Because calicos are slightly unusual, they have some degree of rarity value. Why are calico cats popular?Ĭalicos of all breeds are quite popular for their eye-catching and colourful coats they also lack the tortoiseshell’s reputation for moodiness and attitude, although most owners agree that calico cats are quite sassy enough. I’m not sure if calicos are especially prone to the condition but it was certainly a memorable effect. Twice I’ve encountered callies with a blue eye on the ginger half of the face and a green eye on the part with a black patch. Typically these cats have had a patch of colour over one of their eyes, with the darker eye being on the side with the darker fur. More than once I’ve seen a calico cat with heterochromia - eyes of different colours. They may also have any combination of these. They may have any possible feline eye colour: blue, green, yellow, orange, or a deep amber that’s almost brown. Similarly, breeds with pointed colourations such as Siamese cats cannot be registered as pure-bred cats if they have calico patterns, since they must be mixed to have the calico gene.Įye colours in calico cats vary greatly. Breeds with solid colours (like the Russian Blue, the panther-like Bombay cat and the British Shorthair) can’t be calicos, although mixes between these and other breeds may produce a calico cat. There are around 16 breeds which can produce kittens who have calioc colouration. The calico pattern belongs to no specific breed and does not designate a particular type of cat. Do the responsible thing and have your calico boy de-sexed as soon as he’s big enough. A cat owner might be interested in a male calico as a curiosity but they are not especially valuable. Breeders do not want male calico cats for stud as they tend to have health problems, which may be passed on to their offspring. Some people imagine that a fertile male calico should produce more male calicos and should also fetch a high price. His offspring are unlikely to be especially healthy and he should not be used for stud. If your male calico is the one in 10,000 who happens to be fertile, of course, he should still most definitely be neutered. This produces a tortoiseshell or calico cat with male genitalia. These XXY cats are physically male however, they can have the orange gene on one X and the non-orange gene on the other X chromosome. These cats have a Y chromosome but instead of just one X, they have two. In some rare cases, however, a cat is born with a condition called Klinefelter syndrome. Male cats normally have XY chromosomes and therefore only one of the orange or non-orange genes. For this reason, tortoiseshell and calico cats are almost always female. This means that two X chromosomes are necessary for both genes to be present, otherwise the cat will not have those mottled or patched markings. For a cat to have tortie or calico markings, there needs to be both a copy of the gene for orange fur and the gene for no orange fur. This mutant gene is carried on the X chromosome. Calico and tortoiseshell cats have a mutant version of the genes for orange and non-orange colouration, which causes their beautiful mottled and patched coats. The genes that create calico markings are essentially the same as those for tortoiseshell fur, except for an additional expression of the gene for white spotting. Why are calico cats popular? What percentage of calico cats are female?Īll but a tiny fraction of a percent of calico cats are born female.What percentage of calico cats are female?.
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