Commonly, humans change their colors accordingly after the chameleon, but to your surprise, cats do change their colors, and here is why your beloved cat does so!
Aging
The first reason for color change is the aging process of cats, and as in humans, hair gets gray in old age; the same goes for cats. Aging is a harmless process, so you don’t need to worry, and if you don’t like the gray color of your cat, you can take her to a hairdresser to color her hair. Many other factors affect skin coating in cats. So stay alert for the kitty’s health because it’s challenging to find those gray strands in light-colored cats, but if you have a black breed, you have advantages.
Vitiligo
Vitiligo is a disease that can be caused when pigment-producing cells stop working. This affects humans, dogs, and even cats also. In this disease, the person loses their skin color in patches, or sometimes complete skin loss can occur. Unfortunately, this disease also affects cats which leads to hair changes. The disease mostly starts in the nose area of the cats and later causes depigmentation and forms a spider-like web on the white fur of the cat, especially in the black cat because it is easily visible in the black color cat.
Copper deficiency
If you are noticing your cat’s hair is changing from black colored hair to reddish brown or brown colored hair, and you are not aware of why let me tell you it can be due to a deficiency of copper nutrients in the body of your beloved cat. The symptoms of this deficiency include:
- Dull and dry hair.
- Loss of hair pigment.
- Hair washout appearance on the cat’s body due to hair loss in patches.
If the mentioned symptoms are in consideration, you should immediately consult your veterinarian.
Excess zinc
Excess of anything is always bad, even if it is zinc. The excess zinc causes toxicity in cats and leads to lightening up of the skin color. Zinc toxicity can cause vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, lack of appetite, and even depression in cats. This condition is deadly, so you should consult a veterinarian as soon as possible because it is tricky to detect in lightened-hair cats.
Temperature sensitivity
Some breeds of cats are temperature sensitive, like the Himalayas, Siamese, and other Himalayas breeds. Their body extremities, like feet, tails, ears, and faces, are cooler and have darker patches compared to other body parts that are lightened in color. The temperature affects the melanin, which is why the lightening of hair color is easily visible in summer.
Nutrient deficiency
Proteins are the building blocks of the body, and amino acids are the building blocks of the proteins. 11 essential amino acids are necessary for the human body, and the most crucial amino acid for cats is Tyrosine. Tyrosine is responsible for melanin production in the body, and melanin is responsible for pigment production in the body. When the kitty lacks melanin, it leads to skin discoloration or body hair changes. If your cat is turning reddish brown from entirely black, this is due to a lack of melanin because melanin is a leading factor in pigment production. The melanin requirement can be fulfilled by adding meat, fish, and other amino acids to the cat’s diet. If the problem is still the same, you should consult your veterinarian as soon as possible.
Sunlight
The sunlight causes bleaching of the hair color of the cat because the UV rays destroy the melanin of the body, which is responsible for the pigmentation of the skin color. It is like the tanning of body hairs in cats. It has no side effects, and it can be avoided by reducing excessive exposure to sunlight which also restores melanin in the body.
Organ failure
As we know, the leading factor for body pigmentation or body color is melanin, and the factor responsible for melanin production is Tyrosine. Melanin is produced from the process of translation, and translation takes place in the liver. The concern is if the melanin production is affected, it can be due to liver dysfunction or maybe a problem in the kitty’s liver. Sometimes high rich amino acid supplements also cause renal failure and liver dysfunction.
Natural shedding
Natural shedding also occurs in cats during the springs and falls season. Changes in temperature in different seasons trigger them to change in skin color. The process of shedding can be seen in black cat breeds compared to light colors. The warm season restores melanin causing black hair color, and the cold season lacks melanin causing lightening hair color.
