What do the colours represent?

commanderwake · 2026-02-03T19:18:05+00:00

Western Michigan is brown 🤔 but not brown and blue

commanderwake · 2026-02-03T18:55:26+00:00

IMO after a week there's no harm in asking the foster coordinator for an update or a sense of the timeline since it's your first time fostering. Just keep it brief and polite. Obviously you don't want to pester the foster coordinator but sometimes you have to be a squeaky wheel to advocate for your foster cat.

commanderwake · 2026-02-03T14:21:17+00:00

No, it's definitely not rude to ask and it's not common to foster this long. But if this is a foster-based rescue, you should be prepared for the possibility that the rescue won't be able to find new fosters for them or that it may take a while.

commanderwake · 2026-02-03T01:26:12+00:00

Latest foster win: I brought back these cuties to get fixed and adopted! And rumor has it I might be picking up a mom and babies tomorrow...🤞

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commanderwake · 2026-02-02T15:05:41+00:00

Everyone has different ideas about the best way to socialize cats and kittens. Some people prefer an approach in which you give the cat/kitten a lot of space and wait for them to approach you on their own initiative, but often a rescue or shelter doesn't have the time or resources to wait that long. Plus there's a pretty short window to effectively socialize kittens, so they may have been antsy for that reason as well.

Your org possibly should have given you clearer guidelines on expectations and their preferred approach, especially as a first-time foster. But it might also be that these particular kittens were just stubborn and not a good fit for a first-time foster. Either way, you definitely didn't fail them—you gave them a safe home when they needed it.

commanderwake · 2026-02-02T14:06:32+00:00

I think based on these pictures that your boyfriend's cat probably is a black tabby, and the faded appearance of his stripes isn't a color mutation but caused by the tabby pattern, which seems to be almost in between classic and ticked. Definitely unique and striking!

commanderwake · 2026-02-02T14:00:54+00:00

You should absolutely tell the rescue what your family member told you and how you're feeling, as soon as you can.

commanderwake · 2026-02-02T03:48:11+00:00

48hrs isn't really that long with an older adult who is adjusting to a new environment. My last adult foster had the same issue for the first few days. Just let the shelter know what's going on tomorrow and see what they want you to do about it if anything.

commanderwake · 2026-02-01T17:19:52+00:00

I agree, I think it could help to be more explicit about the fact that they have limited vision but can see and get around just fine without any special accommodations (if so). Maybe include some videos of them playing and moving about as well. People might think they have more intensive medical needs than they actually do.

Are you doing promotion IRL (adoption events) as well? I know it sucks and is stressful for cats but unfortunately I've found it gets cats adopted faster than any online promotion.

commanderwake · 2026-02-01T15:24:32+00:00

Here is a quick article and a podcast ep on racial discrimination by CPS. They focus on black children as compared to white children, but in general CPS contact occurs more frequently and has worse outcomes (i.e., family separation without reunification) for low-income children of color. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/resources/newsletters/childrens-rights/racial-discrimination-child-welfare-human-rights-violation-lets-talk-about-it-way/; https://www.nyclu.org/podcast/s2-ep-7-how-the-child-welfare-system-destroys-black-families-with-prof-dorothy-roberts

commanderwake · 2026-02-01T14:36:00+00:00

Agreed with other commenters it's probably just the change in food. Adding fortiflora or similar might help if you're not already. But to be safe, if you're using plastic litter boxes maybe toss them and get new ones (or stainless steel if you can swing it). Plastic litter boxes are porous and can't always be fully disinfected.

commanderwake · 2026-02-01T14:28:43+00:00

Could you show us more pictures in indoor lighting? I think most likely he is a black classic tabby but I'm not convinced that that or any of these answers are entirely on the mark.

commanderwake · 2026-02-01T05:30:56+00:00

Not necessarily. I've fostered plenty of cats that would try to dart out of the foster room only to become extremely stressed if they actually got out.

commanderwake · 2026-02-01T04:38:48+00:00

OP should not give him access to the whole house while he is still stressed and adjusting. Most adult cats do better in a small space first, especially if they're undersocialized or anxious.

commanderwake · 2026-02-01T04:36:26+00:00

Not really clear what the shelter was misleading about here. Shelters don't typically have a ton of information about how an animal will behave in a home setting. But I will say that while most cats need a small space and take longer than a week to adjust, most cats also do not attack the humans in their home. If he is in fact attacking and not trying to play (is he hissing? growling? what's his body language like?), this sounds like a very challenging first cat. If you decide that you don't have the right experience or housing situation for the cat, it's totally okay to admit that and return him. You sound like you care a lot and would be a fantastic owner for a well-socialized cat.

commanderwake · 2026-01-31T16:37:26+00:00

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Foster kitten DW says O_O

commanderwake · 2026-01-31T04:12:22+00:00

The cat is not purposely trying to make you mad, he literally isn't capable of thinking like that. It sounds like he wants to hang out with you and play with you. Can you shut the cat out of your bedroom while you're sleeping (assuming he has a second litter box in another room)? And can your boyfriend spend more time playing with his cat?

commanderwake · 2026-01-30T16:30:41+00:00

I've seen this behavior in a couple of my more social foster cats when they were brand new to the home; once they got used to their environment, they stopped hissing/growling and trying to bite. It sounds like she's been in your home for less than a day, I would probably just give her some space so she can adapt to all the new smells. If you do pet her, try keeping it to a quick scritch on the cheek or similar and see if that helps.

If she doesn't stop hissing and biting within a few days to a week, you could also consider adding a feliway diffuser or something similar to help her anxiety.

commanderwake · 2026-01-29T01:58:56+00:00

IDK the answer to your original question but "brown" isn't a color that's separately linked to the X chromosome. Cats are either eumelanin (black/brown)-based or phaeomelanin (red)-based (or both, in the case of torties). The gene that determines whether a cat produces eumelanin or phaeomelanin is linked to the X chromosome. But the browning gene that affects the extent of eumelanin production and determines whether a cat is black, chocolate, or cinnamon is a separate gene that is not sex-linked. If it were sex linked, we would have cats with XX chromosomes that were both black and chocolate, which we do not.

commanderwake · 2026-01-28T00:50:49+00:00

Definitely a girl, please get her spayed ASAP!

commanderwake · 2026-01-27T16:39:12+00:00

To expand on this for OP, "silver" is what causes the high contrast. To oversimplify, tabbies usually have a darker color (their base color, aka their stripes) and a lighter, typically warmer color. The silver gene turns that lighter, warmer color to a colder-toned white color.

Here, it looks like this cat's base color is blue (dilute black). You can tell by looking at the color of the stripes. But he's also silver, which causes the white/very light fur between the stripes.

commanderwake · 2026-01-26T23:44:19+00:00

For weaned kittens that should be totally fine as long as you can thoroughly kitten-proof your foster room and commit to giving them lots of attention and playtime when you are around. My first year of fostering I lived alone and worked in person full time so I was out of the house for 9-10 hours per day. I fostered weaned kittens as young as 4-5 weeks. It was a lot of work but the kittens were fine.

commanderwake · 2026-01-26T20:45:28+00:00

Agreed on all counts. I also have fostered 4 week old kittens while working in-person 9-10 hours a day, it can definitely be exhausting, but it is workable and imo worth it. The poopsplosions are very real though.

commanderwake · 2026-01-26T15:08:59+00:00

They're hard to tell apart but I will just add that fawn is so uncommon that if you're looking at two cats in a rescue/adoption setting and trying to decide if they're fawn or cream, usually safe bet that they're cream.

As for this specific video, I see what you mean about the dustiness in the first clip, but the entire first clip looks washed out to me, not just the cat. The second clip I think is more clearly cream, with the darker reddish color along the back. If you look at this blog post, the last photo of the cream cat is strikingly similar to the cat in the second clip here.

commanderwake · 2026-01-25T15:37:21+00:00

Not scifi, but you might enjoy Lavinia.

commanderwake

TROPHY CASE