Chloe (the white calico) and Sophie (the tortie calico).
We picked them up today from the Santa Fe Felines and Friends. They are about 12 weeks old and a joy.
Baxter is taking it all in stride. :)
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Chloe (the white calico) and Sophie (the tortie calico).
We picked them up today from the Santa Fe Felines and Friends. They are about 12 weeks old and a joy.
Baxter is taking it all in stride. :)
Cute as Kittens :):rolleyes:
Kittens are marvelous little friends.
purrrr'fect pair.
I assume they are both females?
awwwwww They are sooooo cute! I miss having a cat but as Bill is allergic we have a non shed little doggie instead.
Calicos are females. Now that they have been here for almost 6 hours they have quieted down. I hope this can last into the night. Not likely though.
I wasn't aware of that trait, I've only ever had siamese, tabbies or a black/white (like imatheblues 'Dos')
However, at odds with genetics, the cat that roams my house roof in the evening and muddied my car I think is a tortoise shell/calico just like your top photo. He's a male.
I'll try to get a photo to compare better.
What a charming pair! Congratulations on becoming a 'daddy' :)
Beautiful additions to the family :D I used to be controlled by one similar to the lass on the left - didn't know she was a white calico though.
I'm very pleased for you, Gary. I'm sure that you will have many years of pleasure with these new additions to your family. We are gradually being adopted by a calico cat. She's here daily for her 3 square meals, but is still very timid. When I first posted about her in April in Gary's Barnaby thread I suspected she was pregnant. She has now produced 3 ginger and white kittens, that are about 6 weeks old. They are living in a crawlspace underneath our water deposit, which is about the safest place possible. We actually caught the calico and the ginger tom (her suitor) in flagrante delicto in the garden! By coincidence, the ginger tom visited us about 2 years ago as a kitten, which we fed and took to a neighbour of ours who raised it, so we seem to be all vaguely related.
Louise and I are suckers for cats, but Holly our golden retriever isn't very keen. Dos used to beat up on her all the time, so she would not be best pleased to have four more potential bullies terrorizing her.
Saludos,
Bob.
They're truly gorgeous......good luck with them......
not strictly true - calicos need XY chromosomes - ie female as such
but they could be XXY, also female, or XYY, male
I know this because we had an XYY calico cat which we took to the vet and referred to as 'he', no said the vet without looking, its a 'she' - but he wasn't [I can tell the difference :D]
after checking, the vet explained about chromosomes ;)
I will back off a bit, not being a scientist, and say that most calicos are female and leave it at that. I have never known of a male calico.
For those with longer memories, we moved to New Mexico in 2000 with five cats. Baxter, the Maine Coon cat is the lone survivor. And so we decided it was time to restock.
Chloe, the white calico, is problematic. She does not get along at all with her sister (who is an absolute love). But she does get a long well with humans. She would have been better as someone's only cat.
But we are not going to return her. We will sort it all out.
Calico = female and ginger = male is an urban myth. It is true that the majority of calico cats are female and the majority of ginger cats are male, the ratio is roughly 3:1.
Saludos,
Bob.
Great looking kids Gary, nice to see them.
Gary
Good to see your house is full again :) Have fun
Sammy
Rare
Quote:
Calico is a mix of orange, black, and white fur found on certain cats. Not all calico cats are female, but the vast majority are. Why? Like a lot of life's mysteries, it has to do with genetics. PetPlace.com gives a surprisingly detailed explanation. Half a cat's chromosomes come from the mother, and half come from the father. The gene that determines a cat's coloring is found on the X chromosome.
Female cats have two X chromosomes, and each one can carry a different color. "In calicos...one X has the black gene; the other X has the orange gene." At some point in the female cat's development, one X chromosome becomes inactive. The timing of this determines the amount of calico patches.
So calico coloring isn't that uncommon among female cats. It's just a matter of the right chromosomal combination. In males, things are more complicated because they only have one X chromosome and "it's never inactivated."
A male cat can be calico if it's created with "two X chromosomes and a Y, allowing one X to be inactivated." This is a genetic defect known as XXY, and it's very rare. In fact, only one out of every 3,000 calicos is male.
All this talk of chromosomes is very interesting, but can we see some more pics - of the sisters, not chromosomes :p - please? :)
As Gary isn't yet forthcoming, John, I managed to take a halfway decent shot earlier today of the calico that is gradually adopting us.
She is wondering what I'm doing with a camera lens poking through the fly chains on the kitchen door.
Saludos,
Bob.
Sweet! :D
Gary - Thanks for that
obviously I remembered the genetic detail wrong, [not a genetic expert]
:o
our calico male cat was big - size of a small dog, XXY then :)
and XX for female - oops
Lovely off topic cats Gary ! (Chat = cat in french)
However for me cats are always on topic ;)
ivan
Les chats. :)
The girls are sleeping now. All worn out from a hard day of playing and discovery.
Second photo is Chloe sacked out. How can you not love a kitten?
l:D:D
Hard life, innit? :D
One more.
The kittens are settling in nicely. They sleep like this for a few hours and then they awake full of mischief and unbridled enthusiasm.