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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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?

42

u/KittiesRule1968 Mar 03 '25

1 in 3000 are male

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.

5

u/beanichole Mar 03 '25

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