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.
As of today I am the proud parent of three……yes three…..orange tabby females!!!! My orange tabby female just had a litter of 4….yes…..4 orange kittens. So excited!!!!! I now have an orange tabby army…..coming to get ya.
All I need is flack jackets!! That’s gonna happen.
Orange tabbies are the absolute best! Such characters. Such attitudes. So individual. Just gotta love them to bits.
We have 3 orange tabbies among the brood, one is my special buddy. His name is Oscar, we call him Sir Oscar because normally he is a very mild and timid little scaredy cat, that is until another cat messes with his little sister Nollie (Another very small tabby our bengal cat hates for some reason), then he charges in to fight for her. He doesn’t usually win the fight, but he has always fought for her. We’ve taken to keeping the cats separated, so most of the time he snuggles in my arms and sleeps these days and is only occasionaly called to save the day!
I used to have an orange tabby named Otto. He lived a long life of 21 years.
He would act like a dog often. He liked playing fetch with a cage ball, and he would run to the door when someone was there.
He was also very vocal.
Of all the cats I have had in my life, at least 7 were orange, and the most affectionate. I think that is a trait that exists among orange cats. If the cat also has orange eyes, it is the most affectionate of all.
Over the decades I have had six orange tabbies – three female & three male. One of the females was a swirled tabby name of Bright Eyes. She was a very sweet and loving cat. She also kept the peace between our cats when sometimes two would have a spat. She would go over and cuddle next to them and groom both of them and pretty soon all three would be curled up and sleeping.
Bright Eyes did not have any white markings. She just had the orange tabby markings. I didn’t think anything of it until we went to a new Vet one time who commented that female orange tabbies almost always have some white on them somewhere, but after she had examined Bright Eyes she agreed that Bright Eyes had no white markings on her.
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