Is it true that only girl cats can be ginger?

Question

i heard from some people that only girl cats can be ginger. is this true?

Answer 1

Only BOY cats can be ginger i think someone has been telling you "porkies" There are probably some very rare cases of girl cats being ginger

Answer 2

Wha?

Answer 3

No - it's not true.

This is how it works - the gene for ginger is carried on the X chromosome. As a male cat has only one X chromosome then if he carries the gene he will be ginger. Females on the other hand have two X chromosomes and need two copies of the ginger variant to be ginger - so actually ginger females are much rarer than ginger boys.

If a female cat has one ginger gene and one black gene on each of her two X chromsomes then she will be tortoiseshell - this is the colour that is only possible in females as you need two X chromsomes and both colour genes to get it.

Answer 4

nope. never heard of a ginger tom

tourtoise shell cats can only be female

Answer 5

Ginger cats can be either male or female although ginger females are less common (it is an urban legend that ginger females are sterile).   On average, ginger males are twice as common as ginger females.  Ginger females are not at all rare and it is easy to selectively breed ginger cats.  Ginger is caused by the same gene as tortoiseshell.  

The ginger gene changes black pigment into a reddish pigment. The ginger gene is carried on the X chromosome. A normal male cat has XY genetic makeup so he only needs to inherit one ginger gene for him to be a ginger cat. A normal female is XX genetic makeup so she must inherit two ginger genes to be a ginger cat. If she inherits only one ginger gene, she will be tortoiseshell with some ginger areas and some black/brown areas.

The ginger gene is called a s*x-linked gene because it is carried on a s*x chromosome.

Another myth is that if a ginger cat has white spotting this makes it more likely to be female than if it is all-over ginger.  White spotting isn't related to the cat's gender and it cannot influence the cat's gender. The relative frequencies of ginger-and-white males and females is the same as ginger-without-white males and females.

Since ginger and tortie are both caused by the same gene acting differently in males and females.  Since this often comes up when ginger cats are mentioned, I'll explain that as well :)

Tortoiseshell and calico males are more common than most people realise and many of them are fertile.  

The most common cause of tortie males seems to be chimerism (2 different colour embryos bump and fuse in the womb).  These tortie tomcats are fully fertile.

The second most common cause of tortie/calico males seems to be XXY genetic makeup (Klinefelter Syndrome) where one X chromosome has the black gene, one X chromosome has the ginger gene and the Y chromosome makes it male. These are infertile.  

The third cause of tortie/calico tomcats is somatic mutation - a black birthmark develops on the ginger coat. These are fertile.

Answer 6

No. You can have ginger boys and girls, but you'll find that there are more ginger boys than girls. You need both parents to be ginger or a ginger dad and a tortie mum to produce a ginger girl, so ginger girls are less frequent than the ginger boys. Red/Ginger is a s*x linked gene and this is who you need red/ginger/tortie parents to produce both ginger boys and girls.

here's a link to give you a slightly more indepth explanation of how the ginger/red s*x genetic colour works -

http://cats.suite101.com/article.cfm/col...

All the best.

Answer 7

there are more male ginger cats than female

Answer 8

not at all

ginger 'toms' are very common!

Answer 9

No, but tortishell cats are mostly likely always female, the chance of having a male tortishell that can reproduce is something like 1 in 5,000,000.

Answer 10

No it is the other way round.  Ginger male cats are common but there are very few ginger females.

Answer 11

Nope, we have a tom cat thats ginger :)

Answer 12

wrong way around..

ginger cats tend to be Toms ( male) you can and do get gingr females but they are few and far between and more likely thena not they are sterile.

Tortiseshell (mixed mottled colour) cats are all females.

Answer 13

Not at all. My mum used to have 2 male ginger cats and 1 female ginger. My Grandma also feed two male gingers that come to her door each night. Ginger is actually common in Tom cats.

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Answer 14

No. Have you never heard the term Ginger Tom?

Answer 15

no, girls r never totally ginger, they have white as well normally, the males r the ones with all the ginger. u cant get a completely ginger female

Answer 16

It's actually the opposite..

the general rule is most ginger cats are male, it's very rare to get a female who is ginger.

But on the other hand normally all tortioseshell cats are always female!

It's a genetical trait, i learn't it in my college course.

Answer 17

no!!

Answer 18

well someone needs to tell Queen La Kittie Katt she isn't a ginger, she is my girl no white spots and all girl, well maybe not anymore since she's been spayed. Males and females bot can be gingers and torties, but if you find a male calico then you have a true rare find, as calico's are almost always females.

why don't some one post a link to show what a ginger cat looks like.

Answer 19

It is actually nearly the oppistite. Tom cats are cats that are usually ginger it is actually quite rare to find a ginger female.

Answer 20

It's quite rare to get ginger queens, it's usually toms that are ginger x x x

Answer 21

ginger cats are more boys. its very rare to find a ginger female.

Answer 22

Well it's actually the other way round. Most ginger cats are males; we found an adorable kitten in Spain while on holiday (tiny) which was ginger and somebody who was helping us look after it  said that it was definitely a boy as almost all ginger cats were males and she saw evidence lol.

All tortoiseshell cats are female.

Hope I cleared something up for you...

Answer 23

Not necessarily. But alot of people I know have been saying that too! But i don't believe them. You shouldn't believe everything you hear...that's what I found out.

Answer 24

this is no way true. Cats female or male can be any colour. The people that told you must be winding u up or something

Answer 25

No, and my old ginger tom would be most upset to hear that!

Answer 26

Of course not. Haven't you ever heard of a 'Ginger Tom'?

Answer 27

it used to be only tom cats were ginger and only females were tortoiseshell, but we have had 3 ginger females

Answer 28

Not at all