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.
Chippy – my forever soulmate darling brother/family member Miss him still all the time. Came into my life in 1988. Will live in my heart forever. Miss him so much. Most beautiful creature in the world too.
RIP
I love ginger cats. Have had one male and one female. Want another one but already have 2 cats, one of whom would not tolerate another cat in the house.
Although the article says there are no solid colour orange cats, I have seen a dilute (pale ) orange cat with solid colour that a friend had years ago. He was huge and stunning.
Well, I was almost finished telling you all about my sweet Boo when my computer decided to wipe out!?!? UGH! Okay, here we go again! My sweet Boo (Kitty Boo II) is a mess! He is a beautiful, green-eyed ginger and he is my best friend! I absolutely adore him (needless to say)! He is cute, stubborn, adorable, sassy, independent, intelligent (to a fault), and he does what HE wants to do when HE wants to do it……period! At bedtime, he jumps up in my lap, stretches out and “allows” me to pet him!!! But for the first seven years of his life (he is 7.5 years old now), when he jumped up into my lap after his night time meal, he would immediately start to “nurse and knead!” He would poke his little nose at the edge of my upper arm and “knead” my neck with his front paws. Just out of the blue, he stopped the “nursing and kneading” and began the “allowing” part of our nightly petting time. He is a bit suspicious of strangers who enter the house but finally after a few minutes, he will sniff them a bit and if they are friendly, he MIGHT allow them to pet him….just depends on his mood of the day! His life preferences are #1) eating and #2) sleeping; then there’s the screened-in porch where he would much prefer to live. Alas, his mean ole Mommie makes him come in at bedtime, but as soon as the sun comes up and/or as soon as he can get me awake each morning, he wants to eat and then go straight out to the porch!! He’s a sweetheart (much of the time) and he’s my main man (I am widowed). Another interesting thing with my Boo is that, if I go away for a few hours, he pouts for about an hour after I get home; however, if I go away for a few days, he pouts for at least 4 hours! Trust me, you guys would LOVE my sweet boy!! #DollBaby
My orange cat is actually a Manx named Skeeter Baggett. I got him from a rescue He is such a funny cat! Fetches small items and loves playing. If you put a pen on the edge of the coffee table, he simply must go knock it off. Don’t get me started on him on catnip! Best of all, he purrs and head butts me. He eats treats right out of my hand. He has a very sweet disposition. He is 11, and gets along great with my sweet, grey Tabby, Karma, who is 15. I could go on and on, but that’s enough for now.
I “had” a huge orange tom for years that I named Ginger. He was a great cat, just showed up one day on my porch insisting I feed him, and lived under my house for a few years. I had to take him to the vet once because he got into a fight and had another cat’s entire claw (root and all) stuck THROUGH his ear. So I walk into Petsmart /Banfield with this massive male in my mom’s large, rusted metal cage she usually catches raccoons in, and everyone around is startled. Haha. They thought he was menacing. He might have been, he wasn’t happy to be in that crate lol. When I picked him up after they removed the claw, they informed me that next time I was gonna have to pay to get him put under because he was so upset and feisty. I said, sure! And prayed I’d never need to bring him in again lol.
After a few years, I brought home a catten that I found in my work parking lot and deposited her on my porch. Within a few days, Ginger had disappeared. I guess he didn’t like the new cat :( I still have her (Flicka), 4 years later, but I miss Ginger. I wish he’d stuck around.
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