Kittens!

Mopsy had four kittens up in our hayloft! They are super cute. More tabbies, but this time there is black mixed in. All are well. ☺️

With the news that one of this summer's litter is a boy, we were all worried about inbreeding. I did some quick research on cat genetics/coloring, and we can safely assume that the dad of the kittens is not one of our cats. 

Here's a bit from the website where I got my info: 

"Red (or orange) and black are both dominant colors. Dominant traits don’t skip a generation so one of the parents must exhibit a dominant colour for the kitten to get it. Because colour is carried on the X chromosome, male kittens can only get their colouring from their mother while girls can get their colouring from both mom or dad (pattern depends on which parent’s X chromosome is activated in the cells in any given patch of fur). So if you have a ginger mom and a black dad, boy kittens will be ginger (with or without tabby markings) and girl kittens will be some form of tortie or calico (with or without tabby markings)."

In a nutshell (in case you don't want to weed through the above), black is a dominant color, and since Mopsy is gray, the dad would have to be black for there to be black kittens. 

If I had to guess, I'd say the dad is a cat we call Oreo, a black and white cat I've seen down at the pond a handful of times.