Can an orange cat be female? Cuz I've never seen a female orange cat. Is that weird?

Answer 1

Something in the genetics of the orange cat makes the possibilities for 75% male and 25% female for that coloring. And like the sex of humans it is just statistical possibility where 50% are male and 50% are female. And families can have four boys only or four girls only. It's just a roll of the genetic dice.

We had a litter of four female orange kitties at the shelter once.

Answer 2

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RE:
Can an orange cat be female? Cuz I've never seen a female orange cat. Is that weird?

Answer 3

Yes, they can be orange and female-- my friend's cat Daisy is orange and white. Technically, though, it would be called "red" or ginger... both are actually different colors genetically.

Cat color genetics are a very complex subject, and I'm not going to go into much detail here. But here is a short explanation:

All cats have 19 pairs of chromosomes. These chromosomes carry genes passed down from a cat’s two parents, and these genes determine a cat’s physical appearance, innate intelligence, susceptibility to disease and so on. There’s a copy of all 19 pairs of chromosomes in every cell of a cat’s body.

Like humans, cats have one pair of sex chromosomes. These are the ones that make them male or female and they play an essential role in determining a cat’s color. In females, both sex chromosomes are X making girl kitties XX. Males are XY, the Y making them male. A kitten gets one chromosome from Mom and one from Dad. Moms only have X’s so the variable is given by the Dad, if he gives his X, the kitten is a girl, if he gives his Y, it is a boy.

The gene which makes a cat ginger (orange) is located on the X chromosome. The gene for ginger will override all other colors. Since males have only one X, they either are or aren’t ginger - no halfway about it. Girl cats have two X’s in each cell. As far as the cells are concerned two X’s is one too many, so each cell deactivates one of the X chromosomes in a fairly random fashion. Sometimes the ginger X will be left on producing a bit of orange fur and in some cells the ginger X will be turned off and the genes for black, brown or other colour fur will be produced.

And there you have a Calico or Tortoiseshell Cat.

Since males only need to have the orange gene on one chromosome to become ginger, and females have to have it on two, ginger males outnumber females 3 to 1. To show both orange and another color such as black or brown a cat has to have two different X chromosomes per cell. Therefore calico (or tortoiseshell) female cats outnumber males by at least 200 to 1, some stats go as high as 3,000 to 1. When a male tortie does appear, (a result of a mutation producing two X’s and one Y) he is invariable sterile and exhibits feminine behavior such as nurturing nearby young.

Why do we have so many orange and white cats? Because white isn’t a color but the absence of color. The genes that cause the suppression of color are stronger than the genes for any color including the mighty orange. Since white isn’t a color and is merely hiding the genes for color, white cats often produce colored kittens.

So there you have it... while they aren't very common, there are female orange cats.

Answer 4

I've seen a female orange cat, so yes.

Answer 5

We have two cats that wandered into my dad's factory as kittens. In fact they are sisters. One is completely white and the other is orange. So yes they can be females.

Answer 6

Yes--there is a female cat in the orange colour called an "Orange Tabby"
Those cats are orange with stripes that blend in with their orange fur.

Answer 7

Yes, we have an orange kitty.

BTW..male calicos are very rare, like one in a million. They have a genetic defect and usually do not survive. They are worth big bucks! I have a female calico. She recently dominoed...four kittens. One is orange, three are calicos. All are female.

Answer 8

When you say orange you must mean ginger.yes they can be female as i owned one,she was a lovely intellegent cat too

Answer 9

for some reason most orange cats tend to be male. calicos tend to be female

Answer 10

I only seen males that were ginger