Are orange tabbies more susceptible to illness?

Question

I have a beautiful year old male orange tabby who seems to always have health issues. He was a stray until I adopted him at 4 months old, and has always been the sweetest most loving cat, but he always seems to have random health issues. It started with ear infections then eye infections, his lips become swollen for no reason, his weight always fluctuates, and he constantly has eye and nose crust. I've taken him to many vets and they say he doesn't have any real underlying health problems. I was wondering if it could possibly be and issue with the breed?

Answer 1

I had a british shorthair ginger (i preferred to call him blond ;) ) tabby while I was growing up. He lived till he was about 13 and a half without a health problem at all until he had renal failure at the end, so I don't think it is an issue.

I think 'orange tabby' is a colour not a breed so I'd can't imagine health problems could be a generic problem. However a cat's colour is in its genes so who knows.

Good luck with your cat, sounds hard for you. I suppose you have considered perhaps it is allergies to his food etc?

Answer 2

my orange tabby is a year old and the only reason hes been to the vet is to be neutered and shots...hes never been sick or anything but then again hes only a year old so who knows...our other cat is a grey and white cat and hes been to the vet many times with eye problems...

Answer 3

I doubt it has anything to do with his color.  Some cats just have weaker immune systems than others, so you never know.  Since he was stray until he was four months old, you don't really know everything that happened to him in that time.  Make sure you get him tested for feline leukemia and FIV if you haven't already because these symptoms sound like they could be from one of those viruses.

Answer 4

I also had an orange tabby that seemed to be more susceptible to illness than my other black cat.  Whether or not that is related to the color is hard to say, but here's a list of ailments she went through during the course of her life:

Earmites

Feline Herpes (eye infection that caused a corneal ulcer when she was a kitten)

Acne on her chin

Dental problems

Cyst on her face

Frequent urinary tract infections

UTI's became a kidney infection

Kidney infection became renal failure.  We had to put her to sleep exactly one week ago because she stopped eating :-(

Answer 5

If he's a pedigree cat, he may  have health issues because of inbreeding, but ill health isn't colour related.

Answer 6

OMG!  It never occurred to me, but I had an amazing orange tabby, also a male, that had the following in his 10 year lifetime:

Colds

Ear mites

Herpes...in the eye (I'm not kidding)

Pancreatitis

Inflamatory bowel disease

Lung cancer

He died from the last one.  Despite all that he was the most amazing cat and he was my little baby.  Guess he'd have to be to spend all the money I did on vet visits, tests, medicine, etc. LOL!

I now have a female orange tabby and so far so good.  Keep your fingers crossed.