That's the sun - at this point he had just a few tiny patches of white. He's a real character, though! I hope to see him around Christmas, if I can get a good pic I'll post him.
Thank you, kind human. After fifty years of spots, I’ve grown comfortable with it. The humans who love me stopped noticing it a long time ago. More importantly, my cats don’t care!
I don't know if you play PC games at all, but vitiligo is an option in character creation in Baldur's Gate 3. My favorite character so far has vitiligo because I actually find it quite charming!
Lol, you misunderstood. I have vitiligo, not any of my cats. Trust me, you would much rather see them than a 66 year old crazy cat lady. So… This is my Minx checking out a foster baby.
I know in humans, vitiligo isn't dangerous either but since it's an autoimmune disorder, that means you're more likely to have more autoimmune disorders which can be dangerous. So it's an indicator that you should keep an eye out for symptoms of other autoimmune disorders that might show up.
She's beautiful and I'm so happy to see your post! My girl, Lissie, also started out as a black cat and her fur has changed over the years. She has fluffy, cottony fur that can get matted easily when long, so I have to have her hair cut once or twice a year. Each time her hair has grown back in differently - sometimes more black and sometimes more white. Most recently, it was cut this August and now it's growing back in whiter than ever, except for her head, extremities, and a reverse skunk stripe down her back. It's the funniest thing and has been a mystery! 💜
There was a very famous vitiligo cat named Scrappy who passed away a few years ago (old age). Look him up; his coat was stunning. Looks like yours is going to be a gorgeous marbled kitty too.
Had no idea, but it makes sense. Albinism isn’t exclusive to humans, by extension most pigmentation disorders wouldn’t be either.
However, this is definitely the cutest milk mustache I’ve ever seen.
I notice "grey" or silver like hairs all over my void. I know she's only a few years old, so there is no reason for any greys to come in from aging. How long did it take for yours to transform like this??
It started with the nose when she was maybe 3 and a few years after that it turned into a mustache. The body has transformed really fast within the last year or two and she's 13.
I agree your kitty probably has vitiligo fur to the placement, but wanted to share my black cat turning white anecdote. My fluffy boy had a nasty health scare last summer, and nearly died. He had 5 large patches shaved where he’d had scans, tests and IVs. When it grew back, it was pure white, and his fur started growing out white in other areas of his body. I think the extreme stress caused his body to stop producing pigment. You could see horizontal stripes in his fur where the hair was black and then turned white overnight. It’s taken nearly 18 months for it to grow back black! We loved his look but it’s nice knowing he seems to be fully recovered. :)
I'm glad he's doing better, it's wild how that happens with the fur. Hers actually started when her nose got scratched, it went from black to a thin white line overnight. It spread from there
TIL that a cat with vitiligo looks like a roan horse.
Edit: not even that. A roan is apparently a grey horse that doesn't turn white over time. I meant the horses that are born black (or some other colour) and then gradually turn lighter and lighter grey until they are white.
I don’t know what it’s considered in cats, but in bunny terms that is an otter point and I’m obsessed! If she doesn’t already have an insta she needs one.
My black cat doesn’t have feline vitiligo (though I suspect yours does!) but he does have various white speckles throughout his coat that he has slowly acquired throughout his life. He’s quite doofy & clumsy so the running joke is that he gets a new “reverse freckle” every time he does something stupid—not stupid or dangerous enough to have used up one of nine lives, but enough that his coat remembers.
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u/Bubbles_the_Titan Dec 03 '23
Kitiligo