male calicos

Hello All,
I recently became foster mother to 5 orphaned kittens. The stray mother was killed by predators.
All the kittens are males. Two kittens in the litter appear to be calico colored. Both have orange faces, black and white spotted bodies, and one also has or will have totally orange legs.
They are currantly three and a half weeks old. I have been bottle feeding them now for two and a half weeks.
My Big question is: What defines a calico?
Thank you

Welcome to the site! What an angel you are to hand raise those orphans!

I'm not sure about your question, I thought a calico is three colors with white. I know calico males are very, very rare because it takes an XXY chromosome for them to be colored that way.

Found this link for you. It's actually quite informative!
Torties, Calicos and Tricolors

oops, forgot to add how darling your kitty is! Such a cutie patootie!

Very cute kittens...more pictures please!

Thank you All for the helpfull information and replies.
This is the other male, he also has an orange face, and black and white body with orange spots, and orange/yellow hind legs.

Hi,
Here is the photo of my whole litter.
All the kittens are boys.

awwww what cuties!!!! My vet told me that sometimes kittens that look like boys when they are young can turn out to be girls I'm not really sure up to what age though.

Hi,
I am certain they are all boys. Been washing their bottoms for almost 3 weeks now. Early on, right at the start, I thought I had 3 girls. Then I realised after a week, that they too, were boys, their maleness seems to be under sized, compaired to the 2 larger bigger males.
I have been around cats most of my life.
But this is the first time that I ever bottle fed.
Their teeth finaly broke through yesterday. This morning, in lew of a bottle, they are getting formula/milk kitten chow gruel.
I will start cutting back bottle feeding at this point, as they seem to want to try eating it on their own.

wow that is just really weird that they are all boys! aren't almost all calico's normally female because of that gene and color thingy?

Hi,
The suspect mother cat, as seen by a neighbor, was described as a gray muted long haired calico. The suspect father cat, was described as a white Tom with black patches, another neighbor thought he had seen an orange patch near his tail, but the sighting of him was very brief, as these cats were wild.
A female calico cat I had as a child, many times produced same sex litters.
One time it was a litter of 5 females, in another instance she produced a litter of 4 males. Her normal litters averaged 3, usually 2 boys and a girl in most instances. She had 10 litters before my parents finaly manged to get her spayed. She lived till she was 14.
In one instance she produced an all orange tabby male cat, with a gray round spot on his shoulder. He was the closest we came to having a male calico. He did manage to produce a litter to a nieghbors female cat, and she produced no color in her kittens. He was neutered as well, and lived to be 15 years old.

Wow, your post was really informitive. I thought Calico's were always female. Thats cool that you have males. My parents cat, Smudge, is a female Calico and they are beautiful kitties. How great it is for you to rescue these kittens. What a cutie kittie!
Heather

Welcome!

i love your baby's pix.. so sweet and so tiny! Oh...!

Cheers!

Hi,
These bottle fed kittens are nearly 4 weeks old now. They are learning the litter box, but still have some learning to do. They still wet their bed. Advice to new owners with very young kittens, be patient. A very young kitten can still wet and soil the bed. Keep kittens in their own bed, till they learn the litter box. Right after a bottle feeding sesion, I place them right in a card board box with a litter pan in it. Some of them started using it right off, the others still don't get it yet, but they are learning. The solid food thing too, is a messy experience. But I am not worried at this point, because they are so young.
Advice from other people would be helpful in weaning them, as I don't want to make mistakes. They still want the bottle more than they want food.
The photo:
The family dog helps with the clean up chores.

Hi there and welcome!

Here's my calico, Pixel, she's almost 1 yr old now

WOW pixel is an amazing looking kitty!! How cute!!!

Very cute kitties and an interesting post! I didn't know much of this about calico's. And welcome to the site!

Hey & Welcome

It seems as though everyone has answered your questions.

Have Fun & What gorgeous babeys everyone!

Sam