Ginger cat

fionnmar

Recently acquired an adorable wee ginger tigery kitten. Not being familiar with cat anatomy it looks like a girl to me. However neighbours have informed me that ginger cats are always male? Sounds like an old wives tale to me. Going to vet in a couple of weeks. In meantime, can anyone advise?

GAAman

Is the kitten pure ginger or mainly ginger with other colour parts? If mainly ginger i know this tale to be untrue as mine is coloured like that and she is........well a she

fionnmar

Hiya
She / he is kinda stripy ginger, mostly ginger though:)

Miss Lockhart

No.

With ginger cats the ratio is about 75% male to 25% female. This is to do with the ginger colour being recessive and carried on the X chromasome. This means male ginger cats need have only one ginger parent but ginger females require two ginger parents.

Interestingly, about 99+ % of tortoiseshell cats are female. This is also to do with colours being carried on the X chromasome. Male tortoiseshells generally have a genetic abnormality such as XXY syndrome.

katiemaloe

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

No.

With ginger cats the ratio is about 75% male to 25% female. This is to do with the ginger colour being recessive and carried on the X chromasome. This means male ginger cats need have only one ginger parent but ginger females require two ginger parents.

Interestingly, about 99+ % of tortoiseshell cats are female. This is also to do with colours being carried on the X chromasome. Male tortoiseshells generally have a genetic abnormality such as XXY syndrome.

Very well explained! Thanks Lockhart

Call me Socket

katiemaloe wrote: »

Very well explained! Thanks Lockhart

+1
My mother and I handreared a litter of kittens- there were 2 male gingers, a female grey/ginger/white....and one ginger female.

fionnmar

wow, jeepers its a whole new world...thanks for the explanation..now wheres puss til i liook at him / her again. unfortunately (it seems) my niece has named 'it' a female name:D

kiffer

fionnmar wrote: »

Recently acquired an adorable wee ginger tigery kitten. Not being familiar with cat anatomy it looks like a girl to me. However neighbours have informed me that ginger cats are always male? Sounds like an old wives tale to me. Going to vet in a couple of weeks. In meantime, can anyone advise?

Sexing young cats can be tricky for the uninitiated. Their bits are not like dogs bits.

cotton

I could get further into the chromasomes of it as it's my obsession but it's boring to be honest. :rolleyes:
Basically, cutting a long story short, pure ginger tabby females (with no white on them) are rare but not that rare. Their stripes tend to be not that visible. Old wives/vets tales say are sterile but that's not true either.
I've a 16yr old very striped all ginger tabby girl here so go figure.
Regarding sexing them, it sounds crass but if the space between the 2 holes is minute & literally non existant, then you've got a girl. If it's wider, it's a boy. It's not pleasant but think about men & women & the distance between the obvious.

GAAman

fionnmar you do know it is customary when you put threads like this up and they are answered to post pics of the pet yes?

Magenta

GAAman wrote: »

fionnmar you do know it is customary when you put threads like this up and they are answered to post pics of the pet yes?

Oh yeah post a pic!

fionnmar

aw, didnt know about that tradition! Will get a pic and post in next few days he is a bit camera shy!