6 Fun Facts About Orange Tabby Cats
1. The orange tabby cat is not actually its own separate breed of cat.
Whether you call them orange, red, ginger or marmalade tabbies, orange tabby cats are not a specific breed of cat, rather it is referring to their fur color. Orange tabbies can be many different breeds, from Persian and Maine Coon to your standard Domestic Short Hair!
2. Many orange tabbies will develop little black freckles on their nose and mouth area.
Not only do ginger cats come with perfectly kissable pink noses, they may also develop adorable little freckles! These freckles will normally develop around the gums, lips, or nose area and can continue to appear throughout their life. These freckles are caused by a benign genetic called lentigo which increases the number of pigment-producing cells (epidermal melanocytes) around the lips, nose, and eyes and results in those little black freckles. They're like little sprinkles of joy! These freckles are normally harmless, but any change in size or pigmentation should be checked by a veterinarian.
3. They come in 4 beautiful coat types: Classic (swirled), Mackerel (striped), spotted and ticked (agouti).
- Mackerel: Mackerel tabbies are striped and may be tiger-like in appearance, with a classic ‘M’ shape on their forehead!
- Classic: the classic tabby pattern usually consists of a dark swirl or bullseye around your cat's midsection
- Ticked: Most common in breeds like Abyssinian, ticked tabbies can fool you into thinking that solid ginger cats exist - but they don't! Ticked tabbies have an almost speckled pattern with tabby markings on their heads.
- Spotted: Spotted tabbies appear, well, spotted! Their stripes or swirls are broken up and appear as ovals. This marking is most commonly seen in Bengal cat breeds!
4. Most orange tabby cats are males: 80% male, and 20% female - No wonder they are usually mischievous!
Interestingly enough, most orange tabby cats are indeed male! It's all thanks to their genetic makeup. According to Spruce Pets, the gene O codes for orange (referred to as Red in genetics) fur and is carried on the X chromosome. Because females have two X chromosomes, this means that a female orange cat must inherit two orange genes (one from each parent). But a male tabby only needs one O gene, which he gets from his mother.
5. All orange cats are tabby cats, they do not have a solid coat!
Without getting too deep into genetics (it's complicated, folks!), thanks again to their genetic makeup, all orange cats will have tabby markings of some kind. This is because of the agouti gene. The agouti gene determines whether a cat has a tabby pattern or not. However, when the red pigment gene is expressed, the non-agouti gene does not work. So you can't have a non-agouti gene with an orange cat - meaning they will have some type of tabby marking, whether it is classic, mackerel, or ticked.
6. Orange tabby cats get a lot of screen time!
Beyond the famed lasagna-loving Garfield, orange tabby have graced the silver screen - more than you may have realized! There are live-action kitties like Goose (Captain Marvel) Orion (Men in Black) and Jones (Alien), ... wow, there are a lot of orange tabbies in space, aren't there? And don't forget Orangey in Breakfast at Tiffany's. And you can't forget about Puss in Boots, who melted everyone's hearts with iconic big kitty eyes!
Does your orange cat have particular characteristics? Tell us about them! We love to learn more.
As of today I am the proud parent of three……yes three…..orange tabby females!!!! My orange tabby female just had a litter of 4….yes…..4 orange kittens. So excited!!!!! I now have an orange tabby army…..coming to get ya.
All I need is flack jackets!! That’s gonna happen.
Orange tabbies are the absolute best! Such characters. Such attitudes. So individual. Just gotta love them to bits.
We have 3 orange tabbies among the brood, one is my special buddy. His name is Oscar, we call him Sir Oscar because normally he is a very mild and timid little scaredy cat, that is until another cat messes with his little sister Nollie (Another very small tabby our bengal cat hates for some reason), then he charges in to fight for her. He doesn’t usually win the fight, but he has always fought for her. We’ve taken to keeping the cats separated, so most of the time he snuggles in my arms and sleeps these days and is only occasionaly called to save the day!
I used to have an orange tabby named Otto. He lived a long life of 21 years.
He would act like a dog often. He liked playing fetch with a cage ball, and he would run to the door when someone was there.
He was also very vocal.
I adopted a 5 month old Orange Tabby from an adoption agency called SICSA. She was the last of a litter of 7 to be adopted. Her mommy was dropped off at the adoption agency while she was still pregnant. The owners were moving and they couldn’t take her with them. I’m so glad they chose to take her to SICSA because from birth Twinkie was taken care of. Once she was old enough they took her to the Vet and had her fixed, checked for parasites, and all of the possible cat diseases. She had all of her immune shots, distemper shots, and shots for feline diseases.
When they brought her out to me, it was instant bonding for both of us. I named her Twinkie because she looked like a Twinkie.
She is the most affectionate, loving, cuddle bug, and she will climb up on my chest at bed time and take her lips and touch my lips. Then I say, "Thank you for the kisses. Sometimes she will fall asleep right on my chest.
She loves to play “Peek-A-Boo”, act like I’m prey, and she acts like she is going to pounce on me and devour me. But all she does is take her paw and touch me on the shoulder. She loves to play fetch too. I got her some bird toys that chirp when you touch them. I toss the toy across the room, she chases it, picks it up with her mouth, shakes it like she’s trying to kill it. Then she’ll bring it to me and drop it at my feet. She’ll play until she decides it’s time to quit.
I bought her a kitty climber and set it in the corner next to the window. She loves to climb to the top and watch the birds outside at my bird feeder. There is a large forest about 20 feet from my room, and there is never a shortage of birds for her to watch and chatter at.
No matter who comes in my room, she wants petted. She know’s no strangers. She won’t dare run out the door into the hallway because it’s to big and strange to her that she is skidish to run out the door. She has the most beautiful yellow eyes. And she has a face that you can’t resist.
I love my Orange Tabby as if she was my own daughter.
We were adopted by a stray long hair tabby “Flip” in spring of 2015. Knowing how heart broken I would be if I lost my pet, I posted and reported him to all of the agencies and local vets and checked him for a chip. After 2 wks, I couldn’t believe that nobody claimed him, because he is sooo loving, beautiful, easy going and obviously comfortable around dogs. We had a yorkie “Rocky” at the time who was definitely in charge of our fenced in yard. Our dog followed the cat around non stop sniffing, posturing and yes even mounting him. The cat basically paid no mind to the dog.
After deciding to keep him he got the works- groomed, fixes, shots, chipped, 2 courses of ear mite meds and his own collar (which lasted about 4 days). After about 2-3wks the dog adjusted. They would actually sleep very close together on the couch,which i thought I would never see.
Being that Flip was an outside cat, at first he would disappear sometimes for 24-36 hrs and my heart would be so sad. So i trained him to come home by ringing a bell. We started by ringing a bell right before we set his dish of food on the floor. It works like a charm. I especially use the bell at night, because he still wants out in very cold weather. I stand on my porch and ring it and call him and I’ll hear him call back as he runs from about a block away. He has now trained us by ringing the same bell on the front door knob when he wants out.
We believe he was meant to join us, about 1 yr after he joined our home our dog Rocky passed @13yr from cancer.
Flip has been so comforting for me especially and has managed to win the hearts of everyone that meets him, except the rabbits, moles, birds and squirrels (they dont like him much).
I have to say, like most of the other posts, hes my first orange cat (I’ve had 4 or 5 cats in 50 yrs) and he is by far the most loving cat i have ever had.
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