In cats the allele for short hair is dominant over the allele for long hair. A short haired male and long haired female have kittens. Eight kittens have short hair and 3 have long hair. A) What are genotypes of the parents? B) What is the expected ratio of short to long haired cats? C) What Is the actual ratio in this problem?

Genotype of parents:                  Ss     x     ss

Genotype of offsprings:                  Ss    ss

Expected ratio of short to long:      2  :   2 = 1 :  1

The actual ratio in this problem is Eight kittens have short hair and 3 have long hair: 8 : 3

Explanation:

In cats the allele for short hair is dominant over the allele for long hair. (SS or Ss for short hair; ss for long hair).

A short haired male and long haired female have kittens. Eight kittens have short hair and 3 have long hair.

For the parents to have been able to produce long haired offsprings, it means both parents possess one copy each of the recessive traits. Thus we have

Phenotype of parent: A short haired male and long haired female

Genotype of parents:                  Ss     x     ss

Genotype of offsprings:                  Ss    ss

Expected ratio of short to long:      2  :   2 = 1 :  1

The actual ratio in this problem is Eight kittens have short hair and 3 have long hair: 8 : 3