Buy Your Chocolate or Lilac Cat From a Reputable Breeder
You’ve been researching cat breeds, decided on the breed you want, and have got your heart set on the beautiful lilac or chocolate kitten. Unfortunately, many breeders who are advertising lilac and chocolate kittens don’t actually have lilac or chocolate kittens but blue kittens or seal (black) kittens. Many people have bought adult cats that are registered as a lilac or chocolate and are not. This can especially be a problem if you bought this cat for breeding purposes. It can be much more difficult for someone looking for a pet cat to recognize whether their perspective kitten is truly lilac or chocolate or not.
Characteristics of Lilac and Chocolate Cats
If the color of your cat is truly important to you, here are some tips to help you recognize the difference between chocolate or seal and lilac or blue cats.
- The paw pads and nose pad of lilac cats are cotton candy pink, and the paw pads and nose pads of chocolate cats are a rose or cinnamon pink. There are Grand Champion Persians and Himalayans without pink noses, but the paw pads probably are. If you want to be really, really certain that your cat is lilac or chocolate, look for pink color on both the nose and paw pads.
- A lilac kitten is a very light, frosty gray, which actually glows with a pinkish hue. This is even more noticeable when the kitten is held up and viewed in sunlight. The ears seem to show the pink color even more than the rest of the cat.
- A chocolate kitten is a very light, milk chocolate color. There are many lighter black cats that breeders headline as chocolate, but once you’ve seen a chocolate cat, there’s just no comparison.
- The fur of a lilac or chocolate color point cat is glacial white! There should be no hints of blue or fawn on the body fur.
- To be lilac or chocolate, there must be chocolate or lilac in the pedigree of the cat. You can get a chocolate or lilac kitten from seal or blue parents, but they most carry the chocolate gene. If in doubt, ask to see the pedigree of the kitten.
- There are now DNA tests to determine the proper color of a cat. If you are purchasing a kitten for breeding purposes, this is an excellent thing to have done! (BEFORE purchasing the kitten.)
Remember, chocolate and lilac are rare colors! Dedicated breeders might wait 18 months to register a cat because they are waiting for their true color to come in. It might take longer for them to be able to breed the cat and produce lilac or chocolate kittens.
Insist on DNA Testing
Another problem area is PKD. Some breeders are so desperate to get the lilac and chocolate colors that they will breed PKD positive cats hoping that a few kittens will be born PKD negative. What a risk! So when you are looking for a breeder of chocolate and lilac cats, make sure that you know what color you are looking for, and make sure that the cats have been tested for Polycystic Kidney Disease.
If you need more help with identifying chocolate and lilac cats, visit Chocolate Cats.com
If you have any questions, feel free to ask or email me a picture of your cat.
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