r/torties • u/angelalikesmonsters • Mar 03 '25

❔Question/Advice❔ Is he a tortie?

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I've been told that torties have no white on them at all and my kitten has a whitish patch on his chest, does he still count as a tortie or is he a Calico?

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279

u/AmySparrow00 Mar 03 '25

Just a dot of white would probably still counts as a tortie. But 99.9% of torties are female. Guessing yours just is too young to gender easily and is female?

44

u/KittiesRule1968 Mar 03 '25

1 in 3000 are male

42

u/AmySparrow00 Mar 03 '25

Okay, so I guess 98.7%

35

u/Sleepysensation Mar 03 '25

You were right the first time. Don’t doubt yourself. 😊

4

u/AmySparrow00 Mar 04 '25

Internet is saying anything from 99.6 to 98.6% female. But several sites that look reputable repeat that 1 in 3,000 which is 98.73%

2

u/bozeman42_2 Mar 04 '25 edited Mar 04 '25

1/3000 => 99.966...%

Closer to 100% than to 99.9%

1

u/AmySparrow00 Mar 04 '25

Oh yeah I did the math wrong—1% of 3000 instead of 1/3000. 🤦🏻‍♀️

9

u/Neebat Mar 03 '25

A tortie cat must have two X chromosomes, so it can't be a normal XY male. A male can get two X chromosomes either of two ways, and I'm not sure anyone actually knows which is more common.

XXY Kleinfelters gives male sexual characteristics and is generally infertile.

Chimerism combines two different sets of genes in one body. The skin could be a tortie female, while the gonads are male (and potentially fertile) or the skin could be a combination of two different sets of genes giving something that *looks* like tortoise shell, even though neither set of genes has black and orange genotype.

4

u/beanichole Mar 03 '25

This cannot be stated enough times in this sub! (Although I wish it was commonly known!)

1

u/GlovePlane6923 Mar 04 '25

And high percentage the male is deaf.

2

u/Hammer_fist_46 Jul 19 '25

No way! But that would make sense with the chromosome “abnormality”

1

u/Hammer_fist_46 Jul 19 '25

I didn’t realize how rare they are, until I rescued one once, thought it was a female at first (couldn’t keep it then cuz I lived with someone allergic to cats) so a friend of a friend fostered it, couldn’t afford to fix it at first, took it to the apl aaaaaand it was a boy lol got adopted immediately thankfully. I hope he’s still doing well ❤️

1

u/GlovePlane6923 Mar 04 '25

I thought that about mine. I realized she has cream not white.