Calico or Chimera?

[danicelia24]

I have a 11 week old kitten that was the only colored kitten out of her litter. She has patches on her that look like they belong on a orange tabby whereas the rest of her is black and white tuxedo with orange sprinkled throughout. My question is would she be considered a calico or is she possibly a chimeria?

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• danicelia24
• Sep 9, 2016

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• danicelia24
• Sep 9, 2016

 

[Willowy]

What color is the mama cat?

She looks like a fairly normal calico. No reason to think she's a chimera.

 

[danicelia24]

Mom is a black and white tuxedo and dad is either an all black or a black and white...we don't have any other colored toms

 

[StefanZ]

Yes, the question is if she shall be counted as calico, OR a tortie with white (tortie tuxedo??),  we dont suspect her for being a chimera.   But you perhaps did meant tortie when you wrote chimera?

Momma carried apparently red too, although it wasnt visible on her outside.  (red is inherited from momma only)

All reds are tabies, so its not particular you do see tabby stripes on her red parts.

But for this reason, we dont count torties nor calicos for tabbies, unless the stripes are on the dark fields - making them into true tabbies.

ps.  Sweet kitten, with these enormous vibrissae  (whiskers) and the big ears...

 

[danicelia24]

This is the only kitten like this out of 3 litters. Some of the blacks you can see tabby stripes and I do know what a chimera is which is why I was asking cause the areas where she looks like an orange tabby are so distinct. Like someone took a patch of hair from another cat and put it on her.

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• danicelia24
• Sep 9, 2016

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• danicelia24
• Sep 9, 2016

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• danicelia24
• Sep 9, 2016

 

[piano cat]

Wouldn't you have to take blood samples from different parts of her body and do DNA tests on them to determine if she's a chimera?  Simple colour variations are not the one and only indicator?  She's very pretty, a bit like my own girl who is torbie and white.

 

[Willowy]

Either the mama is a hidden tortie or her daddy is red. . .any chance she could have a different daddy from the rest of the litter?

Chimeras usually only have one spot that looks like part of another animal was patched in, but she has red bits all over. Plus she would have had to have "merged" with a red kitten and that's not possible with that pairing .

Red is always tabby on a cat. No such thing as solid red. So even on a calico the red bits are stripey.

My bet is on a sneaky red tom wandering by in the middle of the night :lol3:.

 

[StefanZ]

Either the mama is a hidden tortie or her daddy is red. . .any chance she could have a different daddy from the rest of the litter?

Chimeras usually only have one spot that looks like part of another animal was patched in, but she has red bits all over. Plus she would have had to have "merged" with a red kitten and that's not possible with that pairing

.

Red is always tabby on a cat. No such thing as solid red. So even on a calico the red bits are stripey.

My bet is on a sneaky red tom wandering by in the middle of the night

.

So you mean red CAN by passed by a male? -  Ah, yes, it cant be passed to boys form the dad, but possible to daus...   Yes, I was wondering  if there was something I didnt understood with the tale red is only from momma...   And my supicion was true, its true only for boys...   As they boy gets his Y gene form daddy, the X gene comes from momma   While the girls gets one X from each...

Got it!

 

[danicelia24]

Here are two of her brothers with the tabby stripes. And a picture of mom.

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• danicelia24
• Sep 9, 2016

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• danicelia24
• Sep 9, 2016

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• danicelia24
• Sep 9, 2016

 

[danicelia24]

You can see where she gets the long whiskers from