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by Ruby Doomsday on October 27th, 2007
Male cats that are calico or tortiseshell have shorter lifespans than other coat colours because they have Klinefelter's Syndrome -- an extra X chromosome. However, this accounts for very VERY few cats... one in 3000 calicos or torties born, I think. But perhaps this is what you were thinking of?
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You're reading Is it true that cats with three colors have relatively shorter lifespans than those that have one color or two?
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Comments
Thanks Ruby. Very informative.
BTW, I was just thinking of three-colored cats in general.
by Doggie S on October 27th, 2007
Interesting. Is this also what accounts for the sterility in male torties?
by xhepera on October 27th, 2007
Ah. Well, my friend has an 18 year old tortie who's still kickin'. I think female three-colour cats do fine. :)
by Ruby Doomsday on October 27th, 2007
yeah, xhepera! they have a female chromosome, so they're not full males.
by Ruby Doomsday on October 27th, 2007
Good answer, Ruby, and correct. Although I know there IS such a thing as a male tortie, I've never actually seen one. They are very rare, indeed. I've always thought it was kind of cool to be able to know the sex of a cat simply by the color of it's coat, though. If it's tortie, it's female.
by Taylor on October 28th, 2007
Taylor, the vast majority of the time that will be true, but, as Ruby wrote, there are the rare males that have it.
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Ruby, just because they have an extra X chromosome does not mean that they are not fully male. All it takes to be fully male is the Y chromosome.
by Glenn Blaylock on October 28th, 2007
Yeah, I should have been more sensitive about the way I worded that. They have an extra female chromosome, so they don't fully display all characteristics associated with being male, but they are certainly, by definition male. I kinda cringed when I re-read that response of mine -- thanks for pointing it out! :)
by Ruby Doomsday on October 28th, 2007