How To Spot The Difference Between Calico and Tortie Cats

34 comments

Calico and tortoiseshell cats are best known for their beautiful multicolored coats of black, orange and white - and their “tortitude”.

Both “calico” and “tortoiseshell” are terms that refer to the color and pattern of a cat’s coat and do not actually refer to the cat’s breed. So a domestic shorthair cat can be a tortoiseshell just as much as a Japanese Bobtail can be a calico cat!

To the untrained eye, these gorgeous mosaic-furred felines can be easily confused for one another.

So, how can you spot the difference between a calico cat and a tortoiseshell cat? Read on!

Tortoiseshell Cats

A longhaired tortoiseshell cat

Tortoiseshell Cats, often called “torties” for short, have a combination of two colors, normally black and orange displaying in a patchwork or mosaic. Their mottled coats are as a result of what genetics call Lyonization.

These colors can come in various shades of dilution, from soft grey to brown, ginger, cream, amber, red, and cinnamon - called dilute torties. A dilute tortie may have blue and cream fur instead of black and orange. 

However, tortoiseshell cats have no white at all.  

 

Calico Cats

Calico cats are also referred to as “tricolor” or “tortie-and-white” - and sometimes even "piebald" cats! Why? Because calico cats have the same black and orange color as a tortoiseshell cat - but with white, too!

A longhaired calico cat sprawled out on an ottoman.

This is the main difference between a calico cat and a tortoiseshell cat. And it all comes down to genetics. Calico cats have an additional genetic condition at work called "piebalding" in which white (i.e. unpigmented) skin and fur is expressed. These patches of white may be rather small and interwoven, or relatively large and cover almost the entire body.

Even a cat with mottled tortoiseshell patches will be considered a calico if she has significant amounts of white in her coloring thanks to her genetics! 

Like torties, calico cats can also come in dilutes.

A dilute calico cat curled up with its cute toe beans showing.A dilute calico with cute pink toe beans.

 

"Torbie" or Tortoiseshell Tabbies

You may have heard the term “torbie” being tossed around, too. Torbie is short for “tortoiseshell tabby”,  and is a patched tabby, or one with brown tabby patterns instead of black fur.

A calico cat with gray tabby stripes looking at the camera.

Did you know that almost ALL calico and tortie cats are born female? Male tortoiseshell or calico cats are possible, but extremely rare. The allele that determines tortoiseshell expression is carried on the X chromosome, of which females have two (XX), one expressing orange and one expressing black, simultaneously.

Males only have one X chromosome (XY), and the allele is not carried on the Y chromosome - so they are normally either all orange, or all black. Rarely, a male can inherit two X chromosomes along with the Y chromosome (XXY), which would then undergo Lyonization just as in a female cat. This is known as Klinefelter Syndrome, which renders the cat sterile and can cause cognitive and developmental issues as well as other medical difficulties. 

Updated 4/21/23

Sources: bio.miami.edu/dana/dox/calico.html, https://letstalkscience.ca/educational-resources/stem-in-context/science-behind-calico-cats-colours

 


34 comments


  • Paula Stump

    I have always had at least one cat. My mother couldn’t stand them, some incident with a cat that scared her for life. But she did allow me to have a cat.
    Currently have a gray tabby and a true Tortie (not one white hair lol). I don’t think I could live without a cat. They’re just the best soothing comfort when needed! And, they just know!! Love my babies, y’all can have your dogs, cats rule, dogs drool 😊 just not a dog person even though I grew up with them, and cats and a Shetland pony, and a baby bull (well he eventually became dinners). Also chickens, ducks and geese. Always had sm, med and lrg eggs. Had brown, white and even greenish colored eggs! Big ones from the geese!!
    Yep a mini farm growing up


  • Anne Loving

    I have a 1.5 year old boy named Trouvle who has Klinefelters and is a dilute calico, they little booger is the light of my life!!


  • Amy Summerford

    I have had 2 female torties over the years and now have a 14year old what I’ve always thought is a tortie. Got her as a rescue kitten. Many does she have the personality and is a talker. Her name is Bella. She has a small white spot on her chest and another very small spot on her tummy so I guess she is really a calico? I just don’t see it though. She is se blended with the black and orange. She looks like a Halloween kitty. I love her so much! She loves my 2 rescue dogs. Yes, I’m a rescuer and work closely with some rescues and foundations. I’m boots on the ground, get them vetted and with the help of one of the foundations and/or rescues, adopt them out. I have 3 rescue kitties in all that are now all 3 seniors, a rescue chi, gotten as a 7 or 8 week old puppy and a pittie I just rescued from a north Jefferson county dump in north Bham, AL. Vet says 6ish. Srescued her 12/21/22 just before that frigid cold hit Bham and it was -4 Christmas morning. Had a difficult time trusting anyone that wanted her and after vetting, she was heart worm positive, had her fully vetted and spayed. She had recently had puppies when she was dumped at the dump. She’s mine now! Couldn’t love her more if I had given birth to her myself. All 5 of these babies are my children even though I have 3 human children. I am 63 and have rescued all of my life. It’s my purpose in life and my passion!


  • Lina Turner

    I’ve been curious about what my Buttercup would be considered. She doesn’t have patches of brown and orange, her coat is a swirl of color. And she has some white on her face and her undercoat.


  • Tortitude

    Actually tortoiseshell cat have a little bit of white patch!


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