Tortoiseshell cats are so named for their distinctive two-toned coats their
coats resemble tortoiseshell and ornate material produced from you guessed at
the shells of tortoises tortoiseshell cats or tortoise as they're
affectionately known have coats that combine two colors other than white that
are usually in large patches or closely mixed most ortiz have ginger and black
coats that may vary in shades and patterns tortoiseshell cats are by no
means their own breed but there are some unique attributes that make a tortilla
torti our tortoiseshell cats rare yes as tour tees are almost always female you
will rarely find a male tortoiseshell kitty much like calico cats torti cats
get their distinctive coloring from the old gene carried on the X chromosome vo
gene is in charge of the ginger color of cats since male cats of Zijin etic make
up they only need to inherent 100 gene to be ginger cats female cats have been
20 genetic makeup so they would need to inherent to Oh gene z' to be ginger cats
if a girl cat only inherits one o gene she becomes a tortoiseshell cat in rare
instances males will develop with an X X Y genetic makeup in these instances they
could be tortoiseshell or calico cats male tour tees however are almost always
sterile due to their genetic makeup toward etude is a real thing backed by
science tour titude is not just in the imaginations of torti owners
veterinarians from the University of California Davis have studied and
published research stating that cats with calico and tortoiseshell coat
patterns tend to challenge their humans more often than cats with other coat
patterns tortoiseshell cats are also anecdotally highly energetic kitties
most torti owners will tell you that their cats have bursts of spastic and
wild energy even if it's just for a short span of time and it will almost
always be at the most inconvenient moments
shorty lovers know that their cats may have a bit of a tude and demanding
nature but we can't help but love them anyway tortoiseshell cat personality the
tortoiseshell cat personality varus simply because they can be from a range
of breeds as a result they most often show the personality and temperament
common to that read however many people claim that the
torti has its own unique personality that makes them very demanding they are
the divas of the feline world for this reason for tea lovers refer to this
personality as torta tude all very interesting and we are sure that many of
you agree the owners in the study also suggested that their tour Tcat was full
of energy and mischief the word tortoiseshell could come from turtles
not tortoises some people are confused by the term tortoise shell because a
tortoises shell is often a fairly uniform dark brown or green color with
little color variation however the hawksbill sea turtle boasts a much more
varied shell color with rich tones of brown and orange dot why then do we call
these cats tortoise shells and nocturnal shells surprisingly the answer lies in
the world of jewelry yes you heard us right the old fashioned tortoise shell
jewelry wasn't made from tortoises but from turtle shells the term tortoise
shell actually comes from this jewelry because it resembles the tortoise coat
tortoiseshell cat lifespan again because tortoise shell doesn't mean a particular
breed their lifespan can vary if you know that your torti belongs to a
specific breed such as American Shorthair or Cornish Rex then look at
the lifespan for that cat if you are not sure you can look at the average feline
lifespan to determine the tortoiseshell cat lifespan according to a UK study
that looked at the longevity and mortality of over 100,000 cats the
average lifespan was found to be 14 years cross bred or mixed breed cats
live longer so you do not have to go searching for a purebred if you want a
lifelong companion a tortoiseshell tabby is called at or be sometimes Noir
tishell cats can have tabby patterns in one or both colours a grey tortoiseshell
cat or a tortoiseshell tabby cat called a torvi can sometimes have a unique
color pattern called mackerel this unique name refers to the narrow
and solid stripes that run vertically down the body of the tabby the mackerel
pattern makes the feline look like a tiger cat but the term mackerel suggests
the appearance of a mackerel fish so if you see this sort of pattern on a torti
then you have a mackerel tour B tour B's are just another wonderful torti
variation but can you breed tortoiseshell
cats tortoiseshell colors are genetic if you want a specific tortoiseshell
pattern then you can breathe for the pattern in color color combinations do
depend on genetics and they are not guaranteed but you are much more like to
see a tortoiseshell kitten if you breed with a tortoiseshell mother
tortoiseshell cat breed breeding a torti with black and red males increases the
chances of ending up with torti kittens in the litter red males will often
produce felines with more of a red color while black ones will often produce a
black tortoiseshell cat talking of color did you know that some tortoiseshell
cats appear to be one color neither did we
some tortoiseshell cats appear to be one color some tortoiseshell cats look like
they have a solid color even if the mother is a torti if you cannot tell if
your feline is a torti kitten then inspect that the back of your cat to
look for hair color variation there are more hair follicles on the back of a
feline than anywhere else so it may be easier to see bits of orange black or
white in this area