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.
My very lite orange tabby cat licks me. Like it’s going out of style no joke. He has been taught that we dont tolerate biting so he licks up to death now we asked the vet he said it’s a salt thing Idk. mom washed her hair in mint shampoo and lick lick ….Ive never had a cat who licks lile he does…
MOE is his name….
Our wonderful orange striped tabby, Rudy, is the joy of my life. He is the sweetest, most loving cat I’ve ever known. He is completely bonded to us and greets us at the door when we come home, adores being petted, and loves snuggling on the sofa under a blanket.
Today I am picking Red up at the veterinarian’s, where he’s been for two days. Sadly, Red had an encounter with a bouquet of lilies and although he didn’t eat any petals or leaves, his ruff was covered with pollen, which of course he licked off. Lilies—all parts of them— are so, so, so toxic to cats. They are lethal! For the past two days Red’s been undergoing fluid infusion to flush his kidneys. It was our fault for thinking we could keep the bouquet in an “off-limits” room. Red managed to get into that room. We are so lucky that we got him to the vet in time. Our lovely boy is going to be well, but we made a bad, bad mistake as cat owners. Please don’t bring lilies into your home if you have cats— and let your loved ones know that there are other bouquets to choose from if they want to send you one. NO LILIES FOR CATS.
To Maureen Howard: The article didn’t say there were no solid orange cats, it said there were no solid orange tabby cats, or, in the exact words of the article, “There are no tabbies with a solid orange coat. But, there are non-orange tabbies with solid coats.” It is in fact impossible to have an orange tabby without stripes. If the cat doesn’t have an “M” on it’s forehead it’s not a tabby; all tabbies have markings. (Abyssinian Tabbies, however, are usually multiple different tones of brown, sometimes with stripes.)
I had a long hair orange kitty. We just lost her on 12/12/17 as she became very ill. She was 15 years old. She was the best cat I’ve ever had and made us laugh every day. She was extremely affectionate and talkative. She was very smart and taught herself to pee in the toilet. We miss her so much.
I HAVE 5 YEAR OLD ORANGE CAT THAT WAS ADOPTED FROM THE ANIMAL SHELTER IN MY AREA MILTON IS TYPICAL ORANGE CAT .,HE LOVES PEOPLE WHO COME TO THE HOUSE AND IS VERY PLAYFULL. MILTON LIKES TO SLEEP IN THE OVAL SINK THAT IS IN THE BATHROOM. EVERY NITE. . MILTON DEMANDS ALOT OF ATTENTION WHICH HE GETS. . EVERYTIME I GO OUT MILTON ALWAYS WATCHED GO OUT THE DOOR ,THEN HE WATCHES ME OUTSIDE.WHEN I GO OUT HE ALWAYS SEEMS TO KNOW WHAT TIME I WILL BE HOME AND OF COURSE HE GREETS ME AT THE DOOR ALL THE TIME..I FOUND HOW MUCH ATTENTION HE WANTS, I WAS WORKING AT THE COMPUTER WHILE NOT PAYING ANY ATTENTION TO MILTON ,WHEN HE DECIDED IT WAS ENOUGH COMPUTER WORK FOR THE DAY .MILTON WALKS ACROSS THE TABLE AND GENTLY PUSHES THE HP PRINTER ON THE FLOOR,TELLING ME TO STOP PRINTING AND PAY ATTENTION TO HIM. .THE PRINTER WAS PUSHED OF OFF THE TABLE COMPLETELY. .THERE ARE TOO MANY OTHER THINGS THAT MILTON HAS DONE TO MY CONDO IN THE PAST YEAR
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