Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK
Cat General => General Cat Chat => Topic started by: jezebel on September 15, 2010, 19:09:31 PM
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Apologies if this is a daft question but it's one I've never had to think about before: can kittens from the same litter have different fathers?
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http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061011112208AAhYBOQ
The internet seems to say yes!!
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Yes they can.
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Thanks!
Our new feline overlords (I've just posted pics in Cat Stories) are supposed to be sisters but are completely different - not just colouring but features, shape of face and body too. Having different fathers would explain this (not to mention what it says about their mother! :evillaugh:).
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I don't know the mechanics behind it (apart from the obvious :evillaugh:) but had heard the same litter could have different fathers.
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Apologies if this is a daft question but it's one I've never had to think about before: can kittens from the same litter have different fathers?
Absolutely yes.
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So can human twins...but there is only a very small window in which this can happen!!!!!!
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Yep - my housemates cats were littermates - the male was a longhaired black and white, the girl was a short haired tabby and white!!
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Our new feline overlords (I've just posted pics in Cat Stories) are supposed to be sisters but are completely different - not just colouring but features, shape of face and body too. Having different fathers would explain this (not to mention what it says about their mother! :evillaugh:).
As others have said yes it is possible for kittens in a litter to have more than 1 father but them looking completely different doesn't mean this is the case.
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I don't know the mechanics behind it (apart from the obvious :evillaugh:) but had heard the same litter could have different fathers.
How I understand it is ...
The female only ovulates when being mated .....So if mated by more than one male she can be pregnant by each of them
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Yup they certainly can. Jaffa and Magpie were littermates but Jaffa is short haired ginger and Magpie was long haired black and white (as was the other kitten in the litter). Not sure whether that's possible or not with one father, depending on genetics, but I think it very possible they had different fathers.
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I would say most definitely yes! Jasper and Jess are littermates, he is a big fat longhaired black boy (with a silly little kitten face) and she is a little black & white shorthair. Although they were born on a farm I was told Mum was white and heaven alone know who Dad was. In a subsequent litter there was a b/w, tabby and another like Jasper.
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here's a story for you. a friend of mine had a pregnant cat and after the given time gave birth to one rather large kitten. just a normal black and white moggy but as there was only one it was very big. the following day she gave birth to 2 tiny kittens that looked like they were some kind of oriental cross. big pointy faces and huge ears. they looked like little aliens, had hardly any fur and you could see all the markings on their skin. as they were so tiny she took the 3 kittens and mum to the vet and the surmised that they were 2 different litters. that the mum had ovulated again probably about 2 weeks after getting pregnant, had mated again and the birth of the first kitten had dislodged the second 2. he was very surprised because although he'd read about it he'd never actually seen it. when i saw the kittens i was gobsmacked. the difference between them was unbelievable, it was obvious that they werent the same litter. all three kittens survived btw.
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I think anyone who has seen a female cat on heat would quite easily believe anything of them..,,, quite shameless. They make the most awful noise and crawl all over the place with their bums in the air.
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BM - I dont think much of that vet, any decent vet should know that cats are induced ovulators (hence why they dont have periods like us and dogs). I have heard of situations like that on another cat forum though.
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he knew about it, he'd just never seen it. tbh i never thought much of him either :rofl: and his wife was also a vet and she was awful. that pair were definitely in it for the money :(. fortunately neither of them are at my vets now ;D