Thus male cats have calico color combination very rarely. So as you can see males are incredibly rare.

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The answer is in the genes.

Are there male calico cats. Sex and color are both determined by the x chromosome so calicos are typically female. It s an old wives tale that all calico colored cats are female. There are male calico cats.

All cells in the body of a cat will have two chromosomes one which is dominant and one which is recessive. It s not a complete lie however and i can see why a lot of people think this as it s estimated that there is only around 1 male calico cat in every three thousand born. But male calicos are rare.

Two xs and a y. The gene that governs how the orange color in cats displays is on the x chromosome. Male calicos are exceedingly rare.

All male calicos have xxy chromosomes a genetic rarity called klinefelter syndrome. Male calicoes can happen when a male cat has two x chromosomes klinefelter syndrome with xxy sex chromosomes and generally sterile is a chimera with two different cell types or rarely when some skin cells of the developing kitten spontaneously mutate. Male calicos featured image credit.

Over here like in females the two x chromosomes express the three colors responsible for the calico color coat. This xxy combination can occur when there s an incomplete division of the male s xy chromosome. You may never actually encounter a male calico cat in your lifetime but unlike the loch ness monster they do exist.

But why are there so few. Each calico cat is born with three chromosomes deciding the fur color which are two x chromosomes from their mothers and one y from their fathers. For every 3 000 cats with the coat pattern roughly one is a boy approximately 03 percent.

Calico cats can also be lighter in color dilute calicos. The reason for the male calico cats are quite rare as male calico cats are born among other 3000 cases of female and the ratio of a male calico is equal 0 0003 percent. Only one out of every 3 000 calico cats is male according to a study by the college of veterinary medicine at the university of missouri.

As such judges at the. To answer the article question there are indeed male calico cats. If the overwhelming majority of calico cats are female this must mean a very small minority are male.

Male cats with genetic aberration having xxy chromosomes can express calico and or tortoiseshell color combination. Dawntreader texas calboy a male calico cat from waxahachie texas is what is known as a chimera among geneticists his orange and white fur makes him look like a female. For a male cat to have a calico pattern the feline has to have three sex chromosomes.

The gene which controls the color of the cat s body is in one of these genes.