Orange female cats??!

2/3rds of orange cats will be male.

Mel


JPT wrote:
For a long time I was under the impression that all completely orange
(as opposed to calicos with some orange) cats were males, just as the
vast majority of all torties are female. But I have several strays
that hang out in my back yard, and I've seen what I believed to be an
undersized male nursing her kittens! Are orange females more common
than I thought? Thanks for any info.
Oh, and the kitty is sort of deep orange on top with some tabby orange
stripings on the flanks.
She is closest to the camera in this photo
http://home.earthlink.net/~lazykat67...s/Dscn1899.jpg
and appears on the right in this one
http://home.earthlink.net/~lazykat67...s/Dscn1895.jpg

In , Laura R.
wrote:
| circa Mon, 28 Jun 2004 12:52:22 -0400, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav,
| Melanie Harrison ) said,
|
| 2/3rds of orange cats will be male.
|
| Corroboration?

I've heard other numbers, like 1/5.

Theoretically the number could be 1/4, because (a) "red" coloring
is determined by the X chromosome, and (b) the "red" trait tends
to be recessive. So, for a female to be orange, she needs to
have gotten orange X chromosomes from both parents. But this is
a simplification.

Buncha' links:

http://www.fanciers.com/cat-faqs/tricolors.shtml
http://www.hut.fi/u/lsarakon/catlinks.html

In , Laura R.
wrote:
| circa Mon, 28 Jun 2004 12:52:22 -0400, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav,
| Melanie Harrison ) said,
|
| 2/3rds of orange cats will be male.
|
| Corroboration?

I've heard other numbers, like 1/5.

Theoretically the number could be 1/4, because (a) "red" coloring
is determined by the X chromosome, and (b) the "red" trait tends
to be recessive. So, for a female to be orange, she needs to
have gotten orange X chromosomes from both parents. But this is
a simplification.

Buncha' links:

http://www.fanciers.com/cat-faqs/tricolors.shtml
http://www.hut.fi/u/lsarakon/catlinks.html

"JPT" wrote in message
news
For a long time I was under the impression that all completely orange
(as opposed to calicos with some orange) cats were males, just as the
vast majority of all torties are female. But I have several strays
that hang out in my back yard, and I've seen what I believed to be an
undersized male nursing her kittens! Are orange females more common
than I thought? Thanks for any info.

I've heard that 70% of all orange cats are male, but our shelter is seeing
closer to half and half, lately. My two girls are both orange tabbies.
Male torties or calicos aren't entirely unheard of, but they're a genetic
mutation (from what I understand) and are sterile.

"JPT" wrote in message
news
For a long time I was under the impression that all completely orange
(as opposed to calicos with some orange) cats were males, just as the
vast majority of all torties are female. But I have several strays
that hang out in my back yard, and I've seen what I believed to be an
undersized male nursing her kittens! Are orange females more common
than I thought? Thanks for any info.

I've heard that 70% of all orange cats are male, but our shelter is seeing
closer to half and half, lately. My two girls are both orange tabbies.
Male torties or calicos aren't entirely unheard of, but they're a genetic
mutation (from what I understand) and are sterile.

Arjun Ray wrote in message . ..
In , Laura R.
wrote:
| circa Mon, 28 Jun 2004 12:52:22 -0400, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav,
| Melanie Harrison ) said,
|
| 2/3rds of orange cats will be male.

You can never come up with a stat like that. What you can say is that
of matings that might result in a male orange cat, if the Queen is
orange, all male offspring will be orange. If the Queen is tricolor,
50% of the male offspring will be orange. It doesn't matter what
color the Tom is.


|
| Corroboration?

I've heard other numbers, like 1/5.

Theoretically the number could be 1/4, because (a) "red" coloring
is determined by the X chromosome, and (b) the "red" trait tends
to be recessive. So, for a female to be orange, she needs to
have gotten orange X chromosomes from both parents.

But if she is orange, so is her father, as as she must have inherited
one recessive orange gene passed on by his one X chomosome (if he
wasn't orange, none of his offspring could be). So Queen could be
orange as well (homozygous recessive) or tricolored (heterozygous).
The chance of her being orange is 100% if Queen is orange and 50% if
Queen is tricolored.

-L.

Arjun Ray wrote in message . ..
In , Laura R.
wrote:
| circa Mon, 28 Jun 2004 12:52:22 -0400, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav,
| Melanie Harrison ) said,
|
| 2/3rds of orange cats will be male.

You can never come up with a stat like that. What you can say is that
of matings that might result in a male orange cat, if the Queen is
orange, all male offspring will be orange. If the Queen is tricolor,
50% of the male offspring will be orange. It doesn't matter what
color the Tom is.


|
| Corroboration?

I've heard other numbers, like 1/5.

Theoretically the number could be 1/4, because (a) "red" coloring
is determined by the X chromosome, and (b) the "red" trait tends
to be recessive. So, for a female to be orange, she needs to
have gotten orange X chromosomes from both parents.

But if she is orange, so is her father, as as she must have inherited
one recessive orange gene passed on by his one X chomosome (if he
wasn't orange, none of his offspring could be). So Queen could be
orange as well (homozygous recessive) or tricolored (heterozygous).
The chance of her being orange is 100% if Queen is orange and 50% if
Queen is tricolored.

-L.