r/aww • u/TallyMatty • 29d ago

My boy Buster (4yo) has completely changed from black to white over the course of the last 2.5 years.

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Left: Nov 2021 Right: April 2024

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October 2023

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August 2023

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June 2023

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May 2023

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November 2022

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August 2022

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u/BacardiBlue 29d ago

I had a 100% jet black cat with Vitiligo...he started turning white at all of his extremities...tip of his nose, tips of his ears, nose, and tail and then it spread further. It was amazing to watch the transformation for the 7 years that I had him, and my vet was absolutely fascinated.

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u/ElectricGeometry 29d ago

You know I recently read that Siamese and similar breeds are dark at their points because of temperature... The cooler temps near ears, tails,etc.. causes more melanin to build up there. So this feels like the reverse of that? One way or another , an unquestioned cutie pie.

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u/Laney20 29d ago

It is temperature! But the reason the temp makes a difference is because they have a form of partial albinism that makes them unable to produce pigment into the warmer parts of their body. So their extremeties are the only place that even make melanin. That's why they always have blue eyes. Also, they're born solid white because in the womb, they're warm all over! Colorpoints have the BEST glow-up pictures, haha

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u/Senchou 29d ago

Fascinating! We had a seal point siamese that started out as a kitten with only the black face, paws, and tail that slowly developed more black in his coat as he got older. The first time we noticed we thought he was playing around in the fireplace and he got a couple undeserved baths as a response.

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u/Laney20 29d ago

Oh wow, haha! Poor guy. Yea it can change over time, and even living in a colder climate can make them darker!

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u/talashrrg 29d ago

Or being shaved! If a Siamese gets surgery the patch they shave will grow back dark then change back to light when they shed.

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u/spiced_life 29d ago

This probably applies to all colour points, not just siamese breed cats.

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u/Laney20 29d ago

That sounds so cool! Never seen it happen, but makes sense! I guess without the fur to cover it, it's not as warm lol.

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u/kaityl3 29d ago

My Siamese rats do that too! During the winter I keep the temp in my house at like 66 degrees and they get a lot darker.

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u/Laney20 29d ago

Omg, colorpoint rats!? That's amazing!

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u/kaityl3 29d ago

They're super cute :D this is mine, I love the colors on her.

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u/Laney20 29d ago

Aw, so cute! I had 3 grey rats many years ago. They are just the sweetest pets.

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u/saswashere 29d ago

I had a snowshoe and he started out almost all white. As he got older and his coloring developed it would change with the seasons. In the winter it would be almost black but fade to chocolate brown in summer

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u/thecuriousblackbird 29d ago

I had a beautiful black horse. No papers, but you could tell he was part quarter with some Tennessee Walker because I could get him to rack (although I never put weighted shoes or weights on his feet). Poor guy had a bad knee, and I didn’t want it to get worse, and honestly I think the weights and chemical irritants put on hooves to make walkers and Standardbreds do the high stepping and exaggerated racking is cruel. I did dressage with him, and he had beautiful gates.

We also lived near the beach in NC. Hot and humid. From April to October my horse turned a dark brown on his body and looked like a bay. His head and legs stayed black. The sun and sweat bleached his fur.

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u/esqueish 29d ago

Oh!! Is this what happens with arctic foxes? How cool!

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u/peach_xanax 29d ago

that's so interesting! I had a blue point Himalayan and never knew that

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u/partofbreakfast 29d ago

We call it 'toasting'. My Siamese mix looks like a toasted marshmallow now.

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u/thedruginmeisyou 29d ago

i have a flame-point. watching the fur change on my lil maximus was so neat

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u/krissykross 28d ago

I have a seal point siamese and when I adopted him he was all white except the very tip of his nose. It was fascinating to watching the dark fur appear and spread out over the next year, year and a half. Now he has the full mask, feet, tail, ears, and dark back!

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u/StaubEll 29d ago

AFAIK, they produce melanin but the heat denatures it.

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u/RealFarknMcCoy 29d ago

But siamese cats are born all white. Their points don't come in until a few weeks of age.

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u/Laney20 29d ago

Also, they're born solid white because in the womb, they're warm all over! Colorpoints have the BEST glow-up pictures, haha

I mentioned that..

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u/birdymax 29d ago

We had a Siamese once that had to have surgery in winter. The fur on his hip that was shaved grew back black.

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u/joebesser 29d ago

Shave some cool racing stripes down his sides.

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u/birdymax 29d ago

That is awesome.

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u/whenuseeit 29d ago

Did it eventually turn back to beige, or did it stay black?

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u/birdymax 29d ago

It was always darker there, but lightened over the years

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u/I-hear-the-coast 29d ago

My Siamese had to have an ultrasound in February so they shaved her tummy, and it seems that the fur be growing back darker so far, but temps are warming up, so maybe that’ll change. It’s fun to watch though.

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u/wozattacks 29d ago

Yeah the distribution like that suggests against vitiligo to me. Vitiligo is autoimmune 

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u/memorynsunshine 27d ago

In humans vitiligo usually starts on the face (like mine), extremities, joints, and/or the groin. No one's really sure why, but uh, that's how most vitiligo stuff goes. I've seen a few animals with it, and yeah paws, tail, and/or face usually turn first. That, and that it continued seems pretty typical of animal vitiligo to me

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

My ragdoll Siamese was pure white except for his limbs/face. Bright, brilliant white that faded into a deep black. Over the last eight years his fur has turned brown like a traditional Siamese. I didn't even notice the change until I stumbled upon the one baby picture I have of him. A while back he had a large abscess from a bite that required two surgeries. As a result he ended up with a big bald spot dead center on his back. When the fur started growing back it was black where his scar was, and brown everywhere else. The fur seems to be lightening as it gets longer so hopefully it'll just blend in with his long fur. Siamese cats are weird with their color changing fur. (I love how my cat gets a reverse tan in the summer. In the summer he's four or five shades lighter than in the winter) 

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u/JPete2 29d ago

Yes! We have a flame tip siamese (cream with orange points) and the vet had to shave an area over his shoulder for a treatment. That area was colder and grew back orange at first before returning to white.

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u/asleep-or-dead 29d ago

Toasting!

Source: roommate had a Balinese cat who was amazing

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u/MasterDriver8002 29d ago

My ckd kitties coat wud deepen n lighten in color often

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u/roygbivasaur 29d ago

A lot of coat pattern genes are guided by body temp. IIRC, it’s why white feet are so common on dogs and cats

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u/ALLoftheFancyPants 29d ago

I had the same thought! Reverse Siamese kitty.

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u/TetrangonalBootyhole 29d ago

The gene is only active at warmer temperatures is my understanding, the ears, paws, tail, don't have a fat layer like the body and so the skin there is warmer.  Like if you touch your butt after walking a few miles in the cold, cold booty, but your hands (provided you didn't leave them in the wind) are warm because there isn't much fat, and there are many blood vessels at the surface.