My wife, who grew up with lots of cats in her household, has always maintained that if you get an orange (or yellow/tan) male cat, it is much more likely to have a good personality than other cats. I’m skeptical that this is the case - but my one tan male was definitely a nice guy; and our current orange male cat is as cuddly as cats get.
Is there any truth to her theory?
I’ve heard the theory that orange tabby males are the friendliest types of cats. Anecdotally, I’ve found this to be true. I suspect that a large number of cat lovers have heard this as well, because it’s very difficult to find a male orange tabby kitten to adopt.
A cat lover with anecdotal evidence checking in . . .
The next door neighbor’s orange guy is as sweet as pie while my own orange lady is a real c _ _ _ (so much so that we call her Ginger minge).
Mine is, but he is my first orange tabby and he was hand-raised from about 5 weeks old, so that could have to do with it. My tortie females have always been extremely people-friendly as well, although they don’t seem to play well with other cats.
We have siblings, and the orange girl is standoffish until she wants to be petted, and then she sits on MrTao’s chest and meows til she gets it.
The male is more a peach-cream, and it depends on his mood. If he’s outside being ‘wild’ cat, you can’t catch him, and he acts totally feral. Indoors, he likes being petted, but doesn’t ask for it unless he wants something else, like treats. But then at night he absolutely MUST snuggle and lick you to sleep.
My parents’ orange cat is named Bill, after the Bloom County character. When he arrived at their house as a kitten, he spent three days hiding behind the dryer and saying, “Ack!! THPHTPH!!”, rather like his predecessor with that name. 19 years later and he’s almost friendly. Or, at least, he doesn’t try to tear your arm off if you try to pet him.
I know, sample size of 1 and all.
I have experienced two orange tabbies in my life. Both extremely aggressive and nasty. One would pounce on little children as they walked by the other just like to chew on people of any age.
I read a story online a while back that quoted a study saying something along the following lines:
Black toms do better in the city, and ginger ones do better in more rural/suburban areas.
Related to this, black toms were supposed to be “braver” (as in, didn’t startle very strongly) but were also more agressive.
In contrast, ginger toms were supposed to be “curious” instead of aggressive but they were much more likely to startle and run if they were suprised.
The authors of the study were saying that could be based on the differences between city hazards and country hazards -
The idea was that city cats are more densely packed, and they encounter a lot of weird crap, so it’s more beneficial for the black toms, because they are more aggressive so they successfully defend their territory, and they aren’t likely to startle and waste energy running from car backfires or trash removal people.
Country cats on the other hand don’t have to fight off other cats so much, so they don’t need to be aggressive. However, because they have larger territories, they are more likely to be curious about what they run across, and because they don’t have as much overstimulation, they’re more likely to panic and run when they’re startled by something.
I don’t remember where the original study was from, and I’m not having much luck on a quick google for it either. I did think it was an interesting attempt to add actual science to a very well established bit of cat folklore.
Does your orange female cat have white or another, third color to her? In my experience most orange striped tabbys are all male.
And I have heard and noticed that male cats seem to be only one or two colors, and that almost all three colored cats are female.
I don’t know. My own personal experience has been that orange boys are nearly always happy boys. But my sister adopted an orange boy who is, frankly, a nightmare. She has to keep him isolated from her other 2 cats, because he’s so mean and aggressive. He even clawed out a window screen to get outside. So now she has to leave the windows closed in his room.
Cute as a button, though.
I only have my darling departed Tio to judge by, but I’d say yes, they are the best and most lovingest cats in the world.
I’ve had at least 8 cats at times in my life, and we currently have 3. The orange male we have is not only the friendliest of the three, he is the friendliest of any cat I’ve ever had.
I have read that one of the genes for color is on the X chromosome, so males can have any one color plus white, whereas females can be calico.
We’ve had two orange stripy male cats and both were dumb as a post. The first one was a great mouser, though. He would sit for a whole day looking at the spot where he last knew of a mouse. My theory was that he was too stupid to be bored.
The best cat we ever had was a black & white “tuxedo” male cat. Lovable, cuddly, friendly to all.
Our little orange boy (we call him a “Cremesicle Cat”) is indeed the sweetest cat ever created. He actually *prefers *to be cuddled by small children picking him up and carrying him cradle-style, belly up like a human infant. Seriously! He would like us to think he’s stupid, but he’s really quite clever when no one is watching.
Our girl tortiseshell (black and tan, no white) is, like other torties I’ve owned, curious and smart as a whip. While she’s affectionate, it’s in a very demanding on-her-terms kind of way, and she’d prefer her paws be in contact with a horizontal surface at all times, thankyew.
Grey tabby boys are hair trigger tempered and aggressive. They can be sweet as pie, but don’t trust them when they flop over for belly rubbin’s. All’s well and good until suddenly your hand is a pincushion.
Calico (girls) are insane and gorgeous. They’re the “crazy ex-girlfriends” of the cat world.
I’ve not been owned by a tuxedo cat, so I don’t have a firm opinion about them.
(All of the above both true and tongue-in-cheek. I realize that this is all confirmation bias, and that domestic shorthairs don’t show a great predictability in temperament when categorized by coat color.)
My experience is the opposite-- that orange males are more skittish. I think we’re seeing in this thread that there’s no strong correlation.
My orange boy is probably the friendliest and most outgoing cat I’ve ever been owned by. He doesn’t know a stranger, everyone from the maintenance guys to my Avon lady is a potential source of belly rubs.
Our neighbor had a big orange tabby male who was an awesomely nice and laidback cat. But the friendliest two cats I’ve met were both tuxedo kitties, one male, one female, different owners.
Noooooo no no no. God no. My sister’s cat is evidence of my testimony.
I’ve found it depends more on the breed. Maine coons have been my personal favorite for their friendliness and laid back personality, regardless of their fur color.
We had several orange boys growing up. They were fairly sweet, but not the brightest kitties on the block. The friendliest cat I’ve ever cohabitated with was a tuxedo boy.
Cats carry a gene for either red (orange/ginger or cream) or black (or grey) on the X chromosome. The white gene is apparently carried on some other chromosome. At any rate, almost all calico cats are female, as they have two X chromosomes, and sometimes the red will express, and sometimes the black will express in a given area. The very, very few calico males are XXY, and I’m not sure if any of them are fertile.
Cream/yellow is the dilute version of red, and grey is the dilute version of black.
I have absolutely no frigging idea why the color orange is considered red. Nor do I know why the color grey is sometimes called blue. Some grey cats have a bluish tone to them, but they are primarily grey.
Two orange boys live with us, and both of them are very affectionate indeed. One is an extremely handsome orange tabby and white, with a face like a tiger’s, and with clear tabby markings. The other is almost solidly orange, with subtle shade variations of orange throughout his coat. I’m not sure what to call him, as at first glance, he doesn’t LOOK like he’s got tabby markings. His first owners called him Shadow, which I feel is inappropriate for an orange kitty, but he responds to the name, so I didn’t try to change it.