We recently adopted two black kittens - littermates, both female. They are absolutely lovely little girlies and we’re enjoying them immensely. The problem is that they are both black without any distinguishing markings - even the vet was surprised at how difficult they were to tell apart. We’ve put different coloured collars on these young ladies and they’ve been good sports about it, for the most part (one did ditch the collar a time or two). However, I think we need a failsafe here - does anyone have any suggestions on ways to safely visually differentiate these chickies?
I think you’ll find that as you get to know them better and as they get bigger they won’t seem so identical. One will seem obviously fluffier, or to have larger ears, etc. I’ve owned a pair of unmarked grey cats, and a pair of matched tabbies, and soon came to think they didn’t look that much alike at all (“see, Smokey is larger, and Bandit has a more round face, and Smokey is fluffier, and Bandit has a shorter tail and…”)
Red polish on the claws of one, and light blue polish of the claws of the other. It will wear off, which is why they should each have a color. It should probably match their collars, so the colors are just examples.
Obviously, you may have to get close up to see, so squaring the tail of one is a good idea.
You will probably eventually learn to tell them apart, the way parents learn to tell their twins apart. They have differences, it’s just remembering which differences go with which twin. There were twins in my son’s preschool, and after seeing them every day, it became clear that there were small differences, but it was hard to remember which one had the cowlick that was further to the left, and which one had a squint to his right eye when he smiled.
Also, they will learn their names (it takes cats longer than dogs, but they learn them), and you will be able to tell which one is responsive to which name. Don’t give them rhyming, or otherwise sound-alike names.
Seriously, these kiddos do not photograph well - it’s just an undifferentiated mass of black fur when the two of them are together.
Thanks, Lorene89095, I might try this - they only have little pointy rat tails right now, so it would make quite a difference.
I know this will most likely be the case sooner or later ( I hope, anyway!), it’s just right now I’m having issues.
It’s funny, between my husband and me, we’ve had our fair share of cats over the years, but we’re new to this situation. Thanks for all the suggestions!