Male Calico or Torties???

lisasha3

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Are there ever any males? Ever?
I know with orange tabby's a female orange tabby is rare, but it's not impossible. How about Male Torties or Calico's? Are they rare? Or are the completely impossible?
Just curious because I've got a new mom and litter coming in and and 3 of her 5 babies are calicos and it just made me wonder.
 

crittermom

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There are male Calico's,but they are VERY rare from what I understand.
 

dragoriana

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There are males around, but the ratio is small, one in 3000 tricoloured cats are male, and only one in 10000 of those males are fertile
 
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lisasha3

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WOW! That's an unbelievable ratio. Makes you wonder why that happens. Strange. I'll definitely have to check these 3 little ones then huh? If we've got a male on our hands maybe we could auction him off to the highest bidder (with the best home of course).
 

natalie_ca

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The reason most calico cats are female is because of genetics: more specifically chromosomes.

The gene for tri colour is on the X chromosome and is what is referred to as a recessive gene. So for it to show the cat has to have two X chromosomes and the gene has to be on both of the X chromosomes.

XX = female

XY = male

The only time a male cat will be a calico/tri colour is if it's born with a genetic anomally and has two X chromosomes making it XXY.

Creatures, including humans, with XXY chromosomes are not fertile and cannot reproduce.


http://www.petplace.com/cats/why-are...ale/page1.aspx
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sibohan2005

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I have also heard that almost all male calico's are sterile and therefore there can be no super-breed of calicos.
I am a Calico lover and have never seen a male calico
 

samantha1979

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The last litter of kittens we had, had a tortie in it. When we took them to the vet to get their first shots, and to find out for sure what the sex was, the vet wasn't going to check her. I asked her to "just in case". I had been on here, and done some research, but just wanted to make sure that she was a she!
 

starryeyedtiger

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It's possible- but very rare. And many times they are infertile- but that's not 100% positive every time so they should always be spayed/neutered reguardless
Out of all the time i spent volunteer/ working at different shelters, i've seen 1 male calico.
 

jcat

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My sister has a dilute male. I have no idea whether he was sterile, as he was castrated at an early age. About fifteen years ago we had a calico in the the neighborhood, whom I always assumed was a female. I was very surprised one day when I was scratching "her" belly to discover that "she" was actually a "he". One tends to assume that red tigers are males, and calicos/torties females, so one doesn't normally look.
 
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lisasha3

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Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

The reason most calico cats are female is because of genetics: more specifically chromosomes.

The gene for tri colour is on the X chromosome and is what is referred to as a recessive gene. So for it to show the cat has to have two X chromosomes and the gene has to be on both of the X chromosomes.

XX = female

XY = male

The only time a male cat will be a calico/tri colour is if it's born with a genetic anomally and has two X chromosomes making it XXY.

Creatures, including humans, with XXY chromosomes are not fertile and cannot reproduce.


http://www.petplace.com/cats/why-are...ale/page1.aspx
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Thanks so much for all the information. I learned a lot and it makes much more sense to me now. Still can't hurt to check those 4
(thought it was 3 calico's, but it's actually 3 calicos and a tortie)
 

EnzoLeya

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Great thread!!! I have often wondered this myself.... I never knew they more than likely wouldn't be fertile....How strange!!!
 

duchess15

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We had a litter of persian kittens which included a male, calico, persian. A rarity in itself! That's why I never knew calicos are mainly girls, because we had him as our first calico. He was the sweetest boy, but we had to give him to away to a good home, since he didn't get along with our other male and vice versa. So, yes, they do exists!
 
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