How To Tell If A Kitten Will Have Long Hair

If you have plans to add a kitten to your home soon, you might have a list of characteristics you're seeking, like gender, age, and color. But did you know that hair length also plays a role in many adopters' decisions? Long-haired felines tend to be fluffier, giving you more fur to pet, though some folks prefer short hair to reduce cat shedding. But how do you know which is which when they're kittens? You can determine if a kitten will be long- or short-haired by learning its breed or by looking at its tails, toes, and ears.

Whether you're searching for a kitten online or in person, the pet's description typically includes its breed, but if it doesn't, ask an employee or email the shelter. Himalayan, Main Coons, and Persians are among the most common long-haired cat breeds, so assuming the kitten remains healthy, you can expect them to grow bunches of long, soft fur. Sometimes, the kitten's overall body fluffiness also serves as a tell-tale indicator that it will have long hair in the future.

What's more, the amount of hair in the kitten's tail, toe, and ear areas can indicate whether the cat will have long hair as it grows. Long-haired kittens typically have tufts of hair sticking out around their paw pads and between their toes, as well as fluffy tails, while short-haired kittens do not. A long-haired kitten also typically has noticeable long hair growing out of its ears, which can be about an inch long. On a short-haired kitten, the ear hair is shorter. All of this said, you may be able to find out whether a cat will have long hair or not before it's even born.

Although many veterinarians recommend spaying and neutering, not all cat parents can make arrangements for the surgery, especially if they're caring for a feral cat to later make it a pet. This often results in cat pregnancies, which, of course, can also happen with unaltered indoor cats. Assuming you know the breed or hair length of the tom cat that impregnated the queen, you may be able to determine if any of the kittens will have long hair.

The ASPCA says a cat's genes determine what its hair will look like because the gene carrying the long hair trait in cats is recessive. What does this mean? Well, the offspring that comes from a short-haired cat mating with a long-haired cat will exclusively be short-haired, as the short-hair gene is dominant. But the science doesn't end there. If a short-haired cat from that litter were to mate with a long-haired cat, some kittens could be born with long hair. Also, if two long-haired cats breed, their offspring will only consist of long-haired kittens thanks to them both carrying the recessive gene. With this in mind, you should be able to have a good idea of which kittens, burn or unborn, will grow into some long locks.