# Question about Orange Striped Tabby cats



## RbarL (Oct 28, 2004)

Hello,
I have a friend who says, All Orange Striped Tabby cats are males. I doubt this is true but thought I'd ask the masses.

Thanks,

Treva


----------



## Sol (Feb 20, 2003)

No, it's not true. Most of them are though. This because of the fact that the red/orange color is inherited through the x-chromosome. A male only have one x-chromosome so he just has to inherit the color from one parent (a red/orange one or a tortie). A female has two x-chromosome, therefor she has to inherit the red/orange color from both parents to get the color herself.

So only a red/orange pigmented male (red/orange/creme) and a red/orange pigmened female (red/ornage/creme or a tortie) can produce red/prange/creme colored female offspring.

Statistically, two thirds of all red/orange cats are males and one third are females, but inr eality I think about 70 % of all the red/orange cats are males.


----------



## RbarL (Oct 28, 2004)

Thanks Sol. I knew someone on her would have a great explanation. We are discussing this on Horsebuddies.com We get off on a tangent occasionally.

I'll cross post your reply.

Treva


----------



## Sam (Jul 8, 2003)

Like Sol said not all Red tabbies are males, same goes with Tortie varieties.


----------



## spacemonkey (Aug 12, 2004)

*raises hand* I have an orange tabby female (and an orange tabby male). I'd also heard it was somewhere around 70%-80% percent of orange tabbies were male.










P.S. I have a tortie girl too


----------



## jessamica8 (Aug 17, 2004)

spacemonkey, you've just got the exotic domestics! (The not so common "common" cats.) Actually, I'm posting cuz I loved that pic and wanted to tell you so!


----------



## RbarL (Oct 28, 2004)

Most torties I have known were female. Genetics are so much fun.

I have a Manx that is agouti. I named her Aggi. She is 13 yrs old. I've had her since she was 5 or 6 weeks old.

I love the pic of the cat on the top bunk.


----------



## spacemonkey (Aug 12, 2004)

Wow 8O Agouti is such a cool and unusual color! Do you have any pics?  (I have a fawn/agouti house rabbit)

The kitty on the top bunk is my foster/rescue cat sitting on my bed (her favorite perch). She's definately one in a million! (but I'm not biased :roll:...)


----------



## RbarL (Oct 28, 2004)

Here is Aggi Mae. This isn't the best picture of her but it's what I could find right now. She only has leg and face bars. She does have a wide black stripe down her back. I suppose her tail would be striped if she had one. She has a white spot on her chin, chest and belly. She is about 10 yrs old in that picture and although it makes her look big, she is about 8 lbs.

Enjoy,
Treva


----------



## emma_pen (Nov 2, 2004)

Most gingers are male, I have met a few gingers girlies though.

Over 90% of torties are female, I have not yet heard of or seen a tortoiseshell male cat.

Ems


----------



## ForJazz (Dec 30, 2003)

oops, double post.


----------



## ForJazz (Dec 30, 2003)

RbarL said:


> Here is Aggi Mae. This isn't the best picture of her but it's what I could find right now. She only has leg and face bars. She does have a wide black stripe down her back. I suppose her tail would be striped if she had one. She has a white spot on her chin, chest and belly. She is about 10 yrs old in that picture and although it makes her look big, she is about 8 lbs.
> 
> Enjoy,
> Treva


Your cat is a ticked tabby. There are 4 different tabby patterns. Striped is mackeral, swirly is classic, spotted is.....spotted, and when there is no striping pattern on the body, it is ticked. That means that every hair shaft has different colors on it. 

Someone mentioned having a tortie girl before -- that is expected as almost all torties are female. To be a male tortie, the male would have to have XXY genes -- a mutation. When you have a tortie or calico male, it is almost always sterile.


----------



## RbarL (Oct 28, 2004)

Yep, each hair is 3 colors. Shows up on everything!!!! I call her color agouti because I knew that it was correct before I knew there was a ticked tabby. That is why her name is Aggi. 

I enjoy all this information. I know more about mouse genetics than any other species and that is very complicated. I still don't know enough to talk about it in depth.

Thanks for all the great info.

Treva


----------



## ForJazz (Dec 30, 2003)

RbarL said:


> Yep, each hair is 3 colors. Shows up on everything!!!! I call her color agouti because I knew that it was correct before I knew there was a ticked tabby. That is why her name is Aggi.
> 
> I enjoy all this information. I know more about mouse genetics than any other species and that is very complicated. I still don't know enough to talk about it in depth.
> 
> ...


You're right -- agouti is a gene -- it just means that the hairs are multicolored. You could say it appears in all tabbies, not just ticked.


----------



## Ta3339 (Feb 8, 2004)

teagan's hairs are both black and white.. it goes, black white black.. what does that make her?

P.S. one of the strays i feed is a female tortie!


----------



## queen of the nile (Aug 16, 2003)

The word 'agouti' is generally only used for rodents. For fun though, you could call any animal agouti that has 3 bands of colour on each hair, producing a brown animal.


----------



## spacemonkey (Aug 12, 2004)

Yes, I've only ever heard agouti referring to rats, mice or rabbits. I have a rabbit with some agouti coloration, but overall her color would be considered "fawn".


----------



## ForJazz (Dec 30, 2003)

I saw the term "agouti" first when I was studying cat colors. It isn't like people in the cat fancy go around calling their cats agouti, but the term does exist when talking about the hairs on a cat and explaining what a tabby is. 

Ta3339, for reasons mentioned above, almost all torties are female. If that stray tortie would have been a male, *then* you'd be seeing genetic mutation in action! lol. Beautiful cat, by the way. And as for Teagan, that is just one of the color variations of tabby. some are black and yellowish, some are white and silver, etc. If Teagan wouldn't have had the tabby gene, she would be black and white. A tabby cat is the same as a black cat, only they have the tabby gene. Teagan also has the white spotting gene too. If you see black and white in her coat, it just shows you close up why her tabby pattern is so striking. It gives it kind of a silvery appearance, and you can't tell whether she's a gray tabby or a brown tabby in some places.  And of course, as her mommy, it makes her the very most specialest kitty ever. If there where white at the *base* of ALL of her hairs, she would be a smoke, or a shaded, depending on how far the white traveled up the shaft. Jack is a smoke and Mia is a shaded, as examples.


----------

