What's the difference?

[mamabirdy]

I have a litter of 6 kittens, born the 20th April, from a ginger/orange Mummy called Ginny.

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• mamabirdy
• Sep 2, 2013

This was Ginny when she was pregnant. She had 4 ginger/orange males and 2 females. Now can someone tell me whether the 1 females, Gizmo, is a tortie or a calico? And what would you call the pattern of the other female, Harley.

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• mamabirdy
• Sep 2, 2013

Gizmo at approx 2/3 weeks old.

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• mamabirdy
• Sep 2, 2013

Gizmo about 3 weeks ago.

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• mamabirdy
• Sep 2, 2013

Harley at 2/3 weeks

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• mamabirdy
• Sep 2, 2013

Harley 2 weeks ago.

One of the gingers, Bubba, is very pale is there any special term for that.

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• mamabirdy
• Sep 2, 2013

Bubba at 2/3 weeks

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• mamabirdy
• Sep 2, 2013

Bubba just taken now.
Many thanks.

 

[mamabirdy]

I see that several of you have looked at my post, but have not answered.

 

[ondine]

Sorry - I looked but forgot to answer!  Gizmo is a calico and Harley is a tortoiseshell.  The same gene is at work in both of them but their patterning developed differently.  Beautiful kittens!

 

[mamabirdy]

Thank you Ondine, looked at several definitions and some say Gizmo is tortie so I wanted clarification. Any idea on what Bubba's colouring is classed as.

 

[ondine]

He looks like a ginger (or orange or red) tabby with white.

 

[Willowy]

Generally, if a cat is tricolored and she has big patches of color, she's called calico, and if her colored parts are more mottled together, she's called tortie and white. But some people call all tri-colored kitties tortie and white so it could go either way.

A really light orange color is called cream, but Bubba just looks sort of medium-orange to me. The proper name for orange/ginger is "red".

 

[ondine]

BTW I love the "bullseye" on Ginny's side.  Really pretty.

 

[mamabirdy]

Thanks for the definition Willowy, that was easy enough to understand, wasn't sure whether Bubba was classed as a peach colour, his belly is predominantly white. I found it strange when browsing the web, that "over the pond" in USA they call ginger cats Orange. Now you've added another by calling them Red's lol.
Never noticed the "bullseye" before Ondine till you mentioned it.

 

[maewkaew]

 Red is just the official cat fancy term for the ginger / orange cats.       

The dilute version ,  a paler color -- like very pale peach or yellow,    is called Cream.    

It's hard to say for sure which Bubba is  because there is a range within each color.    He is certainly not as deep red as Ginny,  but his color looks similar to the red on Harley. I think the color looks bright enough that he may be Red.    (Plus none of the others are dilute.) 

The whole thing of Tortie & White  vs Calico is complicated,  because different people use the terms in different ways.  " Calico"  seems to be mainly an Americanism.   I think in the UK they are usually called Tortie and White no matter what the arrangement of the black-based pigment, red-based pigment and white.

 The even stricter definition of Calico  (for example  in some breed standards of the Cat Fanciers' Association)  requires a lot of white on the body, with big distinct patches of the 2 colors.   So Gizmo would not fit the MOST strict definition because she doesn't have enough white,   but many people would still call her Calico.  

  I look at " Calico"  as like  sub-category of Tortoiseshell and White.