Kitten twins

We called Ginger and Marmalade the terrible twins (although they are really very sweet) – but are they really twins?   It’s actually rare for cats to give birth to identical twins, when they are lookalikes it’s usually because they share the same mother and father.   It’s even quite possible for kittens in the same litter to be half brothers and sisters as mum may mate with more than one tom cat.  It’s a survival of the species thing – she-cats don’t fall in love so when they are in season they are promiscuous, and male cats will mate with any available female.   Diversity is what it’s all about.  It’s why a recent litter has gingers, black and tabby kittens and differing shapes and sizes!

Only occasionally does a single fertilized egg split into two to create kittens with the same genetic make up.   Have we had any identical twin kittens born this year?    I don’t think so, lots of same parentage obviously, but real twin kittens are very rare.

If anyone has identical twin cats or kittens, we’d love to hear about them.