My 11 year old Tom cat Tom

[dot.haukes]

is black with a white chin and chest, he's was very much a part ferrel cat until we moved here 16 months ago. we have had him since he was born except for from when he was 9 weeks old to 3 months old when a familt with a daughter with autism had him but they returned him cos the daughter treated him very badly, not her fault of course.
so he never reallt became domesticated again and he lived outside.
since moving here he has becaome so domesticated it's hard to get bhim to go out I think i posted about this while ago,
but anyway, i have noticed that this last few months his black coat is turning a rust colour, seriously, iy's like he is turning almost a deep mahogany colour.
Is this old age? I have never before had a cat this long, his mother was my last cat and she died when he was 1, she was hit by a car.

[Beauj]

Dot love, just like us, they can turn color!! Our 8 year old female was wild ginger when we got her, now she is a strawberry blonde - if you please! But still a wee gem - wish I could say same about her son - he fights with the district!

[Buenchico]

This mightbe relevant, Dot,
http://www.cat-world.com.au/Black.htm
but the thyroid, liver and kidney problems referred to there are often, in themselves, nothing more than symptoms of old age.

I've had a black cat whose coat turned reddish brown but he lived for several years after that.

Chris

[pastafreak]

I had always assumed that when a black cats coat turned rusty- it was due to sun exposure.

[Beauj]

pasta, you could be right, but Dot says he never goes out - Maybe he sits on a window ledge soaking up the rays?

[dot.haukes]

ok well whatever it is seems like I need to take him to the vets, I should have a reserved seat there lately lol

[dot.haukes]

Oh he does go out , but under protest. he grew up living on the shed roof at the old house and basked in the direct sun all day!!! actually looking at the pics of him on my pictures and him now, he has also lost quite a bit of weight. never noticed that before.
Good job I work full time, these vets bills are getting silly now.

[lankeela]

One of my (black and tan) dogs has turned gingery brown, and also got a couple of bald patches on his neck. After a blood test it turns out he has an under active thyroid. He is on pills now, and had another blood test after one month to check the levels.

[karenmac60]

My Black cat was a housecat who would lie and sleep on the windowsills and his coat became a more kind of chocolatey colour. When you looked at him in a certain light you could even see stripes in his fur, like a tabby, but from a distance you would have sworn he was a black cat. Maybe you're just not used to seeing his coat up close since he used to be outdoors all the time.

[dot.haukes]

I dunno karen, he's been living in doors more for over a year now but this rusty hue has only appeared these last few months, how ironic would it be if he had developed feline underactive thyroid, cos i suffer from an underactive thyroid too : (

[pastafreak]

Hmmm...but if he had an underactive. thyroid....would he have lost weight as you say??