On Calico Cats & Tortoiseshell?

Dear Group,

The picture I wanted to add was on its side & I had forgotten the exact syntax (HTML) on how to add a picture anyway &
I probably chose the wrong bit of that long address in my Junk file to add to the HTML - if I got it right anyway.

SIGH

Try again later.

Guido.

I feel your pain, Guido. Been there and done that several times over the years.

I feel sure you will prevail ;)

Try #2



Do you think Buffy is a Calico or a Tortoiseshell. I can see both in her.

Guido

I was under the impression that a calico is simply a tortoiseshell with white fur as well. So she would be a calico.

I understood that a Calico had Solid colours (black, white and tan) which didn't mix, Whereas Torties were usually Black and Tan interlaced with little or
no white. Thus Buffy has a Toritie back while the rest is solid colours (Calico)

Yes she's a calico, and she's beautiful.

Is that a scale she's sitting on? So cute.

>8 framboise:

I would guess that she is on a printer.

Calico is tortishell plus white so she is definitely calico. There are different types of torti, but AFAIK thats more about the colours than how solid the patches are...

My experience at The Cat Corner tells me that most 'standard' torties are actually calico like Buffy - I've seen very few with no white on them...

I think the most common are dark torti like Minerva here:


& then there are occasional pale torti (in breed worlds this would be called "blue torti or blue cream torti) like Amber here:


& we had a rare (AFAIK) chocolate torti with white not long ago - this is Lexi:


I'm not sure why chocolate torti & white is not called calico when standars torti & white is? But that seems to be the case...

I've also heard that calico is an American term, so is not used for show cats in Australia, they are just called "Torti & White"...

There is some pretty good info here about Tortie colours: http://messybeast.com/tricolours.htm

edited to make Lexi's pic smaller

Yes it is a printer >9 suitable1: but it should be a scale >8 framboise:

Last time I weighed her, she was 7.8 Kg.
The shelter I got her from tried to put her on a diet for the 4+ months they had her. And she lost not even an ounce. :-)

When I first got her, I nicknamed her "Face in Bowl"
She is better now, I think it was psychological?

Although her weight did raise a few questions in my mind. She was picked up by the council as a stray.
Strays are not usually FAT (sorry BuffY, but you are, but for an 8/9 yo. you are very active! and beautiful, l in case you read this)

Maybe she was a house cat that someone cruelly kicked out. Poor kitty. Thankfully she has you.

This photo just came up on my FB feed:


Kitty's name is Saphire, she is a Maine Coon & her colour is called "Blue Silver Tortie Classic Tabby & White" - LOL what a mouthfull! I think silver in breed cats usually refers to high white under another colour, so not sure why the 'and white' is needed in the colour name, but anyway, I'd never heard of a silver torti before!

Gorgeous cat!

Wow, Maine Coons are amazing looking critters. And that coloring is wonderful, whatever someone wants to call it.

I heard dilute calico used to describe that delicate coloring.

>13 Seanie: Wow, she is quite the sophisticat!

Of course all cats are sophisticats except my Willow. He is just a goofball. He was chasing ants earlier (inside the house - that's why we keep them, for his entertainment).

My first cat (when I was in graduate school) was a tortoiseshell. I named her Jezebel because she was so badly behaved, but she was great company. I moved in with a fellow graduate student to save money on the rent. The first night I left them alone together while I went back to work. Jezebel jumped on the coffee table in front of my roommate and pushed her plant off the table onto the floor. It wasn't hard at all to figure out what she was meant by that behavior!

Er, Umm, >17 krazy4katz:, did your "rent relationship" survive?

But more importantly, what happened to Jezebel

Guido :-)

>13 Seanie: I want that cat! She's beautiful!

>18 guido47: Unfortunately, Jezebel was enraged at being kept inside and sneaked out every chance she got. I finally made her an indoor/outdoor cat but she was hit by a car. So I lost her after about a year. She was quite a character. Now all my cats are indoor only. Not saying that is the only way but my experience caused me to be like that.

Why has >21 Molly-the-Cat: Molly-the Cat been suspended? I enjoyed her CATTY Comments :-)

I hope it wasn't because she wasn't Homo Sapien?

Tim wrote that they had suspended a huge number of sock puppets last week, presumably Molly was one of those.

I want >21 Molly-the-Cat: re-instated as a Full (and valued member) Molly was never a "Sock Puppet", perhaps she did need a human to hit the keyboard, but she had
her own voice and ideas.

How can I help re-instate her as a member? I am not sure that writing to Tim will help. We all know that (despite his protestations) Tim is ambivalent towards
Cats

Guido.

Ooh a thread after my own heart! :P
My Maine Coon kitten (also named Lexi (Aleksandra), like one mentioned above) is a "black tortie and white" according to her passport, she's actually a torbie, though.

OK, wrote to Tim.

Wow, >25 .Monkey.: a real heart breaker when she grows up. Had to say that because we all know that

EACH AND EVERY KITTEN EVER IS BEAUTIFUL

I can't wait to see what she's like all growed up! :P I met her when she was only a week old and then got weekly photo updates; had no idea her coat would be just so gorgeous when I chose her! I just knew I needed the precious little torbie! :D
She's Trouble with a capital T, but also my super sweet cuddlebaby. :))

>25 .Monkey.: Oh wow she is adorable!!! Those whiskers & ear tufts are something special!!! I think she deserves her own thread so we can all see all the pics you want to share!!!

>28 anglemark: Please provide an explanation as well as a link if you want people like me to click on it - it just looks like irrelevant spam when you post a link with nothing else (IMHO)...

>29 Seanie: Well, normally I agree with you, but I thought the only explanation I could give would spoil it, and as it is a link to Youtube I assumed people would know it's not virus or anything. It's an audio commentary to the last sentence in >27 .Monkey.:.

>29 Seanie: Hahaha her whiskers are SO LONG. She'll use the upper part of my keyboard as a pillow and then I have to struggle not to pull them while typing as they stretch completely over that section of the keyboard. XD Her ears themselves are also quite huge, she looks like a little fox when she puts them particular directions. :P

She does have an impressive set of whiskers!

Would the Human who sponsors >21 Molly-the-Cat: please contact Tim and explain that "Molly" is not a sock-puppet! Tims response to my request was a bit...brusque.

He seems a bit fixated on sock-puppets, which I understand, I was once the victim of a nest of Puppets. BUT how else can a Cat (or even a Dog) express
themselves on LT?

Of course he is fixated on sock puppets. That's how scammers intrude to skew things and spam and manipulate data.

Excuse my ignorance, but what are "sock puppets"? As you can see, I'm not very techie.

>31 .Monkey.: More pics please! :) I wanna see her progress from an itty bitty kitty to a Grand Coonie :)

>35 OldDan: It's a sort of false identity: Sock puppet (internet)

>37 Taphophile13: Wow, the things I'm learning. Thanks for the information, Taphophile13.

>38 OldDan: You're very welcome.

>36 Seanie: Hahaha, well the previous one was from July. Just the other day I took:

:)

>40 .Monkey.:
Oh, she's beautiful (and obviously knows it). I especially like the picture of her sitting on her throne.

Oh no, that's the mini-throne, it's no more than 4 feet. The real one is vaguely visible behind her on the landscape couch shots. It's over 6 feet tall and she loves being queen of the castle up top there. ;D

Huge ears! So cute!

beautiful cat!!

The one in the lower left-hand corner: What a coy little mistress! :)

She is Seriously magnificent! A blend of pretty & soft but strong & wild looking at the same time! How old is she in the pics? She looks like she’s got a proper Coonie muzzle on her already! I was serious about her having her own thread, I don’t think I could ever get sick of photos & updates :)

More & more lately I find myself thinking ‘One Day’ when I see pics of Coonies! They are so majestic but generally have pretty easy going temperaments :) The first Coonie I fell in love with was a show cat named Apache, all 13kg (28lb) of impressiveness & he was such a love bug & such a great ambassador for the breed, happy to be admired by the sometimes annoying public - & the sometimes annoying fellow show goers who wanted a cuddle between judging, lol :)
This is me with Apache:
Terrible photo of me, but it shows off his size pretty well - his head is almost as big as mine!

My ‘one day’ cat used to be a blue Somali, the first time I met one I was mesmerised & I spent many a cat show carrying Blueberry around having cuddles with one of the prettiest creatures I’d ever seen :) I even had my name on a breeder waiting list for a Blue Somali for quite a while, but after Taji & Tilly’s big fights (years ago) I grudgingly had to accept that Tilly would never be happy again if I brought another cat in our home, so I sadly took my name off the waiting list. I still thought ‘one day’ for a while, but the more I think about it, the more I realise that Blueberry is not typical of the breed temperament anyway & as much as I love them, they are such an active, inquisitive & cheeky breed so they might just be too much cat for me...
This is Blueberry:

It’s pretty doubtful that either will ever happen anyway, being involved in rescue I already have a bit of Pedigree Guilt with Taji & Tilly, but still, the lil dream of living with a Coonie or Somali is there :)

Aww Blueberry is precious! And Apache is great, goodness that ruff! Lol. Lexi's dad is a similar size, he's "XL" and I was hoping she would take after him, though mom is just average. :P Lex wound up being the runt of the litter, so first I was "worried" she might wind up small (not that it would really matter, but you know, you get a Coon you hope they'll be giant! XD), but once she got here and started getting fed well (she was a wee one amidst many adult Coons, who weren't allowing her much of the good stuff!) she started growing like a weed, so we shall see!

The previous one she was just over 3mos, and she's now almost 6 mos. :) And yes, she is all the things everyone has said! LOL. She's my sweet little cuddlebug and she's also a little terror, and everything between, depending what's going on at the moment in that silly little brain of hers! XD

I've had two torti/calicos. Has anyone had temperament issues with them? One was fairly disagreeable and my Shelley developed something like dementia when she was around 11/12 years old.

>48 varielle:
I sometimes joke that my Callie (regular calico) is bipolar. She very much enjoys being stroked but without notice will lash out or bite because we didn't stop the exact second she wanted the petting to end. She's seventeen now and I suspect she is developing some sort of dementia but it's hard to tell. She has always been as my son described her a simple cat.

There's a thing referred to as "tortitude," heh, but personally no, Lexi is one of the sweetest most mild-mannered cats I have ever known.

The only thing I have noticed with my Buffy re. tortitude is a Great desire to LICK me, she does sometimes wake me by licking my hair.

Of Tortitude I have noticed that She isn't scared of nuffin'. My MAX doesn't understand her. and still after a year... there are fights... sigh.

Guido.

I have a tortie (named Isis -- and no, I'm not changing her name. The goddess was here first.) with SERIOUS tortitude.



She regularly gives me the side eye. Not to mention the pawing for attention, the hissing when getting attention, and the talking. Oh lord. The. Talking.

>51 guido47: Hahahaha mine is a huge licker, too! She licks herself even more than me, though, and completely soaks her fur!

>52 lesmel: I don't think Lexi has ever hissed, at anyone (including the other cats, one of which hates her but she doesn't understand, cats are buddies!, so she constantly tries to play anyway and gets hissed & swatted at), but she talks incessantly! It's hilarious. I thought my last cat was a talker, but she's got nothin' on Lexi! xP

>53 .Monkey.: Long before I had my dog (Crickett) & Isis, I had two tabbies: A brown (Mia) and a marmalade (Tangi). Mia would whollop the ever loving crap out of Tangi...and Tangi would just sit there & take it. Mia would also jump Tangi, pin her using her whole body, and Tangi would just lie there totally docile.

Hahaha aww poor dear! Lexi doesn't sit that docile, she'll back away (or at least lean backwards lol) from Kuma, but she will never do anything remotely aggressive back to her. She will run after Kuma to try to play but as soon as Kuma is aware and spins around Lexi skids to a halt and then leans back away, with that sort of sad/confused look on her face at the rejection, haha. And she definitely runs on the more rare occasion Kuma chases back after her, lol. All my other cats would at least hiss back when someone was being mean to them! Silly girl.

>52 lesmel: Oh, she's a goddess all right!!

We humans never really know our cats.

Two huge tomcats decided to fight it out on my front lawn. If you've ever seen a serious cat-fight you will know it is not funny, fur and blood flying, this was a death duel.

Suddenly, from nowhere, to my horror, my tiny, placid calico female flew into the fight. Instantly, one tom ran east the other ran west. She was left standing in the circle of fur; wild-eyed and archbacked with the definite statement, “Nobody - - NOBODY fights on my front area!”

I have never seen her like that before or since.

>56 SpikeSix: That is one of the best cat stories I've ever heard!

I had a tortoiseshell in graduate school — from the local shelter and my first pet ever! Did she display attitude! Her name was Jezebel. I moved in with a roommate part way through school to have a bigger place and save money. The first evening I went back to the lab to do some work. My roommate later reported that Jezebel jumped up on the coffee table and, watching my roommate the entire time, slowly pushed a plant towards the edge of the table. Jezebel knew the plant belonged my roommate because we didn't have it before. If she (my roommate) hadn't saved it, Jezebel would have pushed it over the edge right in front of her face.

The other thing she did was bring in a mouse and place it at my feet. I started yelling at Jezebel, so she pickup the mouse, brought it upstairs and put it at my roommate's feet. By then they had a better relationship. My roommate praised Jezebel and put the mouse back outside.

She was quite a girl!

Chloe, recently adopted. I'm not sure I'm clear on the distinction between calico and tortiseshell (even after reading this thread), but the shelter people said she was a calico.

>59 BooksCatsEtc: She's lovely. Definitely looks like a calico to me.

This site has some pictures that might help:
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-calico-and-tortoiseshell-ca...

Yes, she is a calico. Tortoiseshells can have very very little white, generally they have none. Calicos are essentially white cats with colored spots/patches.