Bobtail calico tabby6/21/2023 ![]() For example, the siamese/burmese genes, from most to least colored:īurmese/Siamese/blue-eyed white/pink-eyed white (albino) Some genes are incompletely dominant to each other, and are part of a series. White locketing (small spots on chest and/or groin) recessive Silver (inhibits hair color at roots) dominant (Here we refer to the dominant form, which is masking over the previous colors. Actually, there's a separate shade of red/cream to match each of the previous colors, but it's hard to tell them apart, unless you're dealing with a tortoiseshell or patched tabby, which has the non-red areas to give you a hint.) (red and cream are sex-linked, on the X gene, and mask the previous colors. Red cream (ranges from yellowish to tannish or buff) (a light reddish brown, found mostly in Siamese and Abyssinians) ![]() (chocolate is a recessive gene which changes black to brown) And *any* of the kittens could have white markings, or not. Whether she will produce tabbies or not depends on the genetic makeup of the sire. But at minimum, she can produce red and non-red sons, and patched tabby/tortoiseshell/calico daughters, as well as non-red daughters. The colors a calico will produce depend on the color of the sire. (And on other solid colors, you can sometimes notice the underlying stripes, especially in strong light.) Solid red cats at cat shows may or may not be genetically solid-they are (generally longhairs) bred for the "blurring" of the tabby pattern, producing a cat that doesn't have dramatic markings. The red gene "overrides" the solid gene, making the tabby pattern visible again. The non-agouti gene does not affect phaeomelanin, the red pigment, so red cats always show their tabby pattern. Cats who are non-agouti will not generally display the tabby pattern, except in red areas. There's another gene at work which controls "agoutiness" (whether individual hairs are banded or solid). But not "impossible", in the sense that a male calico is "impossible."Ī "solid red" cat will always display the tabby pattern (although it may be very slight or even undetectable without brushing the fur back to check). Red males and tortie/calico/patched tabby females can be produced when only one parent has the red gene, but to produce a red female, you must cross a red male with a red/tortie/calico/patched tabby female. The reason red females are "uncommon" is that, statistically, the number of red males is equal to the number of tortoiseshell/calico, patched tabby, and red females. However, the generalization that "all calicos/torties are female" is true 99.999 percent of the time. While they are most commonly sterile, there *are* documented cases of fertile male calicos. Male calicos have genetic aberrations of various sorts, of which XXY is most common. ![]() This is also why male calicos are so rare: you have to have two X genes to be a calico. This is why you see more male red tabbies than females. A female cat who is homozygous for red (has it on both X genes) will be a red tabby. A female cat who carries one red and one non-red X will be a patched tabby, a tortoiseshell, or a calico (if she also has the dominant gene for white markings). Therefore, a male cat whose X carries red will be a red tabby. ![]() Red in cats is a sex-linked color, carried on the X gene. Having more white seems to encourage the formation of the big patches. The pattern of black/red or blue/cream can either be in big dramatic patches, brindling, or some of both. A blue-cream and white is generally referred to in the cat world as a dilute calico. This is the same gene that turns black cats 'blue' (grey), and red cats cream. A tortoiseshell that is homozygous for the recessive 'dilution' gene is referred to as a blue-cream, and that's what color it is: patches of soft grey and cream. A cat with patches of red and black is a tortoiseshell, or 'tortie'. ![]()
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