Changing coat colour on kittens

Question
QUESTION: I have 5 cats, two of them are kittens.The kittens' age is 4 months old.They are both male, the one is orange tabby and the other is grey/silver tabby with white parts.
A few weeks ago I noticed that white hairs on their back started forming a line.Now, several days later, that white line is replaced by the orange/black hairs for each kitten.
Is this a normal change on their coat?One of my adult cats is calico, and I've seen changes on her coat colour throughout her first year so I didn't worry much.
Thanks in advance

ANSWER: Stef,

I have a few questions for you that I hope will help me to get a better picture of what's happening here.

- What are these kittens eating? Commercially produced food (brand)? Homemade diet?

- Do the kittens go outside at all?

- Do you give these kittens any supplements?

- Are these kittens on any medications prescribed by a licensed veterinarian?

- Have these kittens completed a decent deworming program?

- Do you apply flea preventatives like Advantage on a monthly basis?

- Have you recently bathed the kittens (before the kittens' coats changed color)?

- Do you groom the kittens frequently with a deshedding tool?

Hopefully the answers to these questions will help me to figure out what's happening here. Please keep in mind that I'm not a licensed vet, if the color changing coats actually are related to a medical issue then I'd recommend seeking the advice of a holistic veterinarian (trained in conventional medicine as well as one or more alternative medicine practices which could include homeopathy, acupuncture, massage or herbal medicine to name a few options). I look forward to hearing back from you so that we can figure out what's happening with these babies.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi!
The kittens are switched on kibble cat food.All of my cats eat that.Once a week I add wet food to their kibble just for a change.
We have a big garden so I let the kittens play and run in the garden while I'm doing the gardening,feeding/playing with the dogs,they are supervised and they never try to get out of the garden(I guess keeping them strictly in the house for the first few weeks did the trick!)
No,they haven't completed any deworming programs.
I applied a flea preventative a long time ago,but since it didn't really work neither with the dogs,I starting making my own homemade flea preventative made of lemons and water,which works really well.
No,I haven't bathed the kittens.I only groom them with a soft brush because they are not too fluffy yet.

Thanks for your reply and willing to help me!

Answer
Stef,

I would strongly suggest that you consider checking out catinfo.org & catnutrition.org because there's a considerable amount of information about feline nutrition on each of these sites that I think you could use in order to help your pets stay as healthy as possible for as long as possible. The catinfo.org site was designed by a veterinarian who wanted to educate kitty caregivers about their feline companion's unique nutritional needs and how best to meet them.

Deworming programs could help the situation if your kittens have a serious enough parasite burden to cause deficiencies within their system. Parasites most likely won't be scared off by lemon and water for any length of time. If you want to go with the most natural routes when it comes to flea control I'd suggest that you consider making a trip to your local health food store and either picking up flea collars made with all natural ingredients that repel fleas or some food grade diatomaceous earth (similar to the stuff chinchillas roll around in for their dust baths). By applying food grade diatmoaceous earth the fleas die as a result of dehydration as far as I understand it. There is a possibility that you may be bleaching the kittens' coats slightly with the acid in the lemons, but I would think your other pets would be experiencing the same symptoms with their coats.

I highly suggest that you groom your kittens by brushing them out with a curry comb if they're short haired and an appropriate brush (deshedding/dematting tool and there are other tools for everyday use, the deshedding tool and the dematting tool are specifically to get rid of dead fur and comb through mats to remove them) if they're long haired. If you have any further questions, concerns or you'd like me to clarify anything in this answer for you please, feel free to contact me again.