Ginger Kitten Required

faolteam

Hi im looking for a Ginger Kitten

I already have a Male Ginger about 4 years old,

Just not sure if if its best to get a Male or female and will the age difference be a problem as regards fighting ???

The Sweeper

You'll find it more difficult to find a female ginger kitten - the ginger gene is located on the X chromosome, but overrides other colours. Females are XX and males are XY - so the male only has to get the ginger gene on his single X chromosome and he'll be ginger, but the female cat has to get the ginger gene on both her chromosomes - otherwise the ginger will come through but so will other colours like black and white - and thus you get tortoiseshell or calico cats.

(That's why you'll hear that tortoiseshell cats are always female - because if a male is going to have ginger on his X chromosome, it'll override the other colours and he'll be all-out ginger. Male tortoiseshells are very rare, have XXY chromosomes with ginger on one X and not the other and are usually sterile.)

Is your existing ginger cat desexed? If he is not, you need to have him desexed and then wait about six months for the hormones to leave his system before introducing a kitten. It should make him more amenable to company. Intact tom cats have been known to kill kittens, so unless he's a serious softy I'd be very careful.

It still may be better to introduce a female kitten rather than a male. If your existing cat is quite territorial and attacks other cats on your property, you will have to take introductions extremely slowly. Even if he's quite amenable to other cats, it's still a good idea to do slow introductions.

There are extensive posts on this forum on introducing a kitten to adult cats, so I won't go through all that again here - just search the forum and you'll get the information. The trick is to take it very slowly and always praise and coddle your resident cat and not the kitten.

audreyp

I have recently gotten two beautiful kittens. I wanted two girls but fell in love with a little ginger kitten so we have him and his sister (a tortoiseshell)

We thought girls would be better to introduce to our existing tom (he is neutered but very territorial) but weirdly he likes the our little ginger kitten and taking much longer to warm to the female. We are on week three and still keep them separated when we are not there so beware its a long and difficult process!!