Not sure where to post this.....

What is the difference between a torbie and a tortie??

Are they basically the same exxcept one is female and one is male or is it something different all together? I know torties have certain genetic structures that make them that coloring. the O gene if I am not mistaken, but what is a Torbie? Never heard the term until recently.

I saw Torbie mentioned the other day in some forum on one of the searches and the woman said she was absolutley terrified of them. Why????

How do you tell the difference?

Thanks,Jenn

p.s. I will check the response tomorrow. Right now, I am going to bed.

i might be wrong but isnt a torbie just a torite with a tabby pattern?

Originally Posted by JESSIEnKITTY

i might be wrong but isnt a torbie just a torite with a tabby pattern?

Click to expand...

This is what I am thinking but not sure either.

I don't know..........I read it at the other day and there was something about a tabby pattern as well, but then other site said something entirely different. I was just curious. I have two cats that I have always through were torties.. Turtle and Star.......

We adopted a calico and in our research on Calicos, it was said over and over that a Torbie is simply a Torti with tiger tabby pattern. The fast majority should be female as orange vs non-orange color is on the sex chromosome. So a male torbie would be a genetic anomoly.

BTW, the white spot gene that makes a tortie a calico is NOT on the sex chromosome

Both are female (99.9%).

Torties are black, red, cream mixed together. The red may have a bit of striping as its hard to get a solid red color without tabby markings.

A Torbie is a tortoiseshell cat with definite tabby markings - in the black/blue/brown color and the red/cream.

To add to the confustion there is also a (color) Patched Tabby (e.g. Brown patched tabby, blue patched tabby). This is a brown/blue tabby that has the additional color of red/cream mixed in. Its more tabby then it is a tortoisehell cat.

If you would get all 3 types side by side, you'd see the difference more easily. I owned a mixed breed that was a lovely brown patched tabby. She did well in the shows but was more on the shy side. That is the first time someone told me what she was cause I couldn't figure it out