The tricolor cat is a boy. Tortoiseshell, Calico and Tricolor cat colors. Calico cat is a rarity

Tricolor cats are tricolor happiness!

Almost every cat lover has heard that tri-colored cats bring good luck and happiness to the house. The happiest cats are considered to be white-black-red cats, that is, cats with a predominant white color with black and red spots on their fur.

There is an explanation for this - white color is a symbol of purity, black color protects from evil spirits, and red color drives away illnesses and brings wealth to the house. For this reason, it is these three-colored cats that are valued more than others.

In Muslim countries they believe that a tricolor cat will protect your home from fire, and the British believe that a tricolor cat will bring warmth and security to their home.

And sailors are sure that the presence of a tricolor cat on their ship makes him happy and helps him avoid trouble.

Fishermen have a legend that the tri-colored cat senses the approach of bad weather better than others.

Despite the large number of signs and beliefs associated with tricolor cats, such cats have an objective feature.

You will practically not be able to find a calico cat; according to statistics, for every 3,000 calico cats there is only one calico cat, and he is usually infertile.

This is explained by a genetic anomaly; the tricolor coat color is transmitted only through the “female” line.

All over the world, the acquisition of a tricolor cat is still considered rare and lucky.

Tricolor cats have a very docile character. Their color can be called tortoiseshell; the most affable and friendly of all tricolor cats are again white-red-black.

But their docile nature does not prevent these cats from loving themselves very much; in games and affection, such cats begin to flirt with their owner. But, as a rule, the owners of such cats are people who value beauty, so the cat’s coquetry only touches them.

It would seem that tricolor cats are a gift of fate, but not everything is so smooth.

Very often, cats with this color have problems with the litter box; it is especially difficult to accustom such a cat to the litter box, because it will stubbornly ignore you and the litter box.

The solution to this problem can be to change the location of the tray; place it in the place that the cat chooses.

Another small nuisance can be aggression, but not on the owner or on members of the household. This aggression is most often noted by veterinarians; calico cats do not like strangers, especially if they try to pick them up or stroke them.

But, we repeat, aggression does not apply to the owner and household members.

Tricolor cats can be of different colors, but basically all colors are divided into 2 types:

1. calico color – red and black predominate, there are fuzzy spots of white, no shades of silver or smoky color

2. harlequin color - the cat is almost all white, sometimes it happens that only 1/6 of its body is colored, usually these are “caps” on the face, spots on the tail or back

Not all breeds of cats can be tricolor. Most often, this color is found in outbred cats and short-haired breeds.

But British cats simply cannot be tri-colored, because they are characterized by smoky gray colors, and they can give different shades of fur, so three colors in the color of a British cat simply have nowhere to come from.

Persian cats may well be tricolor; usually such kittens are born to a white and black “father” and a red or red and white “mother.”

A tricolor cat is happiness that is so close!

ARE THERE ANY CALRI-COLORED CATS? Those who love fluffy creatures called “cats” probably know this sign that owners of three colors bring happiness and luck to the house. It is believed that the happiest of them are murkas with coat colors of white, black and red. What does this mean? Perhaps it is this combination that explains the sign. If we look at all the colors according to their meanings, then: - white symbolizes purity and innocence; - a red cat saves from illness (such a cat brings wealth to the owner’s house); -black protects against evil spirits. When they are all combined in one representative, it turns out that calico cats should be valued by people more than their other companions. What does the world think about them? In Japan, the “Maneki Neko” figurine is placed near the front door so that it attracts wealth and good fortune into the house. This is a tricolor cat that holds one paw near its ear, as if welcoming a guest. According to Japanese belief, it is believed that a greeting from the owners means prosperity for their home. In countries of the Muslim religion, tricolor cats protect the house from a possible fire. In England it is a living symbol of warmth and protection. Sailors always keep such a cat on their ship as a sign of protection against possible troubles. And fishermen consider the tricolored murka to be able to sense better than others the likelihood of imminent bad weather. Only girls, by the way, when we say “tricolored cats,” this does not mean males at all. Just the opposite. A male cat with a similar coloration among his furry relatives is a very rare occurrence. Statistics show that for every three thousand cats with three coat colors, only one male is born, for which fate “punishes” him with infertility. What is the reason for this “injustice of nature” in relation to males? The genome of the main pigments is located on the X chromosome. Each of them can contain 2 of 3 basic pigments. The female chromosome set implies the presence of 2 X chromosomes. Thanks to this, they can be combined in such a way that one of the pigments will be predominant, and options for a successful combination of three colors in an animal are possible. As for males, their set implies the presence of X and Y chromosomes, while the Y gene does not have color. In this regard, it cannot impart additional pigmentation to the animal. Thus, only females can have three basic colors at the same time, but a cat’s “fur coat” cannot be colored dark and red at once. By tri-color coat color we mean the presence of three basic tones - black, white, red. The degree of their brightness and severity may vary. So, red can be light orange or fiery red, black can be dark gray, dark smoky, blue, etc. White usually remains white, but it can have a creamy or grayish tint. However, nature never tires of presenting surprises, so the question of whether cats are three-colored or whether nature has endowed only cats with such a prerogative cannot be answered positively. If a malfunction occurs in an animal’s body (as a rule, this happens during intrauterine development) and another X chromosome is added to the set of XY chromosomes, it has every chance of becoming a “turtle.” Such cases are unique, and such “instances” were submitted to research. Unfortunately, they cannot pass on their “zest” to their offspring - no matter what breed a unique tricolor cat has, he is infertile in any case. The conclusion suggests itself - the “turtle” boy is an anomaly, and the price of uniqueness for them is the loss of the opportunity to continue their kind. There are other observations. Many owners of such unique animals claim that their pets have poor health, which affects their life expectancy. This has not been scientifically proven, and tri-colored cats are a phenomenon that happens so rarely that there is simply not enough information to draw conclusions about whether they are telling the truth. It is a fact that tri-colored cats do exist, but they are very rare.

Nature never ceases to amaze people with its incredible mysteries. Why do caterpillars “dress up” in a cocoon, chameleons “play” with colors, and bees build a “state”? And although these phenomena have long been studied and explained scientifically, not everyone knows the reasons that underlie them. For example, you've probably heard that cats come in three colors, but cats don't?

Tri-color cat or cat?

The calico cat is typically a domestic spotted cat or partly spotted cat, usually having white fur with black and orange spots. In England, the tricolor color of cats gave them the name “Calico cat” - from a type of cotton fabric that was invented in Calicut. The Japanese call such a cat “mike-neko” or simply “mike”, which means three-haired cat, the Dutch call it “lapjeskat”, literally translated, patchwork cat.

These cats are often simply called calico or tortoiseshell and white. However, a tortoiseshell cat differs from a calico cat in that its fur color is black and orange with or without spots of white, while the main, “base” color of calico cats is white. Some calico cats have a spiral pattern on their belly. In the everyday understanding of the issue, a tortoiseshell cat or a she-cat, a tri-colored or a tri-haired cat are one and the same thing.

A tortoiseshell cat, like the tricolor color of cats, has nothing to do with the breed, but only denotes the color of the coat. Cat breeds that can be calico or tortoiseshell are: Manx, British Shorthair, American Shorthair, Persian, Turkish Bath, Japanese Bobtail and Exotic.

With cats, everything seems to be clear, but are there three-haired cats? In principle, calico cats exist, but due to the genetic dependence of fur color on the chromosome that determines sex, in the vast majority of cases the tortoiseshell color will be a female cat, not a tomcat.

Tortoiseshell cat or are there three-haired cats?

Let’s immediately define what we mean by the common name “tricolored cats”, namely cats (not cats) that have a tortoiseshell color. That is, one that combines black and red (looking red) fur color, or black, red and white.

As you already understand, the well-known statement that calico cats do not exist is only half true. Since such individuals are still born, although incredibly rarely, so much so that only the “true lucky ones” have seen them.

The thing is that the genome of the basic colors of cats (that is, black and red) is located in a single locus on the X chromosome (at a fixed location of the gene within the chromosome), which individuals of both cats or cats have. A cat has a set of XX, and she can freely have black, red, and tortoiseshell color (that is, have black, red, and even white). The cat is the owner of XY, and therefore can be either black or red.

Calico cats: is there a chance?

Remembering school biology lessons, this relationship can be schematically depicted as follows:

XX– cat (two X chromosomes at once, with possible combinations: black, red, tortoiseshell);

XY– cat (only one X chromosome, with possible combinations: black, red).

For convenience, let’s denote the gene for black color by the letter B, and the gene for red by O. One of the options for inheritance by animals of tortoiseshell color will be as follows: Red cat (XO Y) + Black cat (XB XB) = tortoiseshell cat (XB XO) - 50%, black cat (XB Y) - 50%.

It turned out that the male kittens in this variation “took” the color from the mother cat. The same situation will be with the offspring of the pair “black cat and red cat”, that is, the birth of red seals and tortoiseshell cats is quite possible. The conclusion is such a tricky one: genes that are localized on the X chromosome are not able to “fix themselves” on the Y chromosome, and are passed on to the son from the mother.

Cats are almost always tri-colored, since only the X chromosome determines the color of the fur and only females have two X chromosomes. Given that cats only have one X chromosome, it is almost impossible for a cat to have dark and orange fur at the same time.

The tortoiseshell cat is a miracle of nature!

There is only one exception to this genetic rule: when, as a result of some “mistake of nature,” cats receive a set of sex chromosomes XXY, only then do they get a calico or tortoiseshell cat.

Such unique cats are sterile due to an anomaly that is associated with the presence of two X chromosomes, that is, one extra chromosome in the genetic set. Simply put, three-colored cats are deprived of the opportunity to continue their race and pass on their three-hairedness to their offspring.

Of all mammals known to science, only cats and Syrian hamsters have the orange gene, a sex-linked gene that affects coat color. Such is the mystery of nature.

Neither inherit nor clone...

At the moment, scientists are helpless in the face of feline tricolor, even in matters of cloning. It turns out that it is impossible to maintain the same fur color when cloning calico cats. Calico cats cannot be exactly cloned in terms of color. This is explained by inactivation of the X chromosome, which accidentally affects one of the X chromosomes. And since all female mammals known to science have two X chromosomes, this phenomenon could significantly affect cloning in the future.

Tricolor color of cats: folk beliefs

In the culture of most countries, there are folk beliefs that tricolor cats bring good luck and happiness.

In America, these cats are usually called money cats.

In Tokyo, Maneki neko, a calico cat, encourages people to buy lottery tickets.

Tricolor cats, as a result of their special rarity, are especially honored among Japanese fishermen; it is generally accepted that a ship on board with such a cat will never be shipwrecked. In the old days, such a cat could be sold very expensively for a ship. Rumor has it that this is still true today.

Anyone who is at least a little familiar with the world of cats knows that the tri-color tortoiseshell color is the privilege of females. However, experts say that - extremely rarely - tricolor males are also found. True, they are usually infertile. So they say, but few people have seen a tricolor cat. How I would like to have something like this!

Manon - European cat, tricolor with white

Roseline Dueret had two Oriental cats and a Doberman Pinscher, also a male. One day, Roselina decided that it was time to “dilute” the abundance of males and take a cat into the house. Just at this time, her friends had kittens for sale. When they asked what color she preferred, Roseline replied, “Give me a tricolor so I can be sure it’s a female.” This is how she got Manon, a charming little cat whose white coat was dotted with black and red spots. The hostess was happy because she finally had it! - a cat appeared.
Several months have passed. One day, looking at her pet, Roselina became worried: what was that under her tail? I thought about the worst: tumor, cancer? She took the cat in her arms to examine the strange growth, but could not understand what it could be. Roselina turned to a breeder friend for advice. She, having carefully examined Manon, said: “Your so-called cat is actually a cat.” Roselina could not recover from her surprise.
Realizing that she had a phenomenal cat, Roselina decided to show him at the exhibition. She called the Cat Club Lyon Daufine Savoie, of which she was a member. A comical episode occurred here. When accepting the application for participation, the secretary asked about the color of the cat. When Roseline answered “tricolored,” the secretary naturally concluded that she was talking about a female. “Nothing like that,” said Roseline, “it’s a male!” The other end of the line remained tactfully silent. The secretary refused to write down the calico cat as a male, and Roseline lost her temper trying to explain that it was indeed a “he.” On the verge of a nervous breakdown, Roseline hung up the phone and rushed to her veterinarian. Bursting into the office with a cat under her arm, she casually said: “Doctor, I don’t know if I have a cat or a cat. Check, please!" After a quick examination, the startled doctor confirmed that Manon was a cat. Roselina returned home and called the club again. This time the secretary agreed to indicate the true gender of the animal.
Manon was exhibited for the first time in Villefranche-sur-Saône in September 1996. “I had to give him a different name,” Roselina says. Officially, his name is now Mai Honey, although in life he refused to respond to anything other than Manon.” First exhibited among domestic cats, he soon moved into the European category: experts considered that the cat met the standards of this breed. At the exhibition in Montbrison in May 1997, our phenomenon received its first CAC.

At first, Manon - Mai Honey (it’s not entirely clear what he should be called!) did not evoke enthusiastic exclamations from visitors: passing by the cage, they thought they were seeing an ordinary tricolor cat. “Then I’ll put up a sign saying it’s a cat!” - said a somewhat offended Roseline. But the exceptional cat became a valuable assistant for the head of the genetics seminar, Mr. Philippa. He was able to clearly show that tri-colored cats (tri-colored with white, or tortoiseshell, or blue with cream) are very rare, but still occur.
Now it was interesting to find out whether Manon was capable of having offspring. He was born on March 7, 1996 and was therefore ready to reproduce. He was not castrated, he belonged to the European shorthair breed, the representatives of which mature quite early... Did he have contact with females? “I don’t know anything about that,” Roseline replies. “The only thing I can say is that he often jumps on my male oriental. But he doesn’t mark his territory.” Will our phenomenon become a father? Roselina doesn’t want to rush things: “I’ll try to find him a black and white cat to see if he carries the red one. But now he spends all his nights on the street.” All nights on the street? Then, perhaps, Manon has already brought the joy of motherhood to all the surrounding cats!

Gene O

The carrier of the gene responsible for red spots is the sex chromosome X. Females have the chromosome set XX, males - XY. The female can be either XOXO - red, or XO+XO+ - non-red, or XOXO+ - tri-colored, with alternating red and non-red spots. It should be noted that if white is present in the color (especially in large quantities), red and non-red hairs are clearly separated from each other and form large separate spots. The male can be XOY - red or XO+Y - not red.
It is extremely rare, but tricolor males can still be found. This is a consequence of a chromosomal abnormality: such males have two or even three X chromosomes. In two- or three-color cats, the combination XOXO + Y is often found. Such cats cannot have offspring. In 1988, J. Hansson published an article in the Bulletin of the French Shorthair Association (No. 13) about the seal-torty-point Siamese cat. This cat gave birth as a seal point cat. He probably had the genetic formula XX/XY, that is, 3X. This cat was the grandfather of a male tortie point kitten. His testicular tissue was to be examined after castration.

Marushka, a tri-colored tortoiseshell Persian cat

A few years ago, Marc Badon and Jacques Jauret were the proud owners of Dora de Sentor. Unfortunately, this very beautiful cat died. They were very worried and soon decided to take a new one. “We said to ourselves: now or never,” Mark recalls. They wanted a Persian cat again, but hadn't decided on a color yet. They were offered a chinchilla, but they were disappointed with the offer: “Could she compare with Dora!” Finally they arrived at Madame Bonnell's nursery. She had many Persian kittens. Among them are two sisters, both tri-colored tortoiseshells. One had a spot on her eye, the other on her head. They thought for a long time and eventually chose a cat with a spot on its head. Then they came up with a name for her starting with the letter M: Marushka d"Oban et d"Inverness, a Persian cat of a tricolor tortoiseshell color. Father: Indy de Psessis-Kaer (Persian, red self). Mother: Heloise de la Rich-ardiere (Persian, silver shaded with golden eyes).
Marushka surprisingly quickly settled into her new family. One day, watching her play on the sofa, Jacques suddenly became doubtful: “Look, it looks like it’s a cat!” “You’re crazy,” Mark replied, “there are no cats of this color.” Jacques did not insist... Soon Marushka and her owners went to Perpignan, where Mark's parents lived. There she met two domestic cats (females). Everyone noticed that Marushka, who was then eight months old, behaved like a cat with them, but did not attach any importance to it. Mark's sister discovered the truth. One day, returning from a walk, Jacques and Mark found a note: “Marushka is actually not a cat, but a cat. Now we’ll have to rename it Marushko.” They checked - indeed, Marushka had perfectly descended testes. No one noticed this before, not even the vet! Jacques and Marc contacted the organization to which Marushka's breeder and the cat himself belonged. “We were invited to the association for a second inspection, which confirmed that Marushka is genetic exception. This is a male tri-colored tortoiseshell.”

Guy Pantigny, president of the felinological association, offered to exhibit Marouchka in Rueil for free. The owners agreed. On March 30, 1997, Marushka's exhibition debut took place. “They deliberately decided to compare him with a female. But expert Jean-Paul de Diagorn immediately noticed what was wrong! - Mark said. - A rumor about a calico tortoiseshell cat spread through the exhibition, and a crowd formed in front of Marushka’s cage. Advice poured in from the crowd. We were told that he needed to be bred with such and such a color, that he needed to be taken to the School of Veterinary Medicine in Maisons-Alforte for research...” Somewhat dumbfounded by this turn of events, Jacques and Marc decided not to do anything about Marushka. Why? Firstly, because he began to organize “concerts” and mark his territory. Secondly, because they did not want the cat to become a “guinea pig”. We didn't want this to become a story related to money. Marushka must first of all live calmly and happily. Watching him frolic in their spacious apartment in Pavillon-sous-Bois, you believe that this is so.
Mark and Jacques also decided not to exhibit Marushka anymore, not to change his name and not to correct his pedigree. They are not interested.
So - perhaps, unfortunately - no one will know whether Marushka was able to bear offspring. The only thing that is known is that his littermate sister of the same color is really a female.

Imperial de la Bougainville

Imperial de la Bougainville is a tricolor Persian cat, born July 25, 1993, owned by Anya Schomberg. The cat was exhibited in Saint-Jean-de-Lu in December 1993 in the junior female class 4-8 months. The expert, Mrs. O. Lamoureux, noticed the mistake, and the cat received I Exc that day. Nobody knows whether his exhibition career continued and whether he produces offspring.

Marie Dupuis
Translation from French by Lyudmila Mozalevskaya

Those who love fluffy creatures called “cats” probably know this sign that owners of three colors bring happiness and luck to the house. It is believed that the happiest of them are cats with coat colors of white, black and

What does this mean?

Perhaps it is this combination that explains the sign. If we sort all the colors by meaning, then:

• white symbolizes purity and innocence;
• the red cat saves from illness (such a cat brings wealth to the owner’s house);
• black protects against

When they are all combined in one representative, it turns out that calico cats should be valued by people more than their other companions.

In Japan, the “Maneki Neko” figurine is placed near the front door so that it attracts wealth and good fortune into the house. This is the one that holds one paw near its ear, as if welcoming a guest. According to Japanese belief, it is believed that a greeting from the owners means prosperity for their home.

In countries of the Muslim religion, tricolor cats protect the house from a possible fire. In England it is a living symbol of warmth and protection. Sailors always keep such a cat on their ship as a sign of protection against possible troubles. And fishermen consider the tricolored murka to be able to sense better than others the likelihood of imminent bad weather.

Only girls

By the way, when we say “tricolored cats,” this does not mean males. Just the opposite. A male cat with a similar coloration among his furry relatives is a very rare occurrence. Statistics show that for every three thousand cats with three coat colors, only one male is born, for which fate “punishes” him with infertility.

This genetic anomaly occurs, as a rule, only in the “female” part of the cat “people”. All mammals have it and scientists call it an alternative gene. In a female body, the set of chromosomes looks like XX, and in a male body, it looks like XY. However, in the female chromosome, in one of the Xs, there may be signs that not only determine sex, but also others, possibly unfavorable. So they are masked by an alternative gene, which in cats results in three-color colors.

To the question of whether there are three-colored cats in the tortoiseshell cat breed, the answer can be unequivocal - no. It is precisely because males do not have a second X chromosome.

What breeds are found among?

Calico cats are basically mongrel creatures. Similar coat colors are divided into two types:

• “calico” - red and black colors dominate;
• “Harlequin” - the cat is all white, only a sixth of its body has other colors (usually on the face, back and tail).

We know that tricolor cats do exist, but they are very rare. This is confirmed by the fact that in one American city a kitten was born, namely a male with three coat colors. He is at the Humane Society and is waiting to be “adopted.”

Take care of them!

So, dear readers and lovers of furry creatures, be attentive to them! After all, three-colored cats are a rarity, and the same cats are happiness and good luck. And who doesn't want