Comments on: Kitty Love

By: Lynn

Lynn — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 21:02:40 +0000

I love the pics :) Cats are so awesome. I get to see my babies tomorrow when I fly to the states.

By: Julie

Julie — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:10:18 +0000

My cats (who I had to re-home because my partner is allergic – hardest thing I have ever had to do) had happy balled up paper. My house looked like I threw it at the bin and missed and was too damn lazy to pick it up!! Love your cat pics, I had a ginger tom too and think he was the cuddliest cat in the world, he loved to be picked up and kissed. I miss him so much it hurts my heart.

By: Hyjekna

Hyjekna — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:14:11 +0000

And by “even more rare chance” in question 2 I mean 1/2 – 1/4 depending on what the oo mixes with. Clarification ftw.

By: Hyjekna

Hyjekna — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:12:43 +0000

I’m just curious since you seem to know more about this than I!

1. If it’s a recessive trait doesn’t that mean that like, it’s more difficult to pass along and for it to be expressed? Like, if you have a female with Bb for brown fur (obviously more complicated than this) and an orange oo for orange, then shouldn’t their combinations be Bo bo x2? And if that’s the case wouldn’t it just take forever for an actual orange cat to take place? It seems like there’s a lot of them (more than genetics should verify) but maybe there’s something more complicated about how the O is on the chromosome, or maybe it’s rare but it doesn’t seem rare because there are so many cats.

2. If this is the case with the chromosomes, does that mean that generally second generation Bo bo (or whatever mixes with o) can be breed with either a full out oo cat (or bo/Bo) in order to get a even more rare chance? I know in basic genetics this works, but where it’s more complicated does that mean there’s less of a chance working out like that.

I realize both questions are kind of similar lol.

Sorry if I’m assuming if you know more than you do, but you seem like you know a good amount about the genetics thus why I am asking!

By: HouseWench

HouseWench — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:54:23 +0000

On another note, I actually managed to (when I got my Taima) end up with a calico MALE. His colours didn’t all show when I got him, but we knew there was already something weird about him; We got him neutered at 9 months, but he’d never started spraying. He acts like a hermie.

By: dragonflybelle

dragonflybelle — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:11:35 +0000

ok, i’ll throw my science knowledge out here. The reason orange tends to be a male trait is that it is a recessive trait. Therefore if there is another fur color chromasome it is dominant and is expressed instead of the orange….thus, if there are 2 X chromasomes and only one is orange, you see the other one. Males only have one X so what you get is what you see.
Did that make sense? :) I hope so.
Love the kitties….I sooo want one, but HATE litter boxes. ( and cats hate going out in snow, as you have found out :) )

By: Heidi

Heidi — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:02:43 +0000

I love the pics. My cat has a happy box. He won’t sleep in his bed but he will spend hours in a cardboard box.

By: Hyjekna

Hyjekna — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:48:05 +0000

Also apparently the % of an orange cat being female is 25% where the odds of a tortoise shell being male is 1/1000.

Sorry this is in so many replies but it’s something I’m interested in since I have two female orange cats.

So, obviously female orange cats aren’t incredibly rare, but they’re rare enough for an urban legend and for vets to say they’re rare lol.

I’m sure this is more than you wanted to know! :)

By: Hyjekna

Hyjekna — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:40:11 +0000

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_coat_genetics This also explains the genetics of how orange cats/tortoiseshells get thier colors, but it doesn’t explain how the sex link works minus the fact that the color trait for fur is on the X chromosome rather than Y (for orange cats at least).

By: Hyjekna

Hyjekna — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:37:02 +0000

Actually. I have a story for you concerning orange cats!!

Female orange cats are really rare, they’re generally male for some reason.

Tortise shell cats are generally female, and they’re rarely male.

I had a tortoiseshell cat who got pregnant and gave birth to TWO female orange cats. When I took them to the vet she was very surprised. We figure it just had to do with the orange being the dominant color (there’s orange in tortoiseshells) and that since torties usually give birth to females, they were both females.

So there you have it. They’re rare, but possible. Apparently if you get the breeding right too.

Sometimes I’m still shocked that I have two female orange cats, one I could understand, but two is amazing imo.