# Does anyone understand coat colors?



## smoda61 (Oct 4, 2017)

Hey all,

For those that have seen me around, you know we adopted a boy, Han Solo, in September to be company for our girl, Kalico, who passed away Nov 29 because of FIP. 

Anyhow, last Thursday, we brought a new rescue into our house, Harry. He is a sweet boy which is why we thought he was a good match for Han and our crazy lifestyle. While at the shelter, the man that runs it made a comment about Harry that I never would have thought of and I am coming to you all for input. He commented how Harry might be the unusual case of a male cat having both black and orange coloring like a calico. Harry clearly has black, and there are certainly areas of his fur that are an orange tone, but I know there are many color variants that act like other colors. So, does anyone have thoughts or comments on Harry's coloring and what that might or might not mean about his genetics. Looking forward to your thoughts.  

PS I was curious enough that I was looking for genetic testing to sort this out. To much avail.....


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

I would say his color is _brown mackeral tabby and white_. Sometimes browns the color he is hav some orangey tones.....likely one of his parents is orange tabby color. He's a gorgeous cat! There can be male tortoiseshell color cats, but they are quite rare.


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## amy22 (Jul 5, 2013)

He is beautiful coloring, I love his facial markings. I don't know much about the coat colorings though, except that calico/tortiseshell is usually female as the cat has to have 2 x chromosomes. If any of his history is known it might help answer if its possible. For example if he's known to have fathered offspring he couldn't have 2 x chromosomes. Klinefelter humans (the condition where males have 2 x chromosomes and a y) usually have small testes, but I don't know if this is the same for cats, and I'm betting he's neutered. 

He looks like a sweetie though!


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## smoda61 (Oct 4, 2017)

Harry is very sweet and very mellow. I definitely would prefer than Harry is not an xxy as who knows what else comes with that medically. But at the same time, I do not want to ignore that possibility and not have him be getting the right monitoring.

Catloverami - I too was thinking that the orange tone might just be a brown variant and would not have even though about this had the shelter owner not made his comment.

He is also the softest cat I have ever touched.


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

Aww, congrats smoda! Harry looks like a sweetie, and I love the tiny bit of white on his forehead.  The first time I looked up what a tabby with patches of white fur was called, I must have searched through 8 or 9 pages of Google results before accepting that it was just called a tabby with white, lol. I think we should come up with a more creative name. :mrgreen:

I had a brown tabby whose coat was reddish/orange, but she was completely tabby, no white or other colors. I see a patch of all black fur, like you'd see on a calico, on Harry's hind leg. Does he also have a patch of orange fur, or was the man at the shelter referring to the orange tone in his tabby coat?


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## smoda61 (Oct 4, 2017)

Sprite, Harry is very sweet. He is more mellow that I could have imagined. As for the orange fur, Harry's muffle has an orange tone as can be seen in the picture. I thought I included another picture that shows his belly (I'll add it now). There you can see and orange tone all around his white belly before the tabby pattern goes up his sides and back. The question is is that orange and normal option in a male brown tabby or does that orange gave a different cause to it. I have no idea. Maybe the second picture will generate more opinions.


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