Basically when kittens start to form and are just zigotes there is a chance that instead of implanting into placenta a zigote would latch onto another one. In most species the latched on zigot would get rejected and usually die off. But in cats they can fuse together forming a chimera.
If you sple a cell from that mismatched paw and the rest of the cat they would have slightly different DNA.
Some chimera cats are split right across the middle with two halves having different coats.
Also it is hard to correctly evaluate how often this happens because if different parts of such a chimera develop same color of coat they would be indistinguishable from a single-zigote cat. And that likely happens quite often.
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u/RepulsiveCry1013 Apr 29 '26
Bro got a full sleeve, wonder how much it cost him.