My black cat has stripes

[kittenfun]

Hi mum is black his dad is tabby
He is one year old

lots of black cats have stripes as an under colouring and if his parents are one black one tabby his will be more prominent hes a pretty cat

Every single black cat I have had in my life, started off as kittens with visible tabby markings. Even my fluffy one.
As they grew older the stripes became less visible.
Probably a genetics thing
I currently have a ginger female with black and white whiskers, which I've never seen before.

It's called ghost striping. Most black cats have it. My cat's was most obvious when she was a kitten; you can't really see it anymore.

I've heard that it's called charcoal tabby. I foster rescue kittens and I had one last year that had really strong tabby markings despite being completely black.

Yes, all my black cats have had the same, you often only notice when they are lying in a patch of bright sunlight. I think the fur is a fractionally different length or something.

All my black cats have had ghost stripes, they become less visible when cat reaches adulthood.

My boack and white kitten has these in his black fur.

black

Both of my black cats have them. The younger ones are still quite visible and makes him look very pretty.

He's gorgeous.

Yes, so does mine - only visible in certain lights. I believe this is because tabby is a 'default' genetic pattern for many cats, and other colouring is laid over it.

My Treacle has this, she’s so beautiful

We had a cat like this as well. I read that all black cats have tabby markings, some more visible than others. Your cat is beautiful!

Not the greatest picture but his stripes were really visible in this one. Most of the time, he just looked all black.

Ok, science lessons coming up... All cats have two genes that determines their colour pattern, a recessive gene and a dominant gene. The majority of domestic cats have a tabby gene - so a lot of black cats have the dominant black gene and a recessive tabby gene which often leaves the tabby markings faintly visible especially when they are kittens and in certain light all their lives.

😃 aww thankyou he called smudgie he has just turned 1 year old he is so friendly and has such lovely soft fur

😃

Squeeeeeeeeeee I could put him on a butty and eat him all up
#chroniccuteaggresionsufferer.

🐱🐱💗💗

Amazing cats @kittenfun and @Barbaraof Seville! Hopefully, you will take note of this post and ask MN Administrators to move thread to the 'litter tray' where all cats appropriately treated.