# How rare is my cat's coloring? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 16, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-rare-is-my-cats-coloring/489684 "2009-03-16T23:00:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-rare-is-my-cats-coloring/489684/1 "2009-03-16T23:00:39Z")
My Tikva has a rather unusual coat. She has seamless patches of brown-tabby stripes and red-tabby stripes ([Exhibit A](http://www.flickr.com/photos/9624983@N05/2437087215/in/photostream/)). And calico bits on her face and feet. I can’t recall ever seeing a cat with two different types of stripes before. Mind you, I don’t see a lot of torbies in general (and a Google search of ‘torbie’ did turn up some similar cases). Is Tikva a rare specimin, or will she have to just content herself with being the most beautiful cat in the world? ---
**Author:** ![Pullet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Pullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pullet)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-rare-is-my-cats-coloring/489684/2 "2009-03-16T23:40:22Z")
I didn’t realized that tabby tortoise shell cats are now being called “torbies.” I think the newness of the term is why you aren’t getting a lot of hits on google. Calico and tortoise shell cats are very popular. As a veterinary tech, I’ve probably seen at least one cat a week with the same coat pattern as your kitty. Of course, yours is the most beautiful one of all 😉 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-rare-is-my-cats-coloring/489684/3 "2009-03-16T23:56:52Z")
She looks a lot like my mother’s cat, Sassy. So I doubt her coloring is terribly rare. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-rare-is-my-cats-coloring/489684/4 "2009-03-17T02:32:21Z")
She’s beautiful! Not rare, but her particular pattern is bold and striking. Here, we call tabbies like that, “patched tabby”. Like Calicos, the orange patches on top of a tabby pattern seem to be almost exclusively female. Boys who have the same kind of orange patches tend to be very … odd … personality-wise, and I think of all the thousands of cats I’ve met, maybe only two colored like that were male. I had a calico-torbie until very recently, white on the face, chest, belly and feet, with solid orange patches above the white, orange and black tortie body and tail, with the tabby M on her head and a couple striped patches on her legs. I enjoyed thinking of her as rare, but I’ve seen a few others who were similar. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-rare-is-my-cats-coloring/489684/5 "2009-03-17T02:54:06Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > Boys who have the same kind of orange patches tend to be very … odd … personality-wise, and I think of all the thousands of cats I’ve met, maybe only two colored like that were male. That’s likely because male calicos are [Klinefelter’s syndrome](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klinefelter%27s_syndrome) cats ( or the equivalent, since that refers to humans ) - i.e. they are XXY, instead of the normal XY. They’re typically sterile and anecdotally I knew one that seemed to have congenital neourological issues ( mild trouble in maintaining its balance ). As to the OP, she may not be that uncommon, but she is gorgeous :). I assume the red to dark stripe patchiness is some sort of random polygenetic influence, rather than any of the discrete gene variations, like the color inhibitor trait. But I can’t say for certain, as that sort of variation is just a bit beyond my meager competence on the topic. Buut here’s a good primer on cat coat genetics: [http://www.tenset.co.uk/catgen/catsofadifferentcolor.html](http://www.tenset.co.uk/catgen/catsofadifferentcolor.html) ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-rare-is-my-cats-coloring/489684/6 "2009-03-17T03:13:27Z")
We had a cat when I was a kid, Elizabeth Jane, who looked spookily like your cat, **Malleus**. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-rare-is-my-cats-coloring/489684/7 "2009-03-17T03:54:59Z")
She is way more beautiful than the carpet on that stairway! ---
**Author:** ![LadyMack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@LadyMack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LadyMack)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-rare-is-my-cats-coloring/489684/8 "2009-03-17T06:23:08Z")
Is that what they’re called? Hmm. I may have [one](http://picasaweb.google.com/Dragon43/Squeaker#5254420372097109170), too.