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.
We adopted ours. He was from a feral catand so small. He’s less then a year old and already 13 lbs! Very playful and greets me at the door when I come,home from work and loves to perch on my shoulder as I walk around the house.wish I could share a picture on here.
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I adopted two female orange tabby kittens who are litter mates. I adopted them when they were 6 months old, they are now 3 years old and are totally bonded to each other, they are inseparable, play, eat and sleep together. I’m single and they are very affectionate with me, but they are extremely frightened by strangers. They hide and won’t come out when a new person comes over. The shelter told me their mother was feral and they were rescued as young kittens, and then fostered. I am assuming this is why they hide from people. I just think it is strange that they can be so affectionate with me and each other and so afraid of everyone else. I don’t think I can change them, and not sure I want too, I love them the way they are.
I read over some of the other comments and I just wanted to say that we all know any kind of stray animal can be a pain especially if they’re in your back yard. Hell even other ppls pets can bring us trouble in our own neighborhood but that doesn’t mean they deserve to be harmed. If y ok you can safely trap them or know where they are at or stay you can call animal control and they’ll come and pick them up and if the animal is sick they will either save it or put them down if they can’t save it. Other wise they help them and find them good homes.
There was a stray cat that had a huge and very deep hole on the side of his neck. We think he got into it with a raccoon. Anyway I used to feed the cat when ever I saw him until one day he wouldn’t eat anymore. So I called a vet and they said the cats probably slowly just dying a very slow and painful death. So I told myself the next time I see him I’m gonna try and catch him and take him to a vet and leave him there for them to put him down. So I ended up catching him on a Sunday and all the vets were closed this lady at a horse rescue place gave me the number for animal control so I called them and they sent an officer to our place and took him away and did what they needed to for the cat.
It might sound like a lot to deal with but at least you won’t have to deal with the cats any more, you’ll feel good about yourself for helping them and you won’t have that on your concious.
O I forgot to add they were really fast. Took them less than an hour to show up. Also they do everything too unless you already have it handled.
We just moved to a new apt. Where we met George the big orange tabby cat……. I guess his original owner moved and left him here. Which I’m grateful she did because he is the coolest cat I’ve ever met. My dog is a rescue and she doesn’t like and one but her dad and I and out on walks she would chase after george but george for what ever reason isn’t afraid of her n he messes with her sometimes by running in front of her while shes walking or ducks down n tries to paw at when she walks by. We recently started letting him in the house and after like a week or they’re becoming friends and chase each other all over our small apt. Lol. Anyway he’s kinda like the complex cat n everyone loves him n now he has a home with us and our dog has a new friend!!!!
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