What colour is your cat?

Irish Stones

A recent survey and analyses says that cats' hair colours may vary from county to county and that the most common cat in Ireland is black with white patches.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/national-cat-survey-the-results-are-not-all-black-and-white-1.2129613

The second and third most common colours are tortoiseshell & white, and orange & white.
So, what colour are your cats?

My elder one is tortoiseshell (fifth to last in the survey table), the other is white with two grey patches both on her head and on her back, and black and grey stripes on her tail, like a raccoon (it seems this hair pattern is not mentioned in the survey).

Pumpkinseeds

We have 2 black and white cats, a mackerel coloured tabby and a black cat.

Ciano35

2 tortoiseshells, and 1 unusual solid grey

Indricotherium

I have a female tortoiseshell, which I believe is rare enough.

As far as I know, All cats are white + colours that are carried on X chromosome genes.

So to get a female tortoiseshell which is White + Grey + Ginger you need to have a cat with XXY chromosome.

Vernonymous

A white and gray.

El_Duderino 09

There is no tabby on the list. My kittys a tortoises shell with tabby orange in between. Vet called her a Torty-Tabby.

Best cat name ever.

El_Duderino 09

Indricotherium wrote: »

I have a female tortoiseshell, which I believe is rare enough.

As far as I know, All cats are white + colours that are carried on X chromosome genes.

So to get a female tortoiseshell which is White + Grey + Ginger you need to have a cat with XXY chromosome.

Other way around. Very rare to have a male tortoiseshell. The tortoise shell part is carried on X chromosome and it needs X X chromosome to be expressed. So it has to be female.

Irish Stones

Indricotherium wrote: »

I have a female tortoiseshell, which I believe is rare enough.

As far as I know, All cats are white + colours that are carried on X chromosome genes.

So to get a female tortoiseshell which is White + Grey + Ginger you need to have a cat with XXY chromosome.

All tortoiseshell cats are female (well, nearly almost, it seems there's a very small percentage of male tortoiseshells which are sterile).
I knew that white is absence of colour.

deise08

A handsome tabby.

and a black long haired who seems to just hang around

Indricotherium

Irish Stones wrote: »

All tortoiseshell cats are female (well, nearly almost, it seems there's a very small percentage of male tortoiseshells which are sterile).
I knew that white is absence of colour.

So is the maximum possible cat colours white + 2?

gubbie

I have a chocolate burmese so "Other"

Ms2011

One 13 yr old Calico:)

Nody

Alice - Black & white
Lizzy - Orange & white
Tommy - Pure black (not a white spot except whiskers)
Tiggy - Tabby (brown & black)
Sandy - Tortie (but only a tiny part of her foot is orange; the rest is brown & black)

SingItOut

Beau is Ginger,
Vogue is tabby with a lot of white

Irish Stones

Indricotherium wrote: »

So is the maximum possible cat colours white + 2?

The available colours should be two, black and orange.
The absence of pigments gives a white hair, the combination of two colours and the absence of colour gives all the other possibilities.
A grey cat is just a cat with less black pigment than a solid black cat.

metaoblivia

Gryphon - Grey and white (tuxedo markings)
Kiki - Seal point Siamese, not on the list

Fionne

I have 4.

Female is black with a white "bib" at the front of her chest, white toes on her back feet and a white tip on her tail (kinda like Sylvester the cartoon cat)

Her 2 sons are both black, with the white bib and white toes on back feet but no white tip on their tails.

4th cat is black with a white bib.

My parents can't understand how I can tell the 4 black cats apart, they just see black cats and can't distinguish features but they're so obviously different to me I can't fathom how anyone thinks they all look the same.

Kablamo!

Lola is a tabby and Mouse is a dilute calico. My previous three were all snow white.

alibab

I have a tortoiseshell 6 months old . Beautiful coloring and markings, she has a love heart at the top of her head so cute .

on_my_oe

Princess Foxy is dark and light ginger, with sections of white

Alun

Both of ours are tabbies, same mother, probably different fathers Holly is very dark coloured, lots of very dark brown almost black with gingery brown parts. Buffy is much lighter coloured with finer grey and brown stripes, but when the light catches her in a certain way, she's got a bit of a ginger tinge all over. Both have white bibs and mittens.

ShaShaBear

Unfortunately no longer have cats (we would love to adopt an older one, but Opie doesn't appear to be cat-friendly) but our first cat, Tigger, was a female tortoiseshell and later we had two female ginger/white cats called Mork and Mindy (we thought one was a boy). I fostered a mama cat for 8 weeks who was pure white (with no sensory issues) and she gave birth to two tabbies and four white kittens, one with two different eyes and the other with a single black dot in the centre of her head.

Our neighbourhood is predominantly elderly people and a lot of them own cats - not a single black and white one. I've seen a few solid black, one or two tortoiseshells and a lot of gingers. But there's a female black and white longhaired cat hanging around my mum's as of late. First one I ever saw, her tag says "Freisa", I assume after the cow breed :pac: Beautiful colouring, and I can't believe it's the most common!

SillyMangoX

Tortie and white (calico)
White and black (as opposed to black and white, he's more white )
Classic marbled tabby and white! I love Dude's colouring, I often compare him to a boxer, brown with white feet and bib. He looks like one even more now without his tail

bpmurray

Indricotherium wrote: »

I have a female tortoiseshell, which I believe is rare enough.

As far as I know, All cats are white + colours that are carried on X chromosome genes.

So to get a female tortoiseshell which is White + Grey + Ginger you need to have a cat with XXY chromosome.

Nope - read the article - it explains it well at the bottom.

bpmurray

Both dumped as tiny kittens 3 years ago (one sibling killed by car and another didn't survive):

• Jill - orange female
• Jack - black male, although a few white hairs are poking through now

VonVix

Two black, two tabby and one marmalade.

Sam Mac

My three: a ginger tabby male, a black and tortoise infused female, and white with tortoise patches male

Kovu

Kovu's a sort of marble striped mackerel with a creamy brown undercoat so his ears and muzzle go brown in summer. Squeak is normal mackerel stripe.

Crank & Smudge are both black and white. As is the stray tom cat that is obsessed with Squeak....:pac:

Pet sitting two gingers this week as well. One male and one female. The ginger female must be about 18 years old at this stage, one tough kitty!

Irish Stones

Kablamo! wrote: »

Lola is a tabby and Mouse is a dilute calico. My previous three were all snow white.

My tortoiseshell cat is named Lola as well
Sexy name, isn't it?

Irish Stones

ShaShaBear wrote: »

First one I ever saw, her tag says "Freisa", I assume after the cow breed :pac: Beautiful colouring, and I can't believe it's the most common!

If I'm not wrong, the cow breed is Friesian...
In this part of the world the "Freisa" is a red wine, typical of the area where I live
Are you sure the cat wasn't Freija", after the name of the Norse goddess who is frequently represented on a chariot pulled by two cats?

Irish Stones

Kovu wrote: »

Pet sitting two gingers this week as well. One male and one female. The ginger female must be about 18 years old at this stage, one tough kitty!

Ginger females are pretty rare, afaik.

PeteFalk78

2 females, 1 black and white and other is grey and white.
1 Tom, big lumbering grey, orange, white, brown and nearly every colour under the sun depending on the time of the year. His hair is 3-4 inches long.

Kovu

Irish Stones wrote: »

Ginger females are pretty rare, afaik.

She's definitely female! Found in Cavan hospital carpark a long time ago by my aunt and she kept her ever since. Getting arthritis now though

MrWalsh

1 very pretty black and white patches young girl.
1 plus sized mackerel tabby older girl.

The black and white girl has the most amazing pale green eyes - they look alien!

pawrick

My cats:
1 long haired tabby with ginger hue - looks like a maine coon but is smaller(f)
1regular tabby (f)

Gf has
2 all black (1 m 1 f)
1 long haired smokey grey (f)
1 regular tabby (m)
1 black and white (m)

All spayed or neutered

Irish Stones

Kovu wrote: »

She's definitely female! Found in Cavan hospital carpark a long time ago by my aunt and she kept her ever since. Getting arthritis now though

No doubt she was female, just to mark out that you have a rare specimen
I know a person who has two ginger females, sisters.

Themadhouse

1 white, 1 black and white, 1 seal colourpoint, 1 brown tabby, 1 silver tabby, 1 tortie mackerel tabby, 1 tortie tabby and white, 1 red tabby and 1 blue.

endacl

Silver.

Edit: Oh. 'Cat'. Not 'car'.... :embarrassed:

MrWalsh

Themadhouse wrote: »

1 white, 1 black and white, 1 seal colourpoint, 1 brown tabby, 1 silver tabby, 1 tortie mackerel tabby, 1 tortie tabby and white, 1 red tabby and 1 blue.

Nine!!

How do they all live together? I still havent allowed my 2 in the same room yet (2.5 months now) because Im afraid of the violence thats going to break out!

cotton

2 brown tabby
1 silver tabby
1 white
2 white & black
2 ginger & white
1 grey
1 lilac

Also had an all ginger female that lived to 18 years young.

sunbeam

One green eyed calico (female).
Her two middle aged female 'kittens'-white with green eyes.

One of the white cats is deaf, as was her white green eyed father.

Their late brother from the same litter looked like his calico mother, but just white and orange with the black removed.

There is another semi-feral white green eyed male around who I suspect may be their half brother or cousin.

Hollister11

We have 1 Black cat, 1 grey/black/white cat. We also have 1 ginger tom cat who is missing now for 2 1/2 years. We live in dublin

Woshy

We have a black and white tuxedo cat. He is from New Zealand though - we brought him home with us so not sure he counts towards the most common cat colouring in Ireland, being a kiwi cat

RoadhouseBlues

Well its not mine, but my uncle's moggy is black with just a few streaks of white fur on his belly. I'm dipping my paw in here because I am the only person he comes to. He was a stray. Also I'm wondering can you become addicted to cats because I fear I may be in trouble. I don't have one, but I visit that moggy every day. Also sometimes I find myself doing the pishwishwishwish sound when I'm on my own. I will have to watch that one in case I accidently do it in public sometime. Dear god. Since the first time that moggy purred for me I have not been able to get moggies out of my mind. The most disturbing part of it is that I'm male. Am I really becoming the male equivalent of a crazy cat lady?. Is there professional help available or am I really....................Under The Paw.............?

RentDayBlues

We just have one (for now) and he's a bengal so technically he's brown spotted. He's got quite a ginger tone from his mum and amazing green eyes

Themadhouse

MrWalsh wrote: »

Nine!!

How do they all live together? I still havent allowed my 2 in the same room yet (2.5 months now) because Im afraid of the violence thats going to break out!

8 live together, 1 lives separately. They mostly get on, the odd handbags but never anything major. They are used to big numbers as we regularly have kittens and the kittens are always socialised with the gang.

Themadhouse

cotton wrote: »

2 brown tabby
1 silver tabby
1 white
2 white & black
2 ginger & white
1 grey
1 lilac

Also had an all ginger female that lived to 18 years young.

:-) nose bumps to them all. :-)

Pumpkinseeds

RoadhouseBlues wrote: »

Well its not mine, but my uncle's moggy is black with just a few streaks of white fur on his belly. I'm dipping my paw in here because I am the only person he comes to. He was a stray. Also I'm wondering can you become addicted to cats because I fear I may be in trouble. I don't have one, but I visit that moggy every day. Also sometimes I find myself doing the pishwishwishwish sound when I'm on my own. I will have to watch that one in case I accidently do it in public sometime. Dear god. Since the first time that moggy purred for me I have not been able to get moggies out of my mind. The most disturbing part of it is that I'm male. Am I really becoming the male equivalent of a crazy cat lady?. Is there professional help available or am I really....................Under The Paw.............?

There's no point in fighting it, just give in, you know you want to. Cats are like Pringles, you can't just have one.:)

RoadhouseBlues

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

There's no point in fighting it, just give in, you know you want to. Cats are like Pringles, you can't just have one.:)

:D:DPringles. That's a good one:D:D:D. Aye I love them really. We always had them when I was growing up so that's prob where it comes from. I can't have one where I'm living now but hopefully I will be moving soon. Its funny though, they have always taken to me. They prob can sense that I like them. I do chat away to my uncle's cat. If anyone heard me they would have me locked up. I tell him that I remember when he was just a little ball of fur a few hours old:D:D:D. Oh yes. I'm under the paw alright.

skallywag

CatA : TigerWhite
CatB : Yellow

Irish Stones

skallywag wrote: »

CatA : TigerWhite
CatB : Yellow

Yellow?
You mean orange or light orange?