Are They Common ??

Kitties4mykiddies24

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Hi everyone,
So you guys on her recently helped me figure out what breed my cat is. Thank you guys for that, but now I’m here wondering how common is a Calico cat is?? If anyone can answer this question for me. It would be greatly appreciated and also thank you to the ones that did not know the answer, but took the time out to read this
 

vyger

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There is a technical name for it and I am going to include a link to an article about it. But the simple explanation is that females of all kinds inherit 2 x chromosomes, one from the father and one from the mother. At the very beginning when the first cells divide the have both X , but an embryo can't survive with that so some cells pick one x and others the other x and the extra one is suppressed. This means that some cells have one x from the mother and others have the other x from the father when the embryo begins to grow. The finished offspring then is stripped and blotchy because it is a mix of the 2 different X genes. In cats the genes for color are expressed from the x chromosome sometimes and so they end up being splotchy and stripped because some of the genes come from the mother and some from the father.
Epigenetics II: X-Inactivation and Why Women are "Stripy" (and Calico Cats are Patchy) - cahartmanfiction

Here is a YouTube video that explains it also, in case you like video's better.
 
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jen

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Calico is a very common coat pattern in a female cat. Calico is not a breed.
 
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Kitties4mykiddies24

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Yep, calico females are extremely common. They all have unique markings though!
Thank u, I was wondering because my cat had gotten out and got pregnant. So I was wondering how likely she would have mated with the same as her.
 

Caspers Human

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Calico is a very common coat pattern in a female cat.
99% of all calicos are female because the calico pattern is derived from the X chromosome. It takes two X chromosomes, one from the father and one from the mother to make a calico pattern.

The only way for a calico to be male is if it has the X-X-Y chromosome condition. X-X-Y is very rare. Less than 1% of the population has it. Virtually all male calicos are also sterile.

They all have unique markings though!
That's because coat patterns are produced in the uterus as the kitten embryo develops into a fetus. It all depends upon the way the developing kitten ends up laying against the mother's placental layer(s) and/or other developing kittens inside the womb.

If you see interesting patterns in a cat's coat it might be because two developing kittens ended up touching each other producing silhouette shaped patterns on each other's skin.
 

lutece

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That's because coat patterns are produced in the uterus as the kitten embryo develops into a fetus. It all depends upon the way the developing kitten ends up laying against the mother's placental layer(s) and/or other developing kittens inside the womb.
If you see interesting patterns in a cat's coat it might be because two developing kittens ended up touching each other producing silhouette shaped patterns on each other's skin.
Tortoiseshell and calico patterns are the result of X-inactivation (also known as lyonization).
X-inactivation - Wikipedia
I am not aware of any effect on coat pattern based on how kittens are physically arranged in the uterus during development. Do you have any references for that, Caspers Human Caspers Human ? It would be fascinating if that were the case.
 

lutece

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Thank u, I was wondering because my cat had gotten out and got pregnant. So I was wondering how likely she would have mated with the same as her.
It is extremely unlikely that she would have mated with another calico cat, because fertile male calicos are extremely rare.
 

Caspers Human

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I am not aware of any effect on coat pattern based on how kittens are physically arranged in the uterus during development. Do you have any references for that, Caspers Human? It would be fascinating if that were the case.
I was told that during a lecture at a college where I used to work.

I used to be an A/V tech for the lecture halls and, many times, I had to be present for the whole presentation in order to operate the sound and video equipment.

One of the lectures was by a biology professor who was talking about genetics. He was discussing the X-Y and X-X chromosomes, how they determine gender and how the different characteristics of the offspring are derived from the chromosome combinations.

He used calico cats as an example of how these genetics work and the reason why only females can be calico.

One of the students asked how the different color patterns were determined and the prof. said that the colors, themselves, come from both parents but the actual pattern of where the melanin cells are placed come from the mother's placenta.

It was a three-sentence explanation out of a whole hour long lecture.

He was a biology teacher and he said it as part of his teaching so I assumed that what he said was true.

I wish I could get the exact details because, now, I'm curious too. ;)
 

lutece

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Hmm, that's very strange! I've not heard anything like that from any of my genetics professors. Do you remember who the professor was?

Here is a PDF about cat coat color genetics, which touches on the mechanism of dorso-ventral melanoblast migration (melanin cells moving from the top of the body towards the underside) which affects the pattern of white markings in cats and other animals:
http://www.bioinf.uni-leipzig.de/Leere/SS15/TheoB/CatCoatColor.pdf

Here is an article about pigmentation in animals which also mentions melanoblast migration:
Not just black and white: pigment pattern development and evolution in vertebrates

I'm not aware of any influence of the placenta in this process... but if you do find anything, I'll be curious to hear about it!
 

Caspers Human

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It has been a few years since I worked there and probably a couple before that when I was at the lecture. It could have been any one of about a half dozen of the lecturers.

I remember the lecture because, even though I knew that calicos were almost always female, I was interested to hear the details of why.

I remember that he said the offspring's color comes partly from the father and partly from the mother and I remember that he talked about the melanocytes migrating, just as you say.

But I also remember that he said that the exact pattern of the way the melanocytes migrates has something to do with the placenta.

I wish I could remember the exact details because, now, you guys have me wanting to know.
 

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Caspers Human Caspers Human I've read that the position in the womb affects the kitten's coloring, too, due to heat sensitivity, but I can't remember where and a quick Google search didn't turn up anything. As I recall, the article said that kittens "on the edges", where it's cooler, had lighter coats/white markings than kittens "in the middle". :dunno:
 

lutece

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As I recall, the article said that kittens "on the edges", where it's cooler, had lighter coats/white markings than kittens "in the middle". :dunno:
I wonder how they would have tested this hypothesis. I hope not by performing lots of elective c-sections on pregnant female cats. But I can't see how else they would be able to get this kind of data...
 

Caspers Human

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Caspers Human Caspers Human As I recall, the article said that kittens "on the edges", where it's cooler, had lighter coats/white markings than kittens "in the middle". :dunno:
That sounds kind of like what I remember the prof. saying.

But I also distinctly remember that he talked about the placenta having something to do with the way the markings come out.

I wonder how they would have tested this hypothesis.
Umm... Maybe they used a CAT scan? :D
 
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