my calico

i have a cat that is orange and white,basically he's white with orange patches.now I have had people tell me that there's no way he's a calico because he's a male.that calicos are only female.is this true or a bunch of hooey?

Hi and welcome to the site

Calico cat's have 3 colors red, white and black. Your very beautiful cat only has two colors, so he is not a calico but a red and white or orange and white if you prefer.

Male cats can be calico's but they are rare. They are almost always female because the X chromosome determines the color of the cat, and female cats have two X chromosomes, whereas male cats, have one X and one Y chromosome. Since the Y chromosome does not have any color genes, there is no chance he could have both orange and black. Males can only have either red or black not both. One main exception to this is when, in rare cases, a male has XXY chromosomes.