Question about orange female cats

[Canadian Socialist]

Twice this week, I've been told that orange female cats are rare. Now, is this so? I'm not talking about pedigrees; I'm talking about short/long hair domestic North American cats.... the most common type. I have living with me a female long hair orange/white female. As I've said, this is apparently quite rare (the female part). Can anyone confirm/deny this?

[WolverineDG]

1. I don't know

but the female orange tabby that I have came from a litter of 5--3 females, 2 males, all including mom were orange tabbies. Dad must have been too.

:)

dg

[liontamer]

2. yes it is

orange hair is an X linked trait, so a male need get the trait from his mother (who can be a calico) . A female has two X chromosomes and needs the orange gene to be on both in order to be orange. Thus she must get it from both parents. If she only has one orange gene, she can't be all orange.

[havocmom]

4. yep. Orange females take a lot of special conditions

And I have yet to meet an orange cat that wasn't highly social.

[pitohui]

6. oh god i've met an orange cat that isn't highly social

to put it mildly, this orange cat is a menace on wheels, he's a rescue and has never forgiven humanity for rescueing, feeding, and caring for him, he's vicious! if he was a dog, he woulda been put down a decade ago

so be assured there are anti-social psycho orange cats out there

dunno abt the females tho

[havocmom]

7. Bet he was probably mistreated something awful

My daughter has adopted 3 shelter cats. One took years to get over fear of men and anybody with anything like a stick. Poor guy had really messed up ears. He lived to a ripe old age and was happy and confident by then.

Her newer shelter adoptees are coming along great. One was just insecure as previous owner was very old and either died or had to go to a nursing home. Suddenly the cats were wrenched from their home and put in the shelter, seperated and terrified. That little gem is doing very well now after a couple years of devotion from her new momma.

Some of them never recover from mistreatment. Makes ya wanna have a good dalk with the abusers.

[pitohui]

9. probably so but crap!

he has had ten years of great treatment if not obscene spoiling, you'd think you could get over it by now

[havocmom]

14. Too often, scars are permanent

people too

[pitohui]

16. well i'm sure you're right

jeez louise if this cat had been a human he's be one of those serial killers w. a sad, sorry background you hear about, i wear boots to their house, this cat actually sneaks up on people and gnaws their ankles

[spinbaby]

17. Some never warm up to people

I have a friend who for years had a cat named Miss Helmsley. She hated him from the moment he trapped her feral majesty outside until she died of old age. She never got shots and she never got spayed because, as he put it, he'd have to hit her over the head to get her to the vet. But he figured his other cats (everyone was indoor only) were fixed and had shots so it was okay.

We, by the way, have a lovely little orange marmalade cat named Wilma.

[libnnc]

3. I have an orange long haired tabby female

She THINKS she's rare...god's gift to humans :eyes:

[Lucy - Claire]

12. Lol mine too.....

She is has a red-heads firey, fiesty temperment, she is the boss and at 19, she doesn't yet look old.
She is very stubborn and used to have a terrible temper too.

[riona]

5. found this

Are all Orange Cats Male?

No, but male orange cats outnumber female orange cats by about three to one.

The reason for this has to do with chromosomes and genes, put very simply the same pair of chromosomes that determine whether a cat is male or female, also determine the color of the fur.

Also, why are there so many orange (ginger) and white cats ? (a glance at the orange cat pictures above will confirm this). This is because white is not actually a color, but is in fact the absence of any color, and the gene that is responsible for the repression of color is more powerful than the genes for any of the colors, including orange.

[Arugula Latte]

8. Yes, not nearly as common as males, but my Mom has one.

I LOVE orangies, male or female.

[PollyH]

10. Orange Cats

I have an orange cat. Her name is Savannah. I have been told by numerous sources that an orange female is indeed rare. The orange females are also very sociable -- Savannah is a love and loves everyone, too. Savannah was found wandering around a used car lot and yet is the sweetest thing in the world.

[Lucy - Claire]

11. I have a female ginger cat......

I have always been told they are rare. She is a solidly ginger tabby, I have only known ginger males cats, apart from my own.

[ashling]

13. How, in the name of all that is feline, can you

have a thread about orange cats WITHOUT PICTURES ???
:shrug:

[pitohui]

15. you want a picture?

i stole that one off the fabulous internets, the highly unpleasant orange cat of my acquaintance looks about the same with the evil squinty eyes, except that he is about two-three times as fat and has a tiny white bib dealie

not a fan of the evil-eyed orange cat!

[Flaxbee]

18. MommaKitty brought us three girl kitties last spring...

(we'd been feeding MK for weeks - she just showed up one morning asking for food -and she eventually brought us her babies). She brought us one silver/gray long-haired tabby, one short haired orange/white tabby, and one long-haired orange-blonde tabby. ALL GIRLS. When she first brought us her kittens I was almost sure we had two boys (the oranges) and one female, I was shocked that all were female. And we already had a male orange tabby - he and the female orange/white are almost identical so the little orange/white girl's nickname is "MiniMe"...