Cat Genetics

D.H. asks, "Dear Miss Kitty,

My partner and I recently got two kittens from the SPCA. Although one is a dainty all-white short-hair, her sister is a burly grey-striped long-hair with a racoon tail. They also have radically different personalities. The SPCA swears these two are siblings from the same litter, but they are nothing alike. How can this be? Was Momma 'a rolling stone' of some sort?

D.H.

Hi, D.H. Welcome to the Wonderful World of Genetics!

There are a couple of things that could be going on here. The first is that yes, the mother cat was impregnated by two or more male cats at the same time. Well, the impregnation may not have occurred at the exact same time, but she could have "gone out for Italian food" with one cat one night, and another cat the next, with all of the various seeds taking root and producing all kinds of kittens.

The second thing to remember is that in the Wonderful World of Genetics, there are things called "dominant" and "recessive" genes. Dominant genes always show up when they are present. Recessive genes only show up if there are two of them. If both parents have one dominant and one recessive gene, there is a one in four chance that the offspring will display the recessive traits. This is why in large Irish families, there is always one kid with dark brown hair.

But just look at the families around you. Take me, for example. I have strawberry blond hair, greenish eyes, and almost no nose. My brother has blond hair, blue eyes, and a decent sized nose. My mom has coloring similar to me, and my dad has dark hair and blue eyes. How did those parents create a blond son? Genetics! Hooray genetics!

Another thing to remember is that for a cat, white is a "masking" color as opposed to being a color in and of itself. If you want to think of it as something akin to albino-ism, you probably could and nobody would fault you. Unless you tell them you think that way, at which time, they may point and laugh. But what it means is that just because the cat is white doesn't mean she's not a speckled tabby at heart, so to speak.

Same goes for personality. Cats is cats. They do what they want and nobody really knows why.

Thank you, D.H. for your question! Keep 'em coming, guys! askmisskittyanything@gmail.com

Comparative Beauty

E.C. asks, "Miss Kitty,

Which is more beautiful, a baby's smile, a perfectly prepared platter of buffalo tofu or a pet curled up on your lap?

In any of the above, how much is it's beauty reduced if experienced while watching a repeat of "Three and a half men"?"

Hi, E.C. Good to hear from you. Though I will say that I think your question requires a bit more clarification. I'm guessing you're asking which is more beautiful to me because beauty is subjective and the only opinions I can have are my own. Unless I steal someone else's, which happens from time to time, but in the stealing process, I usually add a bit of my own flare to make it mine. So I am going to answer your question from my own perspective. Because that is easiest and I'm lazy.

We can eliminate the platter of buffalo tofu right out. While the buffalo sauce may have a nice color to it, tofu is not pretty. It's just not. Tasty when smothered in buffalo sauce, but not pretty. Moving on.

The smile of a baby is gorgeous, as is having a pet curled up in your lap. If we are talking about my niece and my cat, that's a really tough call. If we're talking about this baby and my cat, my cat wins, hands down. Especially when he sort of rolls onto his side so I can scritch his tummy and he does that pawing at the air thing 'cuz he's happy and then he lets me hold his hand for a minute before he curls back up into a tiny ball with his paw over his eyes to block out any excess light that may be creeping in. Or when he is at the other end of the hallway and can hear me putting a blanket on my lap so he comes running, a flat out run to get into my lap and fall asleep, that just melts me. More than any random baby's smile ever could.

However, my niece is gorgeous. Seriously. I know everyone says their kid or their niece or their nephew is the cutest kid ever, but mine really is. I've been saying she is for the past year and a half she's been alive and then when I show people pictures of her, they go, "Wow! She really is cute," like I had been lying or making it up. She is what every parent hopes their child will be - adorable, smart, funny, sweet. Beautiful little kid. And when she smiles at you...let's just say she could make the Grinch's heart grow four sizes. Yes, she is cuter than Cindy Lou Who, who is pretty damn cute. Come on. If she crawled into your lap and asked for a Barbie Dream House, you'd go find one, body image issues be damned.

So it's a tough call. If my niece sat in my lap with my cat, who was curled up around my hand that was scritching his tummy, and my niece looked up at me and smiled, I think my head would explode from the beauty of it. So for the sake of my own health, here's hoping my niece never comes over to my house to meet my cat.

Side note: Really cute story. I met my cousin's new baby boy over the weekend. He's only five weeks old so he hasn't really learned to smile or make eye contact yet. But in that way that babies can psyche you out, there was a moment when he was lying on the floor and I was holding his hand that I swear he looked at me and the one corner of his mouth started to pull back like the beginnings of a smile. And I couldn't help it - I cried. Felt like a total moron, but this tiny, perfect, beautiful baby boy was trying to smile at me. How could I not?

Regarding the reduction in beauty given what I'm assuming is supposed to be an unpleasant outside circumstance (I've not heard of this "Three and a Half Men." I've seen a few episodes of "Two and a Half Men" - are they related? Did the change the name of the show since the kid grew up? Did the kid have his own kid and that's the new "half?"), I don't think outside circumstances have as much effect on the beauty of the situation as one might think. If one is as skilled at appreciating beauty as I am (and let's face it, I'm good), one can sort of tune out the background noise and just enjoy the warmth of the cat on my lap. And when we're playing with my niece, we're not watching TV. Or if the television is on, it's football. She loves football.

Thank you, E.C. for your question! Keep 'em coming, guys! askmisskittyanything.blogspot.com