Can Orange Cats Be Female

Solid orange simply is not a color trait found in cats.

Can orange cats be female. Photography by casey elise photography. How the genetics work is. The color of a cats coat is closely linked to its gender. The university of california davis surveyed.

In the cat the gene for the orange color is located on the x chromosome and is recessive. Calico and tortoiseshell cats are female because the orange gene is carried on the sex linked x chromosome. We have many female orange tabby cats in my practice. Like us the orange color is a recessive gene both parents need to have it in order to obtain an orange female since they have 2 x chromosomes 1 from each parent.

Hence a female orange tabby cat requires the sire and the dam to pass on the orange genes. Females possess two xs and males possess xy. In reality orange tabby cats can also be female. You can have a golden tabby a silver tabby a cream tabby or a yellow tabby.

The reason for this comes down to the genetic makeup of orange tabby cats. The pattern can be any of the four that are discussed above and thats what makes them even more different than the regular tabby cat. But not every tabby is an orange cat. Males only have to inherit one orange gene to appear orange while females have to inherit two.

To obtain an orange female the mother must be a calico or orange cat and the dad must be orange as well. Perhaps you know this from knowing garfield but the orange tabby is a cat that loves to eat. Well its not that orange female cats are rare it is simply that an orange cat is more likely to be a male. Most orange cats are male and most calicos are female.

Orange tabby cats are about 8020 male to female. Amanda wraycc by 20 female orange tabby cats arent uncommon. Calico and tortoiseshell cats however are almost always female. For a female cat to be orange she must inherit two orange genes one from her mother orange calico or tortoiseshell and one from her father who must be orange.

Additionally all orange tabbies are orange but not all tabbies are orange. The x chromosome is responsible for the orange coloring. Orange cats can have long or short hair. There is no monetary value per se associated with a female orange tabby cat.

The percentages are quite low though with only 20 of all orange tabby cats being female. All orange cats have stripe patterns however faint. As you may recall from high school biology mammals have two chromosomes that determine their sexxx for females and xy for males. A male cat needs only one orange gene which he gets from his mother orange calico or tortoiseshell.