Calico?

[Many cats]

I've always thought that if a cat has 3 colors, it is a calico. This little male has 3 colors, black, brown & white. Is it a calico? It's a male, is it rare? Am I mistaken and it's not a calico? Please help!

 

[Willowy]

Nope, not a calico . The brown is just a different shade in the tabby pattern. Tabbies can have a lot of different shades, and some shades of brown do look a lot like red. So it can be a bit confusing. But he's just a fine handsome tabby and white!

 

[abyeb]

Calico is a combination of red, white, and black, or the dilute cream, white, and blue. That’s the reason why male calicos are so rare, because they need to have both the O allele (coding for orange) and o coding for not orange. The O/o alleles sit on the X-chromosome. I would describe your handsome boy as a brown mackeral tabby and white Domestic Longhair.

 

[love67742]

Not a calico, but absolutely adorable

 

[DreamerRose]

Don't think he's calico either, but he sure is gorgeous. Lucky to have such a pretty kitty!