r/cats Calico 25d ago

Cat Picture - Not OC Searching for the lost toy

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u/Material-Scale4575 25d ago

"She" is holding her buddy. Tricolor=female

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u/UnGatito 25d ago

Not always though, there are make tricolor cats, just not as many.

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u/ThePocketPanda13 25d ago

Yes, but theyre even more rare than an orange female. Around %20-25 of orange cats are female, while %0.03 tricolored cats are male.

The reason for this is because, to simplify it a whole lot because genetics is complicated, the orange gene is essentially a recessive gene for females but not for males.

Tricolors are more complicated, so without getting into the "why" im just going to leave it at the conclusion that the tricolor pattern requires 2 X chromosomes. In order to have a male tricolor he would have to have XXY chromosomes, a genetic defect. Not to worry though, besides being slightly more prone to certain diseases and being sterile this genetic defect has almost no impact on your cats health

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u/Juror_Number_4 25d ago

Neither vet knew why, but two different ones told me that for some reason in my area 50-60% of orange cats are actually female. 🤷‍♂️ One wandered up while I was building something in my back yard and never left.

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u/SuitableDragonfly 25d ago

If all or almost all of the cats in your area are orange, that would do it. Orange mom + orange dad = all orange kittens, so it's totally possible for your local cat population to be 100% orange.