Tortoiseshell Cat: Personality, Behavior & Colors

Want to know about what is a tortoiseshell cat are you going to adopt this tortoise cat, then you must know about the character and behavior of this dilute tortoiseshell cat. Each cat will have a typical character based about its personality and behavior.  The tortoiseshell kitten looks cute and attracts the view of the people. So thats the main reason why these tortie cat are popular.

The term “tortoiseshell” refers to a cat with a particular coat. The dress has several colors usually a mixture of red and black sometimes with white and can be composed of different patterns: spots, swirls, speckles etc. In addition to their unique coat, turtle scales often have an assertive character both independent and faithful. Discover here the different kinds of tortoiseshell and all you need to know about these special cats.

Tortoiseshell Cat

There are different types of this tortoiseshell calico and you can know more about these cats by seeing their character. In this article we are going to provide the tortoiseshell cat personality and its facts. You can get the more information about these tortoiseshell tabby from below.

Tortoiseshell Cat: what is it?

The tortoiseshell expression refers to a typical dress of some cats. It is a mixture of black and russet with spots in different shades diluted or not of cinnamon or chocolate type. These spots can be large and very visible or appear very thin, even fuzzy like small swirls or speckles like maine coon kittens. This typicality of color can go even further when the dress is striped or tabby. The color of cats with this type of coloring is called torbie, tortie (tortoiseshell) contraction and tabby. Cats Tortie Point have colour points on their dress.

tortoiseshell cat personality

Beside the tortoiseshell color, there is also another almost similar dress called calico but which has in addition to red spots and dark spots, white marks. A large dilution of the color causes a change in the calico robe that becomes blue, lilac or cream.

Character of “Tortoiseshell”

Perhaps the most characteristic temperament of the tricolor pussies is due to the fact that they are females and indeed they tend to be more independent than males and often less demonstrative. More discreet and they are also more exclusive. So tortoiseshell are often the cat – pussy in this case they are called a single master like a bengal cat. For this reason they are described as distant and it is not justified, the kittens are being simply generally more reserved.

In addition, exceptions to this rule are not uncommon and like all cats the character of course depends on the individual and not his dress! The tortoiseshell being not a race strictly speaking but just a coat color, it is wrong to make it a generality. On the contrary, the lucky owners of tricolor kittens describe them rather as cuddly and mischievous and indeed sometimes timid especially with the foreigners and the people outside the family nucleus. Above all they are devoted companions for those who knew how to tame them with tact and patience. Do not we say that it is the cat who chooses his master and not the other way around? So if a tortoiseshell come cross your path, there is a good chance it will be made for you!

Temperament of tortoiseshell cat

There are many misconceptions about the character of the tortoiseshell cat. It is said that he has a difficult temperament. The reason is simple. The felines that own this dress are females. Now we know that these are more independent and more discreet than male tortoiseshell cat. They also appreciate having a single master and are not easily approached by other humans.

tortoiseshell cat lifespan

In addition the color of the dress does not affect the character of an animal. His temperament depends mainly on the environment in which he evolves and especially the attention and care that the masters give him. It has been proven that cats would be able to feel the ills that eat away at their owners. For example, people who are stressed, anxious and upset may see their pets become distant.

Genetics of Tortie cat

Complex genetic influences are at the origin of this color of dress. Like all mammals cats have both X and Y sex chromosomes. One female has two X chromosomes while the male has one X chromosome and another Y chromosome. The red and black colors are the distinctive features of the X chromosome. Tortoiseshell are found only in X chromosomes.

tortoiseshell calico

It is for this reason that only females can wear such a color because they have orange and black genes. On the other hand, the male will not be able to have such a dress because he only has one X chromosome. However there are exceptions when the male is the victim of a chromosomal anomaly and has three XXY chromosomes. This specificity is called Klinefelter syndrome. In general, tortoiseshell males can not breed. This genetic accident would make them sterile.

Is the Tortoiseshell Cat always Female

If you’re a big cat fan you’ve probably heard of the so-called tortoise shell. But already for neophytes, know that this is not a feline race, but rather a cat with a dress with a particular color.

tortoiseshell tabby

Tortoiseshell cats are over 99% of the time cats! Indeed this specific dress is actually linked to a very rare gene in the male cat. If it can still happen that a male is born with a tortoiseshell or turtle coat, this occurs only 1 time out of 3,000. And when that happens the cat is necessarily sterile, for reasons of more complex genetics, the tortoiseshell gene occurs in the male only when the male has 3 XXY combination chromosomes. That’s why this dress is rare because tortoiseshell can not reproduce with each other. In summary it is a genetic “accident” and as a result these cats have the reputation of being vitiated and possessing a difficult temperament which is obviously an idea received. In fact tortoiseshell are just as faithful and loving cats as others.

Different Colors of Tortoiseshell pets

We distinguish the dress tortoiseshell, composed of black and brown and the dress called calico also comprising white. The peeling tortoiseshell can mix various shades of red and brown (cinnamon, chocolate) more or less diluted. The shape of the patterns can be more or less decided so we can have a cat tortoiseshell with large plates of these different colors, clearly visible and distinct or a cat whose colors are more mixed with smaller patterns or more “fuzzy”: small spots, flecks, swirls etc. It also happens that some cats have striped areas in this case they are called “torbie” mixture of “tortie”, a small name for “tortoiseshell” in English and “tabby” which means a striped dress.

The calico dress is similar to the tortoiseshell but the white color is added to the other colors giving the combination of red, black and white colors. Again the patterns are varied and can be of different sizes. When the colors of the coat are very dilute, for the calico as for the tortoiseshell it happens that the dress is cream, lilac or blue according to the nuances which compose it appearing almost uniform. But when we look more closely we discover that the hairs are of many colors which makes this dress definitely unique!

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With this you have got an idea of tortoiseshell cat lifespan and its behavior too. If you have any other more information about these tortoiseshell cats then simply share with us. You can get more information about cats from catsfud website. Share the article with your friends if you like it.

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