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.
Some 40yrs ago I had an orange, long-haired boy named Kiki. I adopted him from a neighbor at about 9 weeks. We were very close. He liked to be held and would chat with me. He used to chase dogs out of the yard! Don’t know where he learned that. He lived till 16, a long life at that time. I was so heart-broken when he died. You never stop missing them.
I currently have a long-haired orange girl named Gordita. She croaks instead of meows and has been such a dream. She has a long and loud motor, likes to put her head in my hand and she licks me. She’ll be 17 in a few months. I noticed this year she sleeps longer. When I call her name when she’s snoozing, she stretches, wiggles her toes and doesn’t even open her eyes! She loves to roll on her back and show people her tummy, even strangers! Flirty thing! She’s up every day between 4:30-5am. I see her tail circle the bed. She goes to the kitchen, eats, comes back to lay next to me and continue with her early morning nap!
For those of you who can’t hold your cat, there’s a way to accomplish this. You can do this sitting down or bending over. When kitty walks by, put your hand under the chest, raise them a few inches and back feet must touch the floor. Then you can pet kitty, scratch the head or give kisses. I’ve not met a cat that didn’t like this. They’ll let you know when they want down. It’s worked with all my cats and they love it.
I have had 3 orange tabbies, all male. Tigger was very smart and would jump up on my dresser and turn over perfume bottles when he wanted to go out. He would not stay in the house during the day and would pee on my belongings if I kept him inside then,though he was fine to come inside at night and sleep and eat. Rocky was a long hair orange tabby. He would sit up and hold up his paws and meow for food. He developed a heart murmur and was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. On 12-12-12 he had a terrible stroke an became paralyzed. Doc said the cardiac problem caused him to throw a blood clot that caused the stroke. He was 12 years old. I still miss him. My current tqbby is longhaired with orange ears, tail and orange on his back. His granddam is an orange tabby and his mom siamese. His name is Roscoe P. Kittycat and he will fetch pom pom sparkle balls back to you if you throw them. I have had about 25 cats during my lifetime, but orange tabbies are the best and smartest.
I have had 2 orange tabbies, Samantha was so precious, brighter orange than Amazing Grace who lives with us now. Sam and Mazie both striped. Mazie was one of 2 girls in a litter of 5 kittens who all looked exactly alike, there was no difference at all, no specks of white, nothing. The bracelets and necklaces all perfectly the same. She loved to chase her tail as a kitten and still does at age 11. She has the black freckles on her nose. Mazie loves lettuce and celery leaves and cucumber strips. Has never, ever, ever even tried any other kind of people food. When you offer it to her, she paws the floor as if she wants to bury it. With one exception, she loves to lick the top of each piece of pizza. Does not want a bite, but licks the sauce off, then wants another slice to clean off. I selfishly only let her have one. When I picked her out of the litter on a Wednesday, I had to wait to take her home on Friday due to obligations on Thurs. In the meantime, one of her siblings was adopted and taken to her new home. Mazie’s mom was upset and took the remaining babies to the woods, hid them for two days. I told myself "if I ever see that little kitten again it will be by the Amazing Grace of God, so she is named in honor of God’s grace.
I LOVE orange kitties! I have a male and female now. And, my first kitty 27 years ago was orange as well. His name was marmalade and he was the best kitty ever! He talked, gave me back massages, and waited at the door for me to come home from work. I even got his photo tattooed on my hip. One of my other orange kitties, Mac, was a foster kitten and I broke my wrist while caring for him and his siblings! So worth it! Finally, Cora is my buff kitty. She was a birthday gift to me! Best birthday gift EVER!
All the ginger cats I have ever had were either ill-tempered.or weird (e.g:shirt-suckers).
The last one I had (which was a female), was actually the meanest cat I ever had and tortured the other one so badly that he had to be put on antidepressants.
I always say that is why orange cats are used for cartoons (such as Heath cliff and Garfield) and for the books such as ‘I Could Pee on This and Other Poems’ and ‘How to Live with a Neurotic Cat’…
I did not know that most ginger cats were female until the vet told me a couple of years ago. He said that when ginger cats are female they tend to be petite. My girl was—-she had the smallest paws I ever saw!
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