Tortishell Breed

J

jess owner

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Can anyone give me any information on the Tortishell Breed as Jess is a Ginger Tortishell and I would love some more information to put on her website.

This is what I currently have - do correct me if any of it is wrong.

The Tortishell breed is not a pure breed, it is a mix between a few different breeds of cat.
A tortishell is black, brown, red, and cream. BUT must not contain any white. The Coloured areas may be splotches, blotches, muddy, mixed, tabby, or anything else.
The Tortishell breed is 99% of the time a female; male Tortishells are very rare although do exist. Male Tortishells are 99.8% of the time sterile.
Jess as you can see it a Ginger Tortishell.
Click to expand...
 
solaritybengals

solaritybengals

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Actually a tortie isn't a breed, its just a name of a coloration. They are one of my favorite colors! Usually you only see this coloration in females, though a rare male can occur as well. It is a sex-linked gene that enables this coloration to take place since the red is tied to the X-chromosome. Females have 2 X's, so where one X is expressed they will be red and where the other is expressed they will be black or brown or white (if a calico). Since males are XY they are either completely red or no red at all. The rare XXY male (a chromosomal abnormality) is what allows a tortishell male.

Gorgeous colors though!

The girl Autumn in my signature has a little bit of red in her coat as well, though not very heavily like many cats I've seen.
 
solaritybengals

solaritybengals

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Just to add:

Torties occur when mom is a brown or other color and dad is a red. All the females will be torties. If mom is a tortie and dad is brown then the females could be (but not necessarily) tortie. If mom is a tortie and dad is red then females will be tortie and there is a possibility of an all red female and a possibility of a red male. If mom is red and dad is red the resulting litter should be red. If mom is red and dad is brown then all females will be tortie and all males will be red.

Wow...someone will have to reread that for accuracy... That was a lot of punnett squares in my head, I'd have to draw it out to be 100% sure. That was really fun to think about though.

Edit: Ok I'm rethinking it..
Mom: Brown
Dad: Red
Female Offspring: Tortie
Male Offspring: Brown

Mom: Red
Dad: Brown
Female Offspring: Tortie
Male Offspring: Red

Mom: Tortie
Dad: Brown
Female Offspring: Brown, Maybe Tortie
Male Offspring: Brown, Maybe Red

Mom: Tortie
Dad: Red
Female Offspring: Tortie or Red
Male Offspring: Brown, Possibly Red

Mom: Red
Dad: Red
Female Offspring: Red
Male Offspring: Red

Whew, did I get them all?
 
G

goldenkitty45

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Tortoiseshell is NOT a breed of cat. It is a combination of colors on one cat - mainly black, red mixed together (not spotted like a calico). There is a dilute version which is called "bluecream".

Torties are found in both purebred cats and mixed breeds.

99.9% of the time torties are female but you can get the occasional male calico which usually is sterile.



Sol - "brown" is wrong - genetically it is "black" - a brown tabby is genetically "black". Just a correction on your colors.
 
jen

jen

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Originally Posted by SolarityBengals

Just to add:

Torties occur when mom is a brown or other color and dad is a red. All the females will be torties. If mom is a tortie and dad is brown then the females could be (but not necessarily) tortie. If mom is a tortie and dad is red then females will be tortie and there is a possibility of an all red female and a possibility of a red male. If mom is red and dad is red the resulting litter should be red. If mom is red and dad is brown then all females will be tortie and all males will be red.

Wow...someone will have to reread that for accuracy... That was a lot of punnett squares in my head, I'd have to draw it out to be 100% sure. That was really fun to think about though.

Edit: Ok I'm rethinking it..
Mom: Brown
Dad: Red
Female Offspring: Tortie
Male Offspring: Brown

Mom: Red
Dad: Brown
Female Offspring: Tortie
Male Offspring: Red

Mom: Tortie
Dad: Brown
Female Offspring: Brown, Maybe Tortie
Male Offspring: Brown, Maybe Red

Mom: Tortie
Dad: Red
Female Offspring: Tortie or Red
Male Offspring: Brown, Possibly Red

Mom: Red
Dad: Red
Female Offspring: Red
Male Offspring: Red

Whew, did I get them all?
Click to expand...
Ya I gave up trying to understand that mumbo jumbo

It makes sense I think just too much for me to figure out!

But I agree too, Tortie are NOT a breed at all, just a coloration!
 
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J

jess owner

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Thanks everyone for you help I have updated Jess site with the correct information
 
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J

jess owner

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Originally Posted by SolarityBengals

Mom: Brown
Dad: Red
Female Offspring: Tortie
Male Offspring: Brown

Mom: Red
Dad: Brown
Female Offspring: Tortie
Male Offspring: Red

Mom: Tortie
Dad: Brown
Female Offspring: Brown, Maybe Tortie
Male Offspring: Brown, Maybe Red

Mom: Tortie
Dad: Red
Female Offspring: Tortie or Red
Male Offspring: Brown, Possibly Red

Mom: Red
Dad: Red
Female Offspring: Red
Male Offspring: Red
Click to expand...
Just reading through this bit which one do you think Jess would have been??
 
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goldenkitty45

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Since there are more red males born, I'm guessing the Jess's father was a red tabby and the mother was (1) black, (2) brown tabby or (3) tortie.

As long as one parent carries red and the other parent carries black, that is where you get the torties from
 
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