# Calico / Tortie / Torbie



## Padunk (Oct 20, 2003)

I've always called Elly a tortoiseshell, not really knowing exactly what one really was. I was told she was a tortie when I adoped her. Anyway, lots of people refer to her as a calico so I decided to figure out the differences.

I came on this link:
http://www.texankitties.com/calico.htm

It distinguishes the differences between the three types of cats; calico, tortie, and torbie.

Since Elly is mostly white and only has tabby stripes in her red (orange) fur, I concluded that she's in fact a calico cat. 

I guess my question is, can anyone else verify that this web site is accurate and that my conclusion is correct?


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## KerriKitty (Feb 10, 2004)

I agree and would say Elly is a calico.

I have had a similar question about my own cats. When I got them, the shelter called them calicos, but my vet says they are torties. After just reading that link, I am going with torties. Lola is a blue/cream dilute tortie and Molly is undiluted with black/red markings. They both have a lot of white, but the rest of the colors are mixed up and not in patches like calicos.

This picture shows their markings fairly well:
http://public.fotki.com/MizKerri/the_ki ... wseat.html

Molly has tabby stripe markings in her orange/red fur like Elly does too. Especially around her face.


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## Sol (Feb 20, 2003)

As I've understood it a calico is a tortie with white spotting no matter how the tortie markings looks.

A tortie is a solid tortie.

A torbie is a tortie with tabby markings. If the torbie has white spotting however I jave no idea what you would call her. Torbie calico?

Now, if Elly only has tabby markings on the red and the black fur is indeed black she's a calico. All red cats have tabby markings, more or less. In fact all solid cats have tabby markings but it doesn't show in a solid cat unless it is a red one. In Sweden we call this kind of tabby markings "ghost markings".


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## Padunk (Oct 20, 2003)

Yep, Elly is indeed a calico. There's pretty much no doubt about it.

Thanks for the help


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## mds511 (Apr 22, 2004)

*Definitions*

Here are the definitions we use in CFA registrations-Calico-cat showing solid patches of red/black and white-no tabby markings or brindling.Tortie-a black and orange brindled cat-minimal white is allowed,if alot of white it is a tortie and white.Torbie a tabby marked tortie or calico.Then you have dilutes of all the above with blue and cream instead of black/red.Then there are smoke varieties of all the above-having a smoked undercoat.Hope this helps Marla


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## Anne Gro (Apr 25, 2004)

I have just now joined this forum and I have been reading some of the messages posted here. I have a black tortoiseshell smoke w/white girl, and I think this question about calico/tortie is just a question of language. Below is a link to a website defining colors/breeds in Europe.

http://www.siamese.mundikat.nl/subweb/s ... es/ems.htm

No mention of calico there, and I have only seen this word being used on US websites. So I think it is quite simple - it is not a tortie or a calico - it is both! 
My understanding is that "calico" more describes the pattern (patches of color), so you would not call all tortoiseshell cats a calico, only those with clear patches of color. 

A tortoiseshell with white markings is called tortoiseshell w/white no matter how little white there is. My girl is a black tortoiseshell smoke w/white, and she has got only two white toes and a tiny spot in her face.


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## Padunk (Oct 20, 2003)

It's all complicated for me because I'm colorblind and have trouble distinguishing browns/oranges/reds. 

What I was led to believe by researching online, is that calicos and torties have black/red/white but the main difference is calicos are mostly white while torties are mostly black.

My Elly is Calico:









The tortie in this link is what I thought they looked like.

No big deal to me, it wouldn't bother me if my Elly had pink and purple pok-a-dots, i'd still be happy.


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