Ginger females.

[blackcat]

It was a long time ago and he was not a vet who liked animals, if you get my drift...

[Desley (booktigger)]

The messybeast articles are fab and very informative. We currently have a ginger female in, and if I remember rightly, she is all female - called Sandy as she iis that shade of ginger. I have seen a website about male torties, that had lots of pics, and at least one fertile tortie on it - the bit about them being worth a fortune isn't true sadly, a male tortie wont make torties, they generally only give either the red or the black gene, and both are needed for torties. And you wouldnt know which unless you had bred them. IT is amazing what vets think and say though!!

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Here's the messybeast article I was trying to find earlier

http://www.messybeast.com/self-solid.htm

http://www.messybeast.com/tricolours.htm

[ccmacey]

I knew it was possible, just didnt know if they were rare.

My aunt had a ginger female and her parents were tabby and black n white.

[Gwen]

I have known two people with Ginger Females so I knew it was possible but rare

[Ela]

The colour is sex-linked, ginger females occur but they generally have a bit of white on them somewhere

When I say as many ginger females if not more than males I do mean all ginger and not ginger and white.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

That's interesting Susanne, didn't know that.  It's strange finding out who Tiggy's parents were after all these years!  So if a cat, male or female, is ginger then it must have had one ginger parent, is that right?

It needs to have had one ginger or tortie parent - torties can pass on red or black.

[Ela]

Now we are on black and whites...

We have years like that, one year loads of gingers including some ginger and white, another mostly tortie, another tabby and another  black & white. However,  we get more years with mostly black.  Although I personally could not care less if I adopted a cat that was ginger pink with blue spots on, it saddens me when the blacks and black & whites are more difficult to home.

[Pinkbear (Julie)]

Well, you learn something every day! I didn't think male Torties were possible. 

http://www.cats.org.uk/media/news_archived_detail.asp?id=223

[Tiggy's Mum]

Ginger females are more rare than ginger males (in general) as you need both parents to pass on the gene for red (so dad needs to be red and mum needs to be red or tortie), compared with just one for ginger males.

That's interesting Susanne, didn't know that.  It's strange finding out who Tiggy's parents were after all these years!  So if a cat, male or female, is ginger then it must have had one ginger parent, is that right?

[Ela]

The ginger female and tortie topic has been discussed a few times on here and CC

but what i have never come across is a Tortie male !!!

Now they are rear and sterile, although I appreciate there may be  an exception to the rule. I have Brindley Leg  who is tortie down one leg.

While we  were in Cornwall a few weeks ago they were talking about ginger females and how rear they are, yet I have over the years had as many if not more ginger females than males. I am sure it is an area thing. The same with Polydactyl Cats often called Hemingway cats, there are a lot round here. Yet other areas thay are as rear as Rocking Horse droppings.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

You can't have a tortie male unless it's a genetic abnormality as males can't carry both red and black since that requires 2 X chromosomes - XXY.  Most, but not all, are sterile.  You can also get a condition called mosaicism, which is something I didn't know about unti Desley mentioned it on here, which causes what looks like a tortie pattern. I think it's something to do with the mutation of the pigment and isn't the same as being tortie.   Messybeast has something about that - afraid I can't post a link as my dial up cant' cope with messybeast

Ginger females are more rare than ginger males (in general) as you need both parents to pass on the gene for red (so dad needs to be red and mum needs to be red or tortie), compared with just one for ginger males.  But it will be affected by local gene pools.  In areas where there are a relatively large number of ginger females you'll get more ginger kittens and therefore more ginger females in future populations.  I think they are quite common around here - I know lots of people with ginger females.

[Canterbury_cats (Sharon)]

This is very interesting as we took in two adult pure ginger females earlier in the year. Have had 2 ginger kittens females in our care now..Generally we have had a year of Gingers....more then 14in total....But only 4 females...
Hector who off to his new home tomorrow in our care, is also a ginger puss. Really weird.

Now we are on black and whites...

Never had a torti male although i know it is possible....I dont they would come into rescue if there was

[blackcat]

The colour is sex-linked, ginger females occur but they generally have a bit of white on them somewhere. Tortie males do not occur (or so the vet I used to work with told me). Apparently if you had a torti male and all his bits were fully functional, you have the potential to make a fortune as it would provide an opportunity to breed the colour range into pedigreed animals for what it's worth. Sex-linked, means that the female can carry the gene (genotype) , but it is only expressed in the male kittie (phenotype)

[Bazsmum]

Argh!!!>DD...after me going on last night bout naming a ginger female "Satine"......suppose it would be a rare name for a rare girl 

Nope i hav'nt seen (in the fur) a male torti either 

[Team Svartalfheims]

I've seen photos of one (and he's most defiantely not sterile!!) but I've never seen one 'in the fur'.

Red girls aren't that uncommon.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

The question has been asked before but has anyone ever seen a male tortie.........last time the answer was no 

[ccmacey]

I read on the net that a Tortie male has XXY chromosomes, thats how come they are mostly female.

[Michelle (furbabystar)]

There are alot more ginger female than people think.

but what i have never come across is a Tortie male !!!

[CurlyCatz]

I think ela and desley have both said in the past that it can depend on your area as they can be more common in certain "pockets" (or maybe they were just talking about reds in general    )

But as has been said , they arent probably classed as "rare" but certainly uncommon...and helen LOL..i was just gonna post about flora and seen you remembered yourself 

[Dawn (DiddyDawn)]

They're not really that rare, I've had quite a few in......Shelby's a female, Minnie was and one of the Wobblies is as well 

[Tiggy's Mum]

Forgot to say that the vet didn't believe she was a girl and told my Mum that gingers were always boys, my Mum said that the vet nurses (we got her from the vets after someone had dumped them on a skip) had told us she was a girl, he was adamant they must be mistaken but then he looked at her bits and siad 'Oh yes, so she is' 

There's an old wives tale that ginger females are sterile, don't know if that's true either as she was spayed. Maybe some of the recue peeps will know...  Just answered my own question - Flora was ginger and had 9 babies so that must be an old wives tale!

[ccmacey]

Yes I know  

So the chances are 1 in a million lol.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

The nasty one up the road is a female too, but they are rare 

[Tiggy's Mum]

Gingers are predominately male but ginger females do exist, my Tiggy was a girl - she was one in a million 

[ccmacey]

Hi peeps,

I was in the vets today and these two women were talking about their cats. They were saying that ginger females are rare to get, as in there are mostly males that are born ginger 

Is this true or is it a little myth?

Anyway I thought I know better, I use Purrs lol.