We’ve always been led to believe that orange-colored cats are always males and calico or tortoise cats are female.
We discovered that while most orange cats are male the ratio is 80% male 20% female. Years back, we even had an orange-colored female cat.
Calico cats are tri-colored while tortoise-shell cats sport 2 colors, orange and black.
The statistics are different for calicos and torties. They are almost always female. As a matter of fact, only one in 3,000 kittens that are born to calicos and torties are male. Black and orange cats have 2 x chromosomes which make them female. The very rare kitten born with xxy chromosomes will be male. The xx chromosomes give the cat the black and orange color; the y chromosome makes it male. However those cats born with the xxy chromosomes are sterile so no more males in their future.
Whatever color your cat, they make delightful companions, male or female.
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