Rare male calico cat???

Question

i have a rare male calico cat, and i thought he was infertile since usually they are, but then my female siamese cat got pregnant and had 7 kittens is it true i can sale my male calico for over a thousand dollars now?

Answer 1

Most male calicos are sterile, but not all.  Your kittens may be cute, but will have no value.  Best to simply concentrate on finding good, loving homes.

So it's time to have your female spayed and your male neutered.

Good Luck!

http://www.absolutelycats.com/22Calico.h...

Answer 2

true..if you can find the right buyer

Answer 3

It turns out from more recent studies, that calico/tortie males aren't as rare as many people think and the idea of them being so valuable is an urban legend.  They also aren't at all valuable except to contribute information to studies (and this doesn't mean value in money as you won't get paid for submitting any cell swabs).   In fact tortie tomcats turn up homeless in cat shelters.  If they were worth so much money that wouldn't happen.

The most common cause of tortie/calico males seems to be chimerism. Two embryos bump into each other in the womb and merge together. If one is black and the other is ginger and one or both are male the result may be a tortie tomcat (or calico tomcat if the embryos had white patches).  These are fertile but they can only pass on either the ginger colour or the black colour, but not both, to their offspring.

The second most common cause seems to be XXY genetic makeup (Klinefelter Syndrome). An embryo gets one X chromosome with the black gene, one X chromosome with the ginger gene and one Y chromosome that makes it male. This chromosomal abnormality used to be thought the most common cause, but recent research shows chimerism is probably more common.  Those with XXY makeup are infertile and often have other physical abnormalities due to having too many copies of some genes.

The third, and least common, cause is somatic mutation. A ginger male embryo devlopes black patch in the same way as some babies develop port wine stain birth marks. Those with somatic mutation are fertile because the black patches are just birthmarks.

So it sounds like your calico male is either a chimera or a somatic mutation.

Because they are either sterile or they only pass on either ginger or black to their offspring, they are no more valuable than any other cat (value will also depend on what breed it is). Tortie purebreds actually have a problem because there is no cat show class for them (since most torties/calicos are females) so they can't always compete at show.

Mosaic just means the fur is a patchwork of multiple colours.  Normal calico/tortie cats are mosaics, so are chimeras, XXY and somatic mutant tortie/calico cats.

Answer 4

I have never heard that male calicos are rare, or that they are infertile.  Where did you get this info?  I have had cats all my life (50+ years).

P.S.  My farm-raised Dad always used to say a 3-color cat is always female.  

Answer 5

I'd get em both fixed if I was you. I've never seen a male calico, but yes, I've also heard they are infertile.  Yours apparently is not, or the kittens have a different father.  

Answer 6

"is it true i can sale my male calico for over a thousand dollars now?"

No. Your cat isn't worth anymore than any other none breed domestic male cat.

Lots of specific info about male torties/calico's here:

http://www.messybeast.com/mosaicism.htm

Answer 7

Yeah male calico cats are rare because something with their genes don't match up. I don't know about selling it for over a thousand but go to a cat show and I'm sure someone will pay you good money for it. In less its not a calico. It could be a tortoiseshell, its mostly black with random colors like cream, brown, and orange tabby marks.  

Answer 8

A cat can only be calico if it has two x-chromosomes, which means it's a female. If a male cat is calico, it has two X chromosomes and also a Y chromosome, which makes it look like a male. It is a genetic anomaly, which only occurs in about one in every 3000 calicos. However, if a calico or a tortie cat is a male, it is ALWAYS sterile.

Your male cat is not a calico. (unless it is a "mosaic" as described in the link below)