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Natalie Jeremijenko »

Calico cats and feline genetics

Calico CatYou may not know the cat in the photo to the left. But did you know you can safely assume that she’s a female?

That’s because the gene that carries orange/red coloration (”O”) is only carried on the female X chromosome. A male (with an XY chromosome) can only have one O gene, but a female could have two…and if one O is dominant and one “o” is recessive, you’ll get a tricolored cat. (About one in 3000 tricolored cats are male…it happens only if they get three sex chromosomes instead of two.)

For an excellent introductory article about tricolor cats and their genetic makeup, see Torties, Calicos and Tricolor Cats by Barbara French. Tortoiseshell cats are another type of tricolor cat, and there’s a good wikipedia article about them.

Another genetic trait you might notice in cats is that all-white cats are more prone to deafness. My family often had white farm cats while growing up, and the ones who grew up to both be white and have blue eyes as adults were almost always deaf.

If you want to get very specific about the color and markings of a cat, Cat Colors FAQ: Common Colors by Orca Starbuck and David Thomas is a good starting place, and Coat Colors and Patterns includes some photos to get you started.

Calico cat photo by zenera

This entry was posted on Friday, November 24th, 2006 at 7:07 am and is filed under Cats, Hacks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.



14 Responses to “Calico cats and feline genetics”

  1. Ihave a question that you perhaps can answer–I have four cats. The first two adopted us–one male, one female with the female pregnant at the time. She is a brown tabby and he is a cream Himalayan/Persian mix.We have two of her offspring–same litter, 21/2 years old. One is a tabby very similar to mother but with some of male cat’s colors so we don’t much question her paternity. My question is re: the other offspring. He is a “tuxedo cat”—very black with a white chest and feet. They all live with us (and have all been “spayed and neutered)and we have always been curious as to whether it is genetically possible for the male “tuxedo” kitten to be the offspring of the male (cream Himalayan/Persian) adult and our female tabby. He has many of the same ratherunique mannerisms as the adult male but could have just acquired them from living with him since birth.Can you help or point me in right direction. Just terribly curious

  2. Wow, Amy, I don’t know! I’ll try to do a little research and see if I can find something helpful!

  3. Yes, it is possible for one litter of kittens to have 2 fathers. It’s called “superfecundation”. Cats have “induced ovulation”, which means that breeding stimulates the ovaries to release eggs. They are able to mate several times a day for 3 – 4 days.

    Hope this helps!

    Kay

  4. Can female calico cats reproduce?

  5. Hi Marietta – yes, certainly they can reproduce. I’m not aware of any “defects” associated with calico cats, but they can definitely have kittens.
    -t

  6. I took in a pregnant female calico and she had a litter of 12 (runt passed away :-(

    There must have been 3 different fathers…Oh my gosh! :-O

  7. I have a calico cat… Her mother was also a calico she had a litter of 6. they were all calicos… it just seems musterious…

  8. I have a great calico cat that I have had for 5 years she has had 5 litters. Everytime she goes in heat she leaves my house and does not come back until she has her babies. All her litters have been healthy I have kept two from two of her different litters. One is a male flame point simease and the other is siamese with beautiful markings. The male is the flame point and got his sister from another litter pregnant. Plus I think he got his mother pregnant also. I am kind of scared cause people tell me that they may come out disfigured or else will be dead it that true.

  9. Hi Celia – It’s true that there’s a greater chance of genetic abnormalities, but those probably aren’t common.

    Still, why continue taking that chance? It would be great if you spay and neuter the cats. There are so many cats in the world, and not enough homes for all of them (especially ones that have genetic problems).

  10. Will someone please read Amy Brook’s original question again and answer it? I am still curious to know if her Himalayan/Persian mix could be the father of the black and white tuxedo cat. That was the original question,was it not? Thanks for all the other info. Cool site.:)
    ^..^
    >“<

  11. Betty -
    I’m not a feline genetic expert and I don’t have an answer for you. The subject appears to be complex; someone with more time to research might find these to be good starting points:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicolor_cat
    http://www.messybeast.com/bicolours.htm
    http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/10_00/cats_not_peas_review.php
    http://scarletpanda.blogspot.com/2006/02/lessons-in-cat-genetics-part-ii-white.html

    Good luck!

  12. We have had 2 male calico kittens come from a certain calico female. The first one only had a small calico spot on his belly.

    The second was a totally covered calico male kitten. He grew into quite a big kitten. He was about twice the size of the other kittens after they were about 6 weeks old.

    We finally gave him away because we just have too many cats. He sure was a cool kitten.

  13. our tortie had a litter of kittens … 2 male black, 1 female orange tabby, 1 female orange and white, 2 male calicos… it was a really odd litter given the statistics on female orange cats (only 20%) and male calicos (1 in 3000 to have one, not sure what that means for two in one litter) the calicos have chocolate brown eyes too, which i had never seen…

    my tortie really outdid herself :D

  14. i have a calico cat that is about 10 months old. she is in heat right now and i just want to know…… do they mate with any male cats?