Color question - patched tabby

Hi everyone.

I spent today at the Richmond cat show and have a question. During the Maine Coon judging, for whatever reason the judge decided to explain what was going on. It was really great information and helped me to understand the awards and things a lot.

One of the things she talked about was the different colors and she mentioned that a patched tabby will always be female. I knew that was generally true for a calico or torti, but had never heard this before. Is this true?

Thanks

Since the Red gene is attached to the X chromosome, the only way to get two colors (Black and Red) is to have two X Chromosomes. A patched tabby has the two colors like the torties and the calicos thus it would have to have two X chromosomes which is the definition of a female.

There are some male cats that have XXY as a genetic defect so it is not unheard of to have males with red and black but it is rare and they are usually infertile.

Can't say if it's true or not - I've never really researched the issue - one color breeder, me, well, 2 soon

BTW - what color was the cat? A dilute patch - blue or silver (not very common) or a brown patched?

Could you tell me which judge said that and who the other judges were please?

A patched tabby is a torti or a calico where the black areas have been modified to be tabby instead of solid black. So the same rules apply for patched tabbies as for tortis and calicos.

I found this information on the cat fanciers webpage:

Are tortoiseshell cats always female?
Tortoiseshell and related colors (blue-cream, patched tabby, calico etc.) are the result of a sex-linked gene and require two X chromosomes to appear. Generally speaking, these colors will only appear in females. Very rarely, these colors may appear in male cats, but these males are genetically abnormal (they have XXY instead of the normal XY) and are almost always infertile.

Here is the link if you are interested . Thanks for asking this question. I had not heard this before and was very curious to know the answer because I have a patched tabby myself (actually more a dilute torbie :-)), female of course LOL.

Ooops I forgot to put the link in there!! Enjoy!

http://www.fanciers.com/other-faqs/colors.html

I met one patched tabby male. Came into the shelter here. About....hmm....8 months ago?

Originally Posted by Abymummy

Can't say if it's true or not - I've never really researched the issue - one color breeder, me, well, 2 soon

BTW - what color was the cat? A dilute patch - blue or silver (not very common) or a brown patched?

Could you tell me which judge said that and who the other judges were please?

Click to expand...

It was a brown patched tabby female Maine Coon.

I'm sorry I don't know the judge's name. Here is the listing on the schedule.

09-10(L). VA, RICHMOND: The Showplace, 3002 Mechanicsville Turnpike. Southern Regional. 5AB, 1Spec. Judges: Sumner(AB), D.J. Thompson(AB), Stevens(AB), Honey(AB), Barnaby(AB), Myers(LH/SH). EF $48 1st, $43 2nd, $25 3rd+, CD June 4; entry limit 325. Info: TBA Shirley Peet, 415 Shore Drive, Joppa, MD 21085. 410-679-1873 NO calls after 9:00 p.m. EST. Fax 410-679-1874. Email [email protected]

It was a female judge, but I didn't think to get her name, sorry.

Yes at least 99.9% are female. Patched tabby is more/less a tortie (red/black mixed). The only difference is you have Brown, Blue or Silver as the "black" with the Red or Cream mixed. You have a tabby pattern mixed in.