this post was submitted on 02 Jun 2024
866 points (98.4% liked)

aww

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[–] [email protected] 64 points 2 months ago (6 children)

That's a female cat. Calico cats are exclusively female, barring cats with extra chromosomes which are extremely rare.

[–] [email protected] 57 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

That's probably a female cat.

Fixed it for you.

Somewhat related: here's a pic of my calico Emily looking like she's drunkenly threatening to punch me

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I stated the exception to the rule in my own comment, I'm just not gonna hedge my bets when the odds are 99.967% in my favor.

Thanks for the adorable photo!

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago

Edited my original comment to reflect your getting it right the second time 😁

You're welcome for the pic, here's one of her Tortie (also almost always female since it's the same gene) sister Charlotte ALSO napping in wicker. They really enjoy wicker 😁🥰

[–] [email protected] 46 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, I guess people raised by cat breeders are pretty rare.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Learned about calico cats or kids raised by cat breeders?

Either way, as long as you fact check, doesn't matter where you first learned something.

Which anime, btw? I'm curious

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

Oh man!

I totally forgot there even was a cat in Haruhi! Haven't seen that show in like 15 years.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Extremely rare doesn't mean impossible

They're mostly female but not all female

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (5 children)

I didn't say it was impossible.

That said, if somebody gave me the option to bet on a calico cat being female, I would always take that bet because I'd only be wrong about one in three thousand times (0.03333...% of the time) if the cat was randomly selected, whereas other coat colors it'd be 50-50.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Wouldn't that be three in a thousand?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Ah, you're right. It'd be 0.03333333...%

I'll edit

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

My wife's sister has an adult male Calico. Are you telling me that super chonker is rare?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Yes, quite rare.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

But you did say exclusively which implies that it would be only female. Which is just inaccurate.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

The word "barring" in the context of my comment means "with the exception of"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Generally if people offer such a bet on a rare event they know something you don't

[–] [email protected] -1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

What do you think the word "exclusively" means?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

What do you think the word "barring" means? My original comment noted the sole exceptional case.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Would someone really do that? Just go on the Internet and tell lies?

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 months ago

The former president/vampire hunter sure seems to think so 🤷

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Are you sure that isn't just a birman that was born with a simple congenital deformity of that part of its face?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

My understanding is that the X chromosome carries the gene for red cat fur. Female calicos have one X with the red fur gene and one without. If a cat only has X chromosomes that carry the red fur gene, they'll be an red-furred cat, which is why the only male calicos are XXY. An XY male cat with the red fur gene on their X chromosome just comes out red.

I don't see how some separate "simple congenital deformity" other than an extra X could account for red fur.

I could be wrong, I'm not a cat scientist, I just grew up knowing hundreds of cats.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'm not sure myself. I just recognized the coat (other than the crest on the face) being close to a birman and was thinking either a mix or a defect.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

You're right but I don't think that's a calico.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Ssssiiiimmmbaa