    for the manufacturer.  I don't think that it is "ring 5" but I may be
    wrong.
    
    Marlene
    
    

    
    I finally remembered to check the bottle of shampoo.  Lightning is the
    manufacturer and the name of the shampoo is Organic Formula 60.  It is
    "citrus based" and also has bee pollen and aloe vera for skin.  I was 
    going to try the Jhirmack shampoo but noticed that the company does 
    testing on animals. I'm trying to do my part on that issue when I have
    a viable option....