My Grey Cat is turning brown

jmcquown

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Dec 25, 2013, 2:13:10 PM12/25/13

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I know from reading about cats all black and grey cats are basically brown.

I just gave Persia a nice brushing. She's not a long-haired cat but she
still has a nice ruff around her neck. Well, I noticed it's turning
brown. Same thing with her chest.

I cannot capture this in a photo, sorry. It is rather surprising.

Jill

Joy

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Dec 26, 2013, 2:06:54 PM12/26/13

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"jmcquown" <j_mc...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:bi0p28...@mid.individual.net...

Pickles, whom I think of as black, has a large brown patch on her side, and
a smaller one on her chest. Even though I know it's there, it often
surprises me, because I still think of her as all black.

Joy

dgk

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Dec 27, 2013, 9:19:30 AM12/27/13

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On Wed, 25 Dec 2013 14:13:10 -0500, jmcquown <j_mc...@comcast.net>
wrote:

Tyrosine deficiency? This site is interesting;
http://www.catster.com/answers/question/what_causes_a_cats_fur_to_change_color-899

And it points to this one which seems more definitive:

http://www.cat-world.com.au/why-do-some-black-cats-coats-turn-that-reddish-brown-colour

Bastette

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Dec 28, 2013, 2:59:04 AM12/28/13

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My mom used to have a black cat named Yoda (this was the late 70s :)).
When she moved to Florida, several years passed before I managed to
get down there for a visit. She always had at least 2 or 3 cats, so
when I saw some unfamiliar ones roaming around, I wasn't surprised.
But I didn't see Yoda anywhere, so I asked my mom where she was. "She's
right there," mom answered, pointing at a cat that was obviously a
tortie, with lots of orangey and rust-colored fur mixed in with the
black. But my mom kept insisting that was her. All I could think was,
mom, what did you do, leave her out in the rain?

--
Joyce

Loneliness is comforted by the closeness and touch of fur to fur,
skin to skin, or -- skin to fur. -- Paul Gallico

Christina Websell

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Dec 28, 2013, 12:40:36 PM12/28/13

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"jmcquown" <j_mc...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:bi0p28...@mid.individual.net...

I think it's fairly normal for old(ish) black cats to turn brown with age,
so as blue is a dilute form of black, maybe it's not so surprising?
KFC was a black tuxedo and she turned brownish when she was in her teens.
Just a thought.

Tweed

Christina Websell

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Dec 28, 2013, 12:42:21 PM12/28/13

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"Bastette" <bastX...@sonic.net> wrote in message
news:l9m0c8$cco$3...@dont-email.me...

Sun will do it too.

Tweed

jmcquown

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Dec 28, 2013, 1:06:06 PM12/28/13

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Oh, I don't think there is anything wrong with her. She is getting
older, after all. Her fur is just showing the brown so much more. It
sort of startled me to see it so prominent. She does love basking in a
puddle of sunshine. :)

Jill

Bastette

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Jan 8, 2014, 9:27:37 PM1/8/14

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Can aging humans take a bunch of it as a supplement to bring back their
original hair color? :)

Actually, I wouldn't toy around with something like that, with myself or
with a cat. If there's any chance of liver failure due to an overdose,
there would have to be pretty dire consequences from *not* taking it, to
take that kind of risk. Fur color (or human grey hair) is not a dire
consequence. So some black cats end up looking like a weird tortie, is
that so bad?

--
Joyce

Whenever you feel anger, you should say, "May I be free of this
anger!" This rarely works, but talking to yourself in public will
encourage others to leave you alone.

dgk

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Jan 9, 2014, 10:05:54 AM1/9/14

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On Thu, 9 Jan 2014 02:27:37 +0000 (UTC), Bastette
<bastX...@sonic.net> wrote:

>dgk wrote:
>
> > On Wed, 25 Dec 2013 14:13:10 -0500, jmcquown <j_mc...@comcast.net>
> > wrote:
>
> >>I know from reading about cats all black and grey cats are basically brown.
> >>
> >>I just gave Persia a nice brushing. She's not a long-haired cat but she
> >>still has a nice ruff around her neck. Well, I noticed it's turning
> >>brown. Same thing with her chest.
> >>
> >>I cannot capture this in a photo, sorry. It is rather surprising.
> >>
> >>Jill
>
> > Tyrosine deficiency? This site is interesting;
> > http://www.catster.com/answers/question/what_causes_a_cats_fur_to_change_color-899
>
>
> > And it points to this one which seems more definitive:
>
> > http://www.cat-world.com.au/why-do-some-black-cats-coats-turn-that-reddish-brown-colour
>
>Can aging humans take a bunch of it as a supplement to bring back their
>original hair color? :)
>
>Actually, I wouldn't toy around with something like that, with myself or
>with a cat. If there's any chance of liver failure due to an overdose,
>there would have to be pretty dire consequences from *not* taking it, to
>take that kind of risk. Fur color (or human grey hair) is not a dire
>consequence. So some black cats end up looking like a weird tortie, is
>that so bad?

It's a natural part of aging I suspect. Plenty of things are going
wrong with me.

Jack Campin

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Jan 9, 2014, 8:40:18 PM1/9/14

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>>> I just gave Persia a nice brushing. She's not a long-haired cat but she
>>> still has a nice ruff around her neck. Well, I noticed it's turning
>>> brown. Same thing with her chest.

>> Tyrosine deficiency?

Another possibility is biotin deficiency. That affected our Ishmael;
he had FUS and was put on a special prescribed food for it which
contained a lot of egg. One of the few ways humans can get biotin
deficiency is by eating a lot of raw egg - the classic case in the
textbooks was an alcoholic who lived on red wine and raw eggs. Its
effect on humans is premature greying. Ishmael's fur went from black
to various shades of brown and dirty brownish-grey in a few months.
Giving him biotin supplements (one human-sized daily capsule every
week, stirred into his food) turned it black again in a few weeks
with no other change to his diet.

> Can aging humans take a bunch of it as a supplement to bring back
> their original hair color? :)

If your diet is eggs and booze and you've gone grey at 30, biotin will
certainly help.

Biotin is not easy to get hold of. We had contacts with a specialist
supplements firm, and bought the one bottle they had on their shelves -
it was just out of date.

(I just googled and was surprised - it has recently become a fad
supplement to combat greying and increase hair growth in humans,
so it's probably easier to get than it was. I suspect most of the
claims made for it are hype).

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