#she's a tortoiseshell calico mix

[quietblueriver]

For prompts: Imogen/Laudna, hound of ill omen or pâté pet fluff

So this turned into nearly 4k words on Imogen and the animals she has loved? The last section at least is directly responsive. 😬 And I might supplement with hound of ill omen at some point because he's lurking around in my head, too.

Thank you so much for the fun prompt! <3

PS - Wrote this real fast so pls excuse any errors.

-

One afternoon when Imogen was six, her daddy called her into the barn and nodded over at the old wooden trough turned on its side near the stairs to the loft. She knew what it meant, gasping and scurrying in the direction of the trough, slowing to the quickest walk she could manage at her daddy’s, “No running in the barn, Imogen.” 

And then she saw them—five tiny new things, eyes closed and mouths searching, mewling and pitiful on a pile of hay inside the shelter of the worn, dusty planks. 

Lady, their mother and Imogen’s favorite barn cat, eyed Imogen as she approached, orange and white tail flicking back and forth, one black ear twitching. Imogen couldn’t read minds (not yet, anyway) but she thought she understood–she gave Lady and her kittens plenty of space, stopping before she got too close. She sat criss-cross applesauce, watching from a distance and thinking about names until her daddy put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her toward the house for dinner. 

For the next few weeks, she went out every morning before school and every night before bed to check on them–three orange and one calico and a pretty orange and black mix. 

“Tortoiseshell,” her daddy said as he watched Imogen watch them, the black and orange–tortoiseshell–jumping and pawing fiercely at a piece of hay that stuck up from the ground. He only stayed for a moment, wiping sweat from his forehead with the navy blue bandana he always kept in his back pocket before he said, “We’re only keeping one.” When she turned to look at him, he was already focused on pulling the rake from its hook and moving toward one of the stalls. She wanted to argue but she bit her tongue. She was getting good at that. He didn’t look at her as he added, “Don’t get too attached.” 

She did get too attached. She cried when Pumpkin and Daisy went to live with Mr. Faramore’s cousin. She tried to hide it, sniffling into the sleeve of her shirt, but her daddy saw and frowned and shook his head. “That’s how it works, Imogen. I told you.” Shame curled in her stomach, and when she wiped her face again, motion hard with anger, the button on her cuff caught her cheek and split the skin. 

A few weeks later, when Scare and Crow went to live on the farm a few miles away, Imogen hid behind the barn with Ember in her arms and watched as Crow’s little orange face peeked out from the backpack where he and his brother had been put. When the horse turned the corner and she couldn’t see him anymore, Imogen put Ember back inside the barn with Lady and cried and cried until she couldn’t anymore. Throat sore and nose running, she scrubbed at her face in the stream and wiped it dry before she went inside for dinner. 

(“Of course you were attached,” Laudna whispered to her under the moonlight in a grove far, far from Gelvaan. “They were kittens. You were six.” She heard, in Laudna’s thoughts, the undercurrent of opinions on her daddy. What an absolute jackass. Honestly. When she snorted, Laudna tilted her head in that way Imogen was coming to love, one side of her mouth pulling into a smile. Sorry, darling. I don’t mean to think ill of him. 

Imogen, heart doing strange things at the word darling, only came back to herself when she noticed Laudna’s smile begin to dip. She reached out and ran tentative fingers over the back of Laudna’s hand where it lay between them. Laudna turned her palm up and caught Imogen’s fingers between her own, the brief staccato interlude in her thoughts smoothing back into a more familiar rhythm as Imogen tried for the gentlest look she could manage. It wasn’t real familiar to her, gentleness, but Laudna made it feel easier than it ever had. 

Don’t be sorry. Please. I’ve never had…Thank you, for defendin’ me. And you’re right. He was a little bit of a jackass. 

She giggled then, feeling younger and safer than she had in a long time, and Laudna’s smile came out in full, face breaking open eerie and beautiful in the night.) 

Lady disappeared almost ten years later, gone one day, then two, then a week. 

“Likely went off to die,” speculated one of the older hands, bottom lip bulging with dip that he spit into the jar in his left hand every other sentence. “Dignified, that one.”

“Or somethin’ got her. Not as fast as she used to be.” 

Imogen mucked a stall quietly as they went on, moving from Lady to the weather to crop predictions. She was sweating, so the tears blended into the water already dripping down her face, and nobody was paying her any mind anyway. 

Nobody except her daddy, apparently. He walked by a few minutes later, shadow draping over her from where he stood in the stall door. 

“That’s just how it is, Imogen.” 

I didn’t say anything, she hissed into his mind, teenage angst and righteous anger forcing more tears from her eyes. The sound of his boots tripping over each other as he backed away pulled a bitter smile from her. She never spoke into his mind. He hated it. Careful, she said, almost taunting, and she felt the anger swell in him even as he moved further away. 

She ate dinner alone that night.  

-

By the time Flora came around, Imogen was miserable. She was fighting headaches every day, and she’d alienated nearly everyone in town over the course of the last few years. 

When her powers first came, Imogen didn’t understand what was happening. Confused and generally in pain, she couldn’t always process the difference between what she heard and what she heard, which meant she sometimes responded to things that hadn’t actually been said out loud. People weren’t fond of having somebody in their mind, even if nobody was quite ready to admit that was what was happening. 

Then came the panic attacks. 

And the scars. 

And the “accidents” that happened around her. 

She’d never been popular, looked too much like her mama in a town full of people who loved her daddy, but the rumors gave them a better excuse to avoid her, and of course, to judge. 

And, to be fair, Imogen wasn’t real eager to spend her time with them either. She hated the headaches and the anxiety and she definitely hated being able to hear the thoughts vile enough to stand out in the general din, vile enough that the men who thought them suddenly found themselves tripping over nothing or falling into ponds or spilling their drinks all over themselves. She didn’t do it on purpose but she wasn’t sorry. A few of those incidents and suddenly everybody was turning to look for lavender anytime anybody had an accident. 

When Ms. Gillis dropped a basket of produce one morning at market and turned to glare at Imogen, setting all six of her kids to whispering about “the purple witch,” Imogen decided to give up the small hope she’d been clinging to that the town where she grew up might learn to accept her as she was now. 

She stopped going out when she could avoid it, and when she couldn’t, she picked times when she thought the market or the general store or wherever it was she needed to go would be least crowded, got in and out as quick as she could. At least on the farm she was mostly alone, even if it hurt that her daddy joined everybody else for lunch and left Imogen alone in the orchard or under the big tree out behind the barn. 

She was under that tree when she first saw Flora, placid as Sam and a hand she didn’t recognize walked her. She was beautiful, a sorrel with a wide white stripe down her face. Imogen absently took a last bite of apple before tossing it back into the brown bag she’d brought and standing to walk toward Sam. 

“Imogen. There you are.” He looked relieved to see her, a vaguely anxious set of feelings pressing into her mind, which meant he really did not want to be handling this horse or he really did not like the other hand. Or maybe both. “This is Dylan. They work for Mr. Langham and rode over with Flora here.” 

Imogen lifted a perfunctory hand at Dylan before moving closer to Flora. “Can I?” 

Sam nodded, stepping back with the rope, and Dylan joined him. 

“She’s real sweet,” Dylan said. “She’ll be perfect for kids.” 

Imogen stood a little closer, in Flora’s line of vision, and let her look for a minute before she pulled a piece of carrot from her pocket and laid it flat on her palm in offer. There was the familiar tickle of soft, curious muzzle against her palm as Flora sniffed. She took the treat happily, crunching and then nosing at Imogen like they were old friends. 

Imogen ran her hand down Flora’s neck and spoke softly to her until Sam cleared his throat. 

“Well. We’re gonna leave her to you.”

“We are?” 

She caught some thoughts from Sam that made her turn her face a little further away from the two of them to hide a smile. He definitely didn’t want to get away from Dylan, then. 

“Great. Thanks.” 

They were gone quickly, leaving Imogen and Flora to themselves. “Whadda ya say?” Imogen asked as Flora mouthed another piece of carrot from her palm eagerly. “Want me to show you around a bit?” She took the gentle pressure of Flora’s muzzle against her shoulder as a yes. 

Flora was sturdy and young, barely more than a filly, and Mr. Faramore wanted her for her temperament and as a tester for the riding camp he was considering, a week or two of fancy kids coming to learn about horses and then, ideally, convincing their parents to buy one from him. 

Imogen worked with her, taking over as her handler with no objection from anyone else, and they spent at least two afternoons a week together exploring the grounds. Imogen was “setting the trails” for the camp, which didn’t mean much beyond flagging trees and brush that needed to be cleared for easier passage. It was her favorite part of the week, and Flora was better company than any person she’d ever met. 

The camp never happened, but two of Mr. Faramore’s granddaughters fell in love with Flora, so she stayed, spending a few days a month saddled up for the girls. She was Imogen’s, the rest of the time–always her choice for checking the property and riding out to mend fences or for any task she could justify, really. 

She and Flora were checking some fencing, hot as hell in the afternoon sun, when Imogen heard her for the first time. Toward the forest, where an abandoned cabin sat just far enough over the property line that Mr. Faramore didn’t bother with it, Imogen caught somebody’s thoughts. 

She wasn’t digging, had at least learned how to control that part of her powers, but the surface level thoughts were more difficult to block out, especially when she had her shields down, like she usually did when she was out with Flora. She was glad, for once, that she’d been unprepared, because these thoughts weren’t like anything else she’d heard before. They were like music, flowing and self-contained and happy. 

She turned Flora toward the forest without much thought. 

The woman was weeding outside the cabin, tall and incredibly thin, long hair pinned up with some kind of chisel as she worked, talking to herself quietly. There was something not quite right about her, something unnatural that Imogen couldn’t quite pin down but felt immediately. 

It became obvious when she turned to look at them, big black eyes wide and mouth working itself into a smile that was genuine if nervous, and almost too wide to be human. Her skin was pale, too pale, and there was something black on her fingers where they gripped a bundle of weeds, roots dangling, tightly in front of her almost like a bouquet. What looked like some kind of dead creature hung from one of her belts and swayed gently with her movement. 

Imogen was grateful for Flora for a thousand reasons, but in that moment, she was especially grateful for her steady temperament and natural curiosity, because Imogen was almost certain the woman would’ve spooked every other horse in their barn. Imogen was also almost certain that the woman in front of her was dead. 

“Hello,” she said, clearly not totally dead and with a heavy accent Imogen didn’t recognize. “I’m Laudna.” 

An hour later, when Laudna hesitantly offered Flora a piece of carrot from her palm, she took it happily and Laudna laughed, a sound as musical as her thoughts, when Flora leaned into her hand looking for more. 

It wasn’t long after that Imogen let loose defending Laudna and burned away the robes of that cleric and any chance of a life for herself in Gelvaan. 

She wasn’t sorry and she wasn’t sad, not really, to leave that place. As Imogen hastily filled a pack, Laudna looking on in concern, there was a dull and familiar ache in her chest, thudding below the fire and anger she still carried on Laudna’s behalf. Every what if she’d let herself indulge in over the years, every time she’d tried to please her daddy and failed, every attempt at getting people to see her as anything other than her mother’s daughter. But that’s all they were–what ifs that Imogen was steady realizing she didn’t want anymore. 

The real hurt, as they hurried through the forest and then onto the road that led away from Faramore’s, was that light in the barn, where Marty was on shift closing things down and keeping watch. She was leaving Flora, unable to say goodbye, and she didn’t know when she’d be back. If she’d ever be back. 

She cried the next night as they settled onto bedrolls, exhausted and overwhelmed and thinking of a horse of all things. She heard her father’s sigh, saw his disappointed and slightly patronizing expression and hid her tears in her sleeve and then in the fabric of her bedroll, trying to keep quiet. 

After a few minutes, Laudna said, gently, “I know it must be very difficult. To leave. I’m sorry, Imogen. I’m so very grateful that you saved me but I can’t imagine what it cost you.” 

Imogen turned to face her, embarrassed but willing, for reasons she still didn’t quite understand, to Laudna see her. “I’d do it again, Laudna.” The anger roiled in her stomach again, overtaking her sadness for a moment. “They deserved worse than what I gave ‘em, for what they were tryin’ to do to you.” She heard doubt in Laudna’s mind, and Imogen didn’t know yet how to fix that but she had time now to figure it out. 

“Honestly, I feel more relief than anythin’ else.” Laudna watched her, pools of black reflecting the soft light of the moon. “I won’t miss it. I’m…I’m excited to explore. I’m excited to explore with you. I’m real glad I met you.”

“I’m glad I met you, too. You’re the best thing that’s happened to me in a very, very long time.” Ever rang in her mind, loud and earnest enough for Imogen to hear. The fierce, protective thing that had started building in Imogen’s chest that first afternoon was growing faster than she knew what to do with. 

“I feel the same way.” 

And then Imogen thought of Flora again and found the tears were back. A noise, something affectionate and concerned that was entirely foreign to Imogen, escaped Laudna’s mouth before she sat up and dug in her pack, turning back with a handkerchief which she handed to Imogen. It was soft, embroidered with something she couldn’t quite make out in the dark, and it felt about a million times better than her shirt or her bedroll against her cheeks. 

“Thanks.” 

“Of course. I…I understand if you don’t want to talk about it, but I think I’m quite a good listener, if you do.” 

Imogen folded the handkerchief to keep her hands busy as she said, so soft she was afraid Laudna wouldn’t even hear her, “I miss my horse. Flora. I know that’s…I know it’s silly. I just…” 

She shrugged, chest tight, and Laudna moved closer to her, placed a hand on Imogen’s shoulder, cool even through the fabric of her shirt. 

“It’s not silly. It’s not silly at all.” 

It set something loose in her, the honest way Laudna said it, the echo of that honesty in her mind, and suddenly big, ridiculous tears were dripping down her face and Laudna’s arms were wrapped around her, her neck cool against Imogen’s forehead. 

“I liked her better than most people.” 

“Well, that makes sense. Aside from you, the people in Gelvaan didn’t make the best impression, I must say.” Imogen laughed into Laudna’s shoulder as she continued, “No offense intended, of course. I know I’m not exactly a welcome sight.” “You are to me.” 

She was quiet then, surprise and affection and longstanding shame whirling around in her mind. After a moment, she asked, “Would you like to tell me about Flora?” 

“I think…I think I would.” 

-

Pate de Rolo was, objectively, horrifying. 

Laudna had done a very thorough job preserving his body, and the skull was immaculately clean, but there was no getting around the horror of the creation–the mismatched parts and the patchiness of his thin coat; the dry, flaky reality of his tail; the unnatural stiffness of his joints as Laudna puppeted him, talented hands bringing his movements eerily close to what they might have been in life. 

The first time Laudna brought him from her belt with an excited, “Oh, let me introduce you to Pate,” Imogen had worked as hard as she could to keep her smile, to fight the instinct toward disgust. She managed, because she knew a hurt thing when she saw one, and she didn’t want to hurt Laudna any further, but it was a near thing. 

“Oh, so lovely to meet you, Pate.” 

“Pleasure’s all mine.” It was lecherous. It was hilarious. It was one of the most disturbing things Imogen had ever seen. 

Laudna looked between them, seeming incredibly pleased, and Imogen, unbelievably, found herself wanting to keep the little monster going, if it meant making Laudna happy. She bolstered herself. 

“Pate, Laudna mentioned y’all have traveled all over. She was tellin’ me about the mountains. Do you have a favorite place?” 

“Well, I always do like the beaches. For the views, if ya know what I mean…”

Suffering through the ensuing monologue was nothing compared to the pride that bloomed in Imogen’s chest at Laudna’s beaming smile. 

Over the course of their first few months together, Imogen began to understand what it meant when Pate made an appearance. 

Sometimes, of course, Laudna was bored and they were around the fire and Pate provided a ridiculous and entertaining way to spend an hour before bed. Imogen found it easy to move past disgust as she got to know Laudna, let herself see beyond the grotesque corpse and recognize something that had helped her friend, who had quickly become her favorite person in the world, survive desperate loneliness and nearly unending cruelty. She found it easy, when she thought of him that way, to love him as an extension of Laudna. 

And it became clear that he was an extension of Laudna, in more ways than one, as they traveled. The first time they were chased out of a cabin, she saw Laudna’s body shift into something Imogen found both terrifying and beautiful to defend them, limbs expanding and spine cracking as ichor pooled on her skin, a veil of black descending from nowhere to cover her face. That night, as they sat around the fire, Pate came out almost immediately. 

“Well that was a right mess, wunnit?” 

“It was.” Imogen moved closer on the log they shared, making the offer of contact but leaving Laudna the option to refuse. “We would’ve been in real trouble without Laudna, yeah?” 

Pate danced as Laudna’s fingers moved, somehow managing to convey a shrug in the rat-raven creation. “I dunno. I reckon anything would be scared of her, like that. Boss is awful enough when she’s not a monster.” 

“I’m not scared of her.” Laudna lifted her eyes from Pate to meet Imogen’s as she said, “And she’s not awful. She’s my best friend.” Black ichor dripped down Laudna’s cheeks as her fragile ankle shifted just enough to touch Imogen’s. “I thought it was really fuckin’ cool.” Laudna snuffled and Imogen grinned, bending down to Pate and stage-whispering, “Did you see that one guy piss himself?” 

Pate cackled, and Laudna moved to close the rest of the distance between them. 

When Laudna died, the second time, Imogen took his small body and kept it close to her. She couldn’t puppet him, didn’t want to try, but she spoke to him, whispered to him as she set him in a small nest she made from her bandana each night. “Don’t worry, Pate. We’ll get her back. I promise.” 

And then he came back with her, ribcage cracking and squelching, off-color observations flying as free as he now could. It was suddenly more difficult to love him, Imogen forcing down disgust in a way she hadn’t in a long time. There was less incentive, now that he was an independent creature, but he was still Pate and he had still saved Laudna, even if he hadn’t been, well, him. 

He found her one night as Ashton and Laudna played a game of cards, Laudna cackling in delight as they accused each other, loudly, of cheating nearly every hand. It was so good, to hear her laughing again. 

“‘Ey, boss.” 

He landed on a branch near her head, wings folding back into his body with a series of motions and noises that made Imogen smile to suppress a gag. 

“Pate. I didn’t realize you were out.” 

“Mum sent me to check on ya.” 

Imogen looked back to Laudna, who was waving a hand dismissively at Ashton, nose turned up. Her eyes caught Imogen’s as she turned away from him with a scoff, and she winked before she threw herself back into their argument, brushing her hair out of her face with an exaggerated motion. Imogen blushed and bit her lip before she remembered she wasn’t alone, clearing her throat and shaking her head before the world’s lewdest undead flying rodent noticed her being a lovesick fool. 

“She did, did she?”

“Aye. She worries about you, ya know? It was a hard fight, today.” 

It was, objectively, but relative to the past few weeks it was nothing. She’d be fine after a good night’s rest. 

“I’m good.” At his uncharacteristic silence, she realized Laudna really must’ve been concerned, so she continued, “Real good, honestly. Just need some sleep. I hadn’t been sleepin’ well, but it’s easier, now that we’re back together. Now that we’re…”

Pate didn’t have lips but he still grinned, somehow, bone-white face more expressive than it had any right to be. 

“Now that you and mum’re smashin’, ya mean?” 

“Pate.” Her face was red hot, embarrassing on its own and somehow even more embarrassing because her girlfriend’s perverted rat-raven familiar had managed to make it happen. 

“I’m real ‘appy for ya.” At her pointed eyebrow, he raised a rat hand in the air, wobbling a little as he rebalanced. “Honest.” 

“Mmhmm.” Ashton was up from his seat, arms flailing with enough distress that FCG had begun to make his way over to the duo. Laudna looked like she was having the best day of her life. “An’ how’s she doin’? Really?” 

Pate grunted. “Been better, I reckon, but she’ll be alright, our girl. She’s tough.” 

Right. This was why she tried to be kind, to hold her distaste at bay, to maintain some kind of love for him. Laudna was their girl. And she’d been Pate’s girl for a lot longer than she’d been Imogen’s. 

Imogen stroked the slope of his skull and patted her shoulder, affection and disgust warring within her at the feel of undead claws on her skin. He settled and they watched together as Laudna and Ashton continued, Letters stationed close. 

“She’ll be alright.” Imogen said it for the both of them, an affirmation and a promise. 

Skull scraped skin as he moved to speak, and goosebumps broke out across Imogen’s shoulders, an instinct she couldn’t suppress. 

“‘Course she will. She’s got us, after all.” 

#imodna fic #imodna #cr prompt fic

[identifying-cat-phenotypes]

Not sure if it's visible in pictures but she has an effect like those sequin pillows where the color is different if you pet her "against the grain." I noticed her black parts are different from some other calicos because they're mixed/not solid, wondering if there are specific terms to differentiate! It seems like there are multiple colors on the same strand of fur sometimes.

(These photos are older and she is thinner nowadays—I know she is a bit fat)

Quite the sleepy kitty! She seems to be a black broken mackerel tortoiseshell tabby with high white! The reason the multi-colored hair strands exist, is how tabbies work!

I suggest doing your own research on tabby hair strands, because there are a lot of complexities to it that I can't summarize in a single tumblr post. I highly suggest this video for a simple yet detailed overview.

#identification #black broken mackerel tabby #tortoiseshell #black tabby #high white #tabbies #ask

[nilathecat]

Meet Nila!

Nila is currently 2 years old. She is a calico mix of a tabby and a diluted tortoiseshell! This means her coat pattern has lots of colors and patterns.

She was found on the street at about four months old and taken in, where I then saw the post online and adopted her. Now she lives with me as I go through college.

Nila loves to cuddle and lay around. When she isn’t doing that, she’s likely running around getting into things, or trying to jump out and bite my legs so I will play with her.

#cat #animal #my cat #cats of tumblr #kitten #animals #cute cats

[warriorssurvivalandstuff]

My Omori catify nonsense.

Aubrey, Basil, Mari Hero, Sunny, Kel

Aubrey: Black amber tortie Basil: Fawn calico Mari: Black smoke Hero: Chocolate golden marbled tabby Sunny: Black with low white Kel: Red classic tabby, minimal white

Design notes (extremely long, image heavy, and fancy cat patterns heavy) and concepts under cut.

Aubrey is based off non-agouti (genetically solid) black amber, made tortoiseshell. Amber is a trait in the Norwegian Forest breed which causes most of the cat to change colour from black/browns to a red/orangish colour starting at around three months old. Using this to drastically change her look somewhat suitably for the timeskip, because just using hair dye is boring. As for why tortoiseshell, she gets associated with fire a lot and for "scars/wounds", which the red splotches are styled to resemble, meant to give her a tough look. There might be something in how they're less distinct post-colour change. The red end of her tail vaguely resembles Basil's. Stripes on the tail curve towards the tip like flames. For non-colour features, she has spiky lines and ear tufts. The tufts are red for the fire look. Maybe I should've just gone with orange eyes instead of yellow but I wanted to them all to have different colours, and Kel had to get orange. Yellow works fine enough for fire and is the cartoon star colour, starry eyed in (more) youth.

Onto Basil, he's a fawn calico, fawn, cream, and white. Cream is an obvious choice to match his blond hair, while the fawn is meant to resemble dead moss as a mirror to his headspace design, and I did just basically copy his hair over directly. Not too pleased with it. Dewclaws and the bottom of his paws are also free of white for green thumbs/muddy look. The fawn end of his tail vaguely resembles Aubrey's as said above. Also fun fact, tortoiseshell/calico cats cannot be AMAB without some sort of mutation or chimerism. While I did not mistake him for a girl, a ton of people did so I thought I'd carry it over here. Broken mackerel stripes for the tendrils his Something has, and his tail stripes slant towards the tip like leaf venation. The high degree of white was mostly to not have mottling (look, I try to go for as much realism as I can), it was just about the generic bicolour pattern until I thought to spike up the flank region as Something's teeth and to stick a daisy above his left eye. His fur is arranged to look like a perpetually soaked creature, and his ear tufts also droop. Some fur on his back curls like dicot sprouts and his weird hair tufts.

Kel gets two designs as well, not because of some colour change shenanigans, but my indecision. One is chocolate tortoiseshell classic tabby and the other forgoes the chocolate, being just red classic tabby. The mix of brown and orange evokes orange joe, more brown above since it looks like espresso floats on orange juice and like a tan, and I did mistake him for a girl at first. But I wanted to have Aubrey and Basil match in being the only torties, as a sibling theme (headcanon). Classic tabby for the signature bullseye pattern, ballin'. Being tortoiseshell also allows me to draw actual basketballs on him, even if I only did it for the flank one. Honestly the rest of the tortie mottling is just random, not planning on replicating them accurately ever. He has very small amounts of white, the toes and locket. It's meant to reflect his jersey and sneakers' white patterns. His line style/fur tufts are round like his hair.

As for Hero, he is a chocolate golden marbled tabby. Golden because he's the golden child. If Kel is tortoiseshell, they match by being chocolate. Marbled tabby allows me to crudely draw roses with nigh 0 reproducibility plus rosettes, instead of just rosetted tabby. The roses are on his flank and one upright on his foreleg. It is also classic tabby with the Bengal modifier, so he and Kel match here, tortie or not. His fur tufts come in threes, like his hair. Crimson chin when stylised.

Sunny is very basic for his colours, just a solid black with (unusual) white spotting. Mewo dictated he and Mari be black cats. His white is placed more deliberately, a cloud on the head, collar and socks that reflect his clothing, and the rest completes the tuxedo look. The fact that his muzzle and collar line up to look like Something was unplanned but welcome. His eyes are sun coloured. Based his build off of Oriental Shorthairs for the scrawniness. The end of his tail splits into two tufts to reflect his weird hair tufts.

Last but not least, Mari who is a black smoke. Like Sunny, she is solid black. It's got the ghostly quality and when tabby stripes are visible on smokes, they're called ghost markings. She has those on her face, very unsubtly music staff with two semiquaver notes. The gene that causes smoke in solid cats turns tabbies into silver tabbies, so she is in a way, silver, matching Hero's golden. Her fur style is smoke/vapour, the ghostly quality again. She also has the Oriental headshape to match Sunny. I considered having her be silver shaded instead for the white dress spirit Mari is pictured in but that would make her and Sunny look very different. Included as an alt, anyway.

All of them together. The base here (and above) is by Reevees on DA.

Old concepting headshots, dates a few years back. They have the different versions of Kel and Aubrey. Sunny and Mari are kept just about the same, while the others have more notable changes.

Headspace full designs will come in some time... three years? Dunno. Hero's palette will change completely.

Old line styling test, only Aubrey, Basil, and Sunny. Older and young.

#omori #art #aubrey omori #basil omori #kel omori #hero omori #sunny omori #mari omori #catify #aubrey #basil #kel #hero #sunny #mari #cat genetics I guess #for the tortie note #and how smokes are genetically solid #if you're curious yes they're possible as siblings #not that there's much limitation to sibling phenotypes #I spent too long on this #warned you it's a long post

[brightsstar]

I was looking back at the question where someone asked what name the Eclipses would give a cat if they had one, and i had answered with possibly giving them some of my real cats.

Yes, we have 9 cats, and Davis also gave Sun his real cats on the show, so i figured, why the heck not lol

You can choose based on the names, but below, i will explain each cat's personality if you wanna pick from that.

Rosie: our oldest cat, and my sibling's cat (not sure now tho if that still holds true). She is a tortoiseshell who is very sweet natured, and very talkative. She is also a lap cat. Declawed, but after her, my family has never declawed any of our other cats we got after her.

Molly: formerly belonged to my grandparents (father's parents). Grandma's cat (Mom's mother) She is a gray and white tabby. At first, when she meets people, she hides out and is often aggressive if found by a stranger. She used to hide behind my grandparent's washing machine each time we visited, and hissed at us if we went to check on her. After she was given to us, and after she got used to us, she actually turned out to be a very sweet and talkative cat who loves cat treats.

Sabrina: orange tabby, female, my cat. Her coat is a sand color, but that still counts as an orange. Formerly my father's cat, chose me after we got him put away. Started following me around after he was gone, and still does, and sleeps with me nightly. She also comes to find me when i'm gone too long. She is territorial and doesn't like the other cats coming close to her. She'll hiss at them then swat at them, but never really hurts them. Cuddle cat when she wants to be. Potential sibling to the three below, we never got that confirmed though because she was a stray when we got her, but she is same age as them. Sabrina also greets me every time i come back to my room.

Chris: orange and white tabby, my mom's cat. Shorthair-longhair mix, only one like that in the litter. We found him and his siblings when they were barely 2 weeks old. Bottle-fed and hand raised them. He can be a very sweet boy, but sometimes he tends to swat or bite when he doesn't want petted. Hasn't done that in a while though. He also loves to pick on his brother. He also has this thing where he is a very heavy sleeper, especially for a cat, but he also likes to sleep on the edges of places, which often leads to him falling out of said spots when he sleeps. He is fine tho, we put stuff under him if he finds a spot he likes to sleep in for a while.

Fantal: orange and white tabby. Chris' brother (originally we thought he was a girl so we named him Fanta, but when we learned he was male, he was already responding to Fanta as his name, so we altered it slightly to Fantal), also my mom's cat. He is bigger than Chris, but he is a pushover. Many of our female cats don't like him except Feather. Fantal is also very sweet, but easily spooked.

Victoria: calico with tabby stripes. Fantal, and Chris' sister. My cat. An absolute attention hog, but still a sweetheart. She often reaches out with her paws when she wants petted to try grabbing anyone close to her. (She also put so many holes in so many of my shirts because she grips hard when she is picked up lol)

Misto: Black cat, chatter box. Sibling's cat, but i think he's mine now (they ignore their cats most of the time now, sadly..) Longhair-shorthair mix with an unusually long tail. He loves attention, and he loves to cuddle. Very talkative and very sweet. Playful too. Bold as well, so he is not afraid to get in the way of things i'm doing just to get petted. He barges in. He also is a smart cat. He can push and pull cracked doors open, and he knows the doorknob opens the door, but he is not tall enough to grip and turn them. He can and will jiggle the knob tho if he wants in or out of a room. At our old house, he and his sister even figured out how to unlock their cat door. He and his sister also broke our old screen door by breaking the mesh in a corner so they could get outside.

Feather: silver tabby with black stripes, Misto's sister, my cat. Possibly part munchkin cat, or dwarf. She has shorter legs than a normal cat. Also a longhair-shorthair mix. She also has an unusually long tail. She is very fluffy, and likes attention. Not quite as much as her brother. She is also very pretty and adorable, and she knows she is, and she knows how to use it to her advantage. (May or may not have inspired some of TL! Lunar's traits-) She is also smart, and potentially is smarter than her brother. She is often the one who led her and her brother's antics when they were still kittens. Both Misto and Feather were also strays, but acquainted with humans so they were not scared of us.

Cooper: Maine Coon or Norwegian Forest Cat. Possibly male calico? (He has black, tan, and white colors on him, and is a male) Formerly belonged to a relative who passed away last year. Declawed, but not by us. He had 2 previous owners before us, and the owner who had him before our relative did had been the one to declaw him. He is a very sweet cat, and when he meows, they're more like chirps. He also enjoys attention, and likes to cuddle. He had a rough few weeks recently as he had gotten very sick for a bit there, but is now recovering.

#regretful eclipse au #Poll

[deducter]

Analysis of cat fur

When it comes to deducing a person, one of the things I look for is cat/dog fur.

There are 78 cat breeds.

However, different sources may approve different numbers of cat breeds (it really depends on where you look your information for).

Let's start:

There are 4 different types of cat fur:

Long fur: grows between 1.5 and 5 inches (= 3.81 cm and 12.7 cm) depending on the breed

Short fur: does not grow beyond 1.5 inches= 3.81 cm

crimped fur(a.k.a. curly fur)- is considered a long fur

hairless: they are not actually hairless, they have a peach-like hair, no whiskers/ no eyelashes

There are also different patterns:

Solid coats: Cat coats that are all one colour.

Tabby coats

Bicolour (tuxedo) coats: white fur combined with fur of some other colour.

Tri colour coats (a.k.a. calico): black, white, orange colours must be present. Approximately one calico in 3,000 is male. So, if you see a Calico cat fur on someone's coat, you can almost be assured he/she owns a female calico cat.

Torbie coats: mix of two different cat fur patterns: tortoiseshell and tabby

Tortoiseshell coats: their fur looks like the shell of a tortoise.

Colour point coats:  pale body and relatively darker extremities.

You can find more info about cat hair pigmentation on this page

-ND

#cat #deduction

[newwarriorsocworldobsession]

Gorgeclan

The Sturdy

Gorgeclan is a clan known for being excellent climbers and being hard to fight, whether that is due to their thick fur protecting them or their high endurance thanks to their way of life. The clan usually is unbothered by the rest of the clans and more often than not has the least amount of problems that are centered around nonclan cats. It could be up for debate if this is because of their location, their own rather large sizes compared to the other clans, or if it is because of the other dangers living in the Gorge such as cougars or bears that make many other cats think twice of living in such a location. Either way, it’s often thought of the cats of this clan to be very hard to impress or surprise.

Typical Traits:

Large-sized, thick pelts, often have spotted pelts, broad shoulders

Territory:

Lives in a mountainous expanse around a huge gorge. Around the gorge is a very thin forest on one side and a much thicker mixed forest on the other. The cliffs are high and rocky, packing snow during leaf-bare and having caused this clan to become very skilled climbers. There is a flat sandy bank and a shallow creek thanks to the waterfall the camp has at the bottom of the gorge. This is the most northern clan and neighbors Thicketclan on the side of the gorge with the thick forest, Sunclan on the side of the thinner forest, and its creek flows into the same creek of Creekclan’s name to the south.

Clan Roster

Leader:

Russetstar, a large, long-haired, thick-furred, white she-cat, with a cinnamon-colored spotted tabby tail and ears, and gold eyes.

Deputy:

Soot-tail, a short-haired, black mackerel tabby tom, with hazel eyes, a thick tail, and powerful back legs.

Medicine Cat:

Cedarbriar, a long-longhaired brown and white tom with amber eyes, with thicker fur around his neck and belly.

Medicine Apprentice:

Spottedpaw, a short-haired, cream-spotted tabby with white tom with green eyes and small curled ears.

Warriors

Snowblaze, a large, long-haired, mostly white, cream classic tabby tom, hazel eyes, and small curled ears. 

Apprentice: Vulturepaw

Splotchstream, a short-haired, black mackerel tabby calico she-cat with copper eyes, a long tail, a missing hind leg, and a crooked jaw. 

Rowansky, a large long-haired red mackerel tabby she-cat with a white belly, thick chest, and yellow eyes. 

Thistlethroat, a large, thick-furred,  long-haired blue tom with a green eye, a missing eye along with a scar, an underbite, and small curled ears.

Nightpelt, a large, thick-furred, short-haired black she-cat, with green eyes and small curled ears.

Fennelheart, a long-haired cream classic tabby and white tom with blue eyes, thicker fur around his neck, and a stump of a tail. 

Heatherwhisker, a massive, long-haired cream ticked tabby tom with curly fur, white gloves, amber eyes, and an overbite.

Apprentice: Nettlepaw

Apprentices

Vulturepaw, a long-haired, mostly white, black she-cat with gold eyes and a crooked tail.

Nettlepaw, a long-haired, blue tom, with a white chest, green eyes, a missing tail, and a long scar along his back. 

Nursery

Aspenpetal, a thick-furred, long-haired, blue classic tabby, and white she-cat, with hazel eyes. 

Kits: 

Stork-kit, a long-haired, black and white tom with yellow eyes and thicker fur around his neck.

Hawk-kit, a long-haired, blue and white mackerel tabby tom with hazel eyes and long tail.

Amberkit, a long-haired calico she-cat with gold eyes with a long, thick tail.

Other mother is Rowansky

Elders

Shadefang, a broad-chested, short-haired black tom with green eyes. 

Darkthroat, long-haired a black tortoiseshell she-cat with a white throat, amber eyes, and two missing limbs.

Lionfur, a large, stocky, short-haired cream mackerel tabby she-cat with hazel eyes and small curled ears.

#gorgeclan #warrior cats #warriors ocs #warriors worldbuilding #info stuff #digital art #original characters #warrior cat clans

[hex-is-vexxed]

I be listening to a song that makes me physically ill & act all shocked and surprised when I cry myself dry and feel like death would welcome me in its arms with love and warmth

I’m sorry to be like this but I miss my cats so much I want to go be with them. They’ve been dead for over five years and I think about them every day. I know the quote is “you don’t have to get over it, you just have to get on with it” but I don’t know where to even begin because if anything makes me think of those soft princesses I want to hold my breath until the sun explodes.

Annabelle, a lean pale sandy tabby with gorgeous olive green eyes,

Ashley, a chubby tortoiseshell calico mix with deep brown eyes,

Both found on Christmas Eve roughly 13 years ago and taken to the shelter and then taken in by my grandparents.

They were in love and I know it. Because Ashley hated everyone, she was horribly afraid, anxious eternal (like me) but she loved Annabelle. They were always together, they copied each other’s mannerisms to the point you’d never know which had started it. They always slept together and made sure each’s fur was perfect. They ate together and played.

Annabelle was social and vocal with people, but Ashley was her favorite. She always looked over her shoulder to be sure her darling was following. Always saved space wherever she’d made a nest. Always waited for her darling Ashley to arrive before she’d started a meal.

But Annabelle was ill, slowly wasting away, skinny and always cold. And we could all see it. And gods it hurt to watch. Ashley kept her warm and clean whenever we were busy, she stayed by her side till the end. And when she was gone, when Annabelle was taken to the vet and never came back, she cried.

A chubby speckled cat cried for her best friend for a whole week. Day after day she searched the house high and low for her love, screaming, calling out for her. And then one night she went quiet.

And she was gone too.

And it hurts when I think about them. Because they loved each other that much. Ashley loved Annabelle so much she died only a week without her. She died of a broken heart.

And I don’t know if cats have an afterlife. But they should. They should have a heaven. Where they can spend eternity with their family. Where Ashley doesn’t have to cry for Annabelle, because she’s right there.

They were so soft.

Little paws and pretty mewls and meows and purrs, fur like feather and silk. And they loved and loved and loved.

I’m sorry to be like this but I miss my cats.

#rambling #vent #grief #writing #misc #random writing #grief journal #sorry #the song is maps by yeah yeah yeahs btw #I can’t really deal with anything #sorry…

[dirtypiner]

Calico cats

This is her as a tiny kitten, so she’s always been this way! Photography by Cait Rohan Kelly. She prefers to be the center of attention - always. Simply rub a calico cat’s tail on your warts in the month of May! Merritt does not love when we pay attention to other living souls or objects other than her. Calicos were said to protect the sailors from storms and any angry spirits on board!Ĭalico cats are also the official state cat of Maryland, due to a similarity in coloring with the state’s bird, the Baltimore oriole, and the state’s insect, the Baltimore checkerspot butterfly.Īnd, according to Irish folklore, calico cats will cure your warts. Japanese sailors used to travel with calico cats on their oceanic expeditions. The Japanese lucky cat, maneki neko, is often calico. Yes! The aforementioned male calicos are considered especially lucky since they’re so rare. Photography by Danny Smythe / Shutterstock. Maneki Neko, aka Lucky Cats or Fortune Cats, are often calico cats. Gibbons the following breeds may have calico colorations: What cat breeds can be calicos?Īccording to Dr. Photography by Linn Currie / Shutterstock. Only one in 10,000 of male calico cats is fertile. Also, if you have a male calico, odds are that he’s sterile. “The possibility of a male calico exists, but they are incredibly rare, and I have yet to see one in 15 years in the veterinary field.”Īpproximately one in 3,000 calico cats is male. “The traditional characteristics for a calico cat are carried on the chromosomes that make cats female, so the majority of calico cats are female,” Dr. Most calico cats are females - but not all. “In addition, instead of distinct spots of orange and white, tortoiseshells are more of an even blend of the black and orange with sometimes white mixed in.” Do male calicos exist? They’re rare, and they’re probably sterile! Photography by Mahlebashieva/Thinkstock. Gibbons of Just Cats Veterinary Hospital in Stamford, Connecticut, explains. “ Tortoiseshells (or torties) have similar coloring to calicos in that they are also contain black and orange in their coat, but the major difference is instead of a mainly white base, tortoiseshells have a black-based coat,” Dr. What is the difference between a tortoiseshell cat and a calico cat? See the differences? Photography ©piranka | iStock / Getty Images Plus. A calibby is a mix of a calico and a tabby cat, where the calico patches of orange and black have the tabby striped or spotted markings.Ĭompare a tortie’s coloring with some of the calico photos.A dilute calico, as mentioned above, has lighter colorations that result in white coats with large spots of smoky gray and an almost strawberry-blonde color.A standard calico usually has a white coat with large spots of orange and black.What about a calibby? Are there different types of calico cats? Photography ©adogslifephoto | iStock / Getty Images Plus. A dilute calico has colors that are a bit more muted than a standard calico. Diluted calico cats with lighter coloration are sometimes called calimanco or clouded tiger. Calicos may also be referred to as piebald, which can mean any animal with a white base and pigmented spots. Calico cats are also called brindle, tricolor, tobi mi-ke (Japanese for ‘triple fur’) and lapjeskat (Dutch for ‘patches cat’).

#Calico cats

[aldercloud]

*✧･ﾟ:* the three clans of Cliff Island *✧･ﾟ:*

PineClan 🌲

PineClan, the northernmost Clan on the island, is sheltered in the cradle of the mountains that separate the unclaimed territory from the Clans. Their vast territory is covered with tall pine and birch trees, their coastline entirely cliff. Their border with MeadowClan is interrupted by the marsh and the gathering pond. Their base camp is at the foot of one of their tall mountains, and they prosper under the wise leadership of Owlstar and Vineleg.

SaltClan 🌊

SaltClan claims the majority of Cliff Island’s southern shore. Most of their territory is made up of their mixed forest and rocky beaches. Their border with MeadowClan is at the very edge of the meadow, and they are the only clan who does not touch the neutral pond and marsh. They are the only clan that regularly swims, and their camp is in the center of the forest. Their leader and deputy, Bearstar and Pikepool, have been in position for a very long time and are well known for their leadership skills.

MeadowClan 🌾

MeadowClan claims the entirety of the island’s western shore, and their territory is primarily made up of a gigantic meadow and moorland. They border the marsh and pond, along with PineClan. Their base camp is hidden within the tall grass of the meadow. The mountain nearest to them, in the unclaimed territory, is the home of the Moonspring. Their young leader, Sunstar, is well known for his ruthless ambition and loner origins.

Allegiances:

SaltClan:

Leader: Bearstar (Large she-cat with dark brown fur and a deep voice)

Deputy: Pikepool (Lithe she-cat with silver tabby fur and a small frame) (Apprentice, Flintpaw)

Medicine Cat: Badgertail (Brown and white spotted tom)

Warriors:

Sparrowflap (Dark brown, skinny she-cat) (Apprentice, Alderpaw)

Rosehipheart (Tall, dilute calico she-cat with long fur) (Apprentice, Sootpaw)

Roosterfoot (Small, dark ginger tabby tom)

Swallowstone (Large, long-furred black cat)

Rainpool(Sleek, pure white she-cat with extra toes) (Apprentice, Asterpaw)

Anttooth (small, thick mackerel tabby she-cat)

Sealfur (Rosetted, skinny brown she-cat) (Apprentice, Ripplepaw)

Thornleap (Skinny, dark brown tom)

Tidefall (deep orange tom)

Apprentices:

Sootpaw (Light gray, sleek and small tom with white paws and a fully white tail) (Mentor, Rosehipheart)

Alderpaw (Smoke tabby tom with long fur and a cream belly and paws) (Mentor, Sparrowflap)

Aspenpaw (Fluffy calico cat) (Mentor, Rainpool)

Flintpaw (All-black tall tom) (Mentor, Pikepool)

Ripplepaw (Soft-furred blue-gray she-cat)(Mentor, Sealfur)

Queens/Sires/Nursery minders:

Clamshell (Round, pale yellow-gray she-cat) (kits, Deerkit and Tidekit)

Dusknose (Small-framed and sleek blue-gray she-cat) (kits, Sootpaw)

Whitecapfang (Dark gray, fluffy tom with vitiligo) (kits; Kelpkit, Rockkit, Foamkit)

Yewstep (Light brown she-cat) (full-time nursery minder)

Kits:

Deerkit (Fawn tom with blue eyes)

Tidekit (Fawn tom with green eyes)

Kelpkit (All-black she-kit)

Rockkit (Calico she-kit)

Foamkit (All-white tom)

Elders:

Crabfoot (Pale ginger tom)

Dandelionleaf (Yellow she-cat)

Slateheart (Ancient dark gray tom)

PineClan:

Leader: Owlstar (old, ruffled tabby tom) (apprentice, Cliffpaw)

Deputy: Vineleg (tall, skinny gray and cream she-cat)

Medicine cat: Batwing (small and sleek black cat) (apprentice, Fernpaw)

Warriors:

Snowfeather (lynx point she-cat)

Blackspot (very large tabby tom with black markings) (apprentice, Icepaw)

Stalkfrost (very large tuxedo patterned tom)

Copperclaw (small, mostly orange tortoiseshell she-cat)

Tasselfur (fluffy, pale ginger she-cat)

Timberline (dark brown tom)

Apprentices:

Cliffpaw (gray she-cat) (mentor, Owlstar)

Fernpaw (auburn tom with pale green eyes) (mentor, Batwing)

Icepaw (all-white tom) (mentor, Blackspot)

Queens/Sires/Nursery Minders:

Needlepelt (dark ginger tabby she-cat) (kits; Flowerkit, Snowkit, Mothkit, and Acornkit)

Kits:

Flowerkit (Pale ginger tom)

Snowkit (smoke tabby she-kit)

Mothkit (Black and white spotted she-kit)

Acornkit (dark ginger tom with white tuxedo markings)

Elders:

Smudgenose (all black tom with a speck of white on his nose)

MeadowClan:

Leader: Sunstar (small, golden, yellow and orange tom)

Deputy: Beetail (white and cream she-cat)

Medicine Cats:

Lupineleaf (lavender-gray tom) (apprentice, Cricketleap)

Cricketleap (light brown she-cat)

Warriors:

Grassfur (pale gold, scruffy tom)

Appleheart (brown and cream she-cat) (apprentice, Dovepaw)

Owlfeather (creamy brown tom)

Bluetstorm (cream and gray tom)

Blackberry fur (round, black she-cat)

Milktail (tuxedo-patterned she-cat)

Shocknose (tuxedo-patterned tom)

Heronwing (off-white tom) (apprentice, Birchpaw)

Apprentices:

Dovepaw (white she-cat) (mentor, Appleheart)

Birchpaw (deep orange she-cat) (mentor, Heronwing)

Queens:

Willowwood (white she-cat) (kit, Dovepaw)

Pearheart (golf and cream she-cat) (kits, Lemonkit and Gooseberrykit)

Kits:

Lemonkit (golden she-kit, identical to Sunstar)

Gooseberrykit (creamy yellow tom)

Elders:

Sunnyclaw (dark orange tom)

Cloverstream (white she-cat)

The story:

Part one:

Rising Winds: In SaltClan, the apprentice Alderpaw begins to have strange dreams. In an attempt to decipher these dreams, the medicine cat Badgertail takes Alderpaw under his wing. As secrets about the SaltClan and MeadowClan leaders begin to unravel, Alderpaw finds himself thrust into places very few Clan cats have gone before.

Part two:

Raging Storm: Alderpaw, now Aldercloud, begins to deal with the fallout of his prophecies. To try and repair the broken Clans, Aldercloud joins forces with Icestorm of PineClan and Birchpaw of Meadowclan, but tensions form in their group as Clan relationships fracture.

Part three:

Breaking Sun: Foamfrost watches as his brother and former mentor, Aldercloud, reels from a myriad of losses. The Clans are on their way to repair, but Foamfrost and the other veterans feel like wartime relics with no sense of purpose. He and Aldercloud struggle to help their Clan and find their true paths in life.

Map of Cliff Island:

Sage green: SaltClan

Light green: MeadowClan

Dark green: PineClan

Other dark green: neutral territory

Other green: unknown land

[errormare-nacre]

her name is Duchess here is a list of all the cat breeds she's mixed with

list of cat breeds she mixed with contains 9 different breeds:

polydactyl cat,

dragon Li,

domesticated-short hair,

European short hair,

tabby cat,

calico cat,

tortoiseshell cats,

Manx cat and

Cyprus cat

Thank you for your time everyone I thought this would be very interesting to share I just took a picture of simple picture of my cat and I cropped it a bit and I use Google lens and that's all the cat breeds it told me so I just thought that would be interesting to share anyways you can do this with your cats if you please but it's your choice if you want to know what other cat breeds are in your cat's genetics

[sapphirebluebird]

Think it's time y'all met my cat, Mae

She sat in the sink today and my heart exploded :)

#Maehem #her full name is Maehem but we just call her Mae #she's a tortoiseshell calico mix #i would kill and die for her <3 #my cat

[slugswarriorsdesigns]

hi slug! im working on an oc and im fleshing out their family, and i could use some help with the genetics. she's a dilute calico, her dad is a blue ticked tabby w/ mod white spotting, and her mom is a cinnamon classic tabby. is this genetically possible? if so, what could her siblings potentially look like?

Nope, the mom needs to be a cinnamon torbico if you want to have tortoiseshell/calico kittens. Otherwise, as long as they both carry solid and the mother carries dilute, its possible.

Siblings depend on if the dad carries cinnamon. If yes, cinnamon and fawn kittens can be thrown in the mix. Otherwise, with corrected genetics, black, blue, black tortie/calico and blue tortie/calicoes are all a possibility. They can be either ticked or classic (or mackerel if the dad is masking mackerel with his ticked markings (so say TataMcmc) (also he has to be heterozygous ticked otherwise all his tabby kittens will be ticked)))

#snail noises

[dialovers-translations]

she's a beautiful calico cat! quick question, have you ever seen a MALE calico cat?

She's actually a tortoiseshell! uwu There's a slight difference between the two. Calico cats usually have larger blotches of white/orange/black while with tortoise shell cats, it's more mixed together.

While mine does have some larger blotches of white, her main fur is a combination of all three colors so she's considered a tortie.

Both tortoiseshell and calico cats are predominantly female though, because the fur colors require an X chromosome. Male varients do exist but in that case, they actually have three chromosomes instead of the usual two, so they're extremely rare!

#answered ask

[mallowstep]

Genetics ask! I know that male torties/torbies are very rare and caused by a genetic mutation, but with those who do exist, are there any prerequisites with their parents? I’m assuming they’d have to carry the red gene since tortoiseshell is one red, one not-red, but I barely know anything. And based on this, is it better to just headcanon cats like Redtail as biologically female?

alright! hello, anon.

since i had to do more research than usual for this one, reminder that:

i am not an expert. i can and will be wrong. you can find my self-corrections under #corrections, but those are only things i or others have noticed, and that i've had the time to write a correction to and explain.

disclaimers out of the way, let's talk about tortie toms. (and torbie toms, and calico toms, it's all the same deal.)

if you know how ginger works, you can skip the next few paragraphs.

orange (ginger, red, etc.) is sex-linked in cats. what this means is that the gene that causes orange cats is on the x chromosome. it is also codominant, which means that having an orange x chromosome (Xo) and a non-orange x chromosome (X) is not black or orange, but both.

basically:

X or XX: black

Xo or XoXo: orange

XXo: tortoiseshell

yeah?

now, for the rest of this post, i'm going to be writing O and o instead of Xo and X because it's one less character and i don't run the risk of putting three x chromosomes together.

okay. so because torties need two x chromosomes, they're typically female. the way tortie itself works is basically, cells activate one of the genes (O or o) at random, creating patches. so you need two copies.

wikipedia says about a third of male torties have klinefelter's, which is the XXY karyotype. while this does have physical changes associated with it, the only way to confirm (humans have) klinefelter's is to test it genetically.

luckily, cats are very helpful about demonstrating it. what with them being tortie and all.

(we're also lumping in the variations of klinefelter's here. you can get XXYY, etc., and they all fit into the same broad idea.)

anyway, the extra x chromosome can come from either the mother or the father. this makes tortie toms...not quite easier, since the prereqs are the same, but y'know. if mom is Oo, dad doesn't matter. if mom is OO, dad has to be o, and if mom is oo, dad has to be O. same rules as usual.

XXY toms are going to be...not sterile, but pretty infertile. using human stats, about 50% can produce sperm, although the likelihood of them having kits is still low. humans with klinefelter's are also taller than average, so keep that in mind.

again, and this might be a correction on my part, i can't remember, but tortie toms aren't strictly going to be visibly different than other toms.

okay, so most people stop at klinefelter's, but there are two other ways to get tortie toms: mosiacism and chimerism. these are often confused/combined, but because i strive for generally being accurate, i'll go over them both.

mosaic cats carry multiple genetic lines, because of a mutation. this can either be somatic (happens in the body, is not hereditary), or germline (happens in reproductive cells of parents, is hereditary).

this is not always a gain of a line, you can lose a chromosome as well. the difference between somatic and germline and how it affects torties goes over my head, so i'm not going to speak to it, other than i'm pretty sure we're talking about somatic mosaicism. i think. again, not a biologist or geneticist, just a hobbyist with an internet connection.

right, so what happens is basically, some cells lose their extra x chromosome, giving you a cat with karyotype XXY/XY. these cats are more likely to be fertile and generally have less effects of klinefelter's. i'm not entirely sure how this affects tortie presentation, if at all, but it does happen.

i suppose you could also have some kind of mutation that gives you an extra x spontaneously, but that would be unlikely to cause torties, because it would also have to mutate into the other O allele.

again, i really want to stress that while i'm not bullshitting, i'm also not speaking definitively here.

last up is chimerism, where two embryos fuse in the womb, creating mixed genes.

i'm using a picture of a dog, here, because this is what goes through my head when i think of chimeras. you'll have to take my word for it, but while this would be a normal tortie cat, it can't really happen in dogs without some kind of mutation. and chimerism, given the extent of the patching, is pretty likely.

right! chimera torties are going to be, afaik, normal levels of fertile, although it's likely that they can pass on either black or red, not both.

(while i'm here, before we move on, there are a lot of types of chimeras. this type is called tetragametic chimerism, and it's rare in humans but more common in other animals. it's hard to know how common it is, because the differences are often very subtle, and hard to test. it's also not mutually exclusive with mosaics or klinefelter's, just to really muddy the waters.)

i don't have statistics for how common mosaics and chimeras are, and there's always, "a different type of mutation that doesn't fall into this category"

for mosaics and chimeras, the rules for inheritance seem to be the same as for klinefelter's. there's the added note that, because there can be multiple sires within one litter, a ginger queen could have kits with a ginger tom, and get a tortie son, as long as she also...ahem...with a black(/brown, etc.) tom. (or vice versa, with all brown and a ginger.)

okay! so that's basically how it happens.

as for the second part of this question, well. "is it better?" is a matter of opinion. i don't think anyone is wrong for having tortie toms. i don't care. (a) it is possible, and (b) we're all just having fun.

i, personally, do not think redtail is karyotype XX, because i like him being sandstorm's father with brindleface. idk. i like brindleface. yes, i know this raises huge genetic problems, and it's not very canon. i don't really care. i read that redtail fic where he thinks about sand&brindle as he's dying and it hasn't left me.

that said, i'm still a sucker for trans redtail. love it. idk, this is kind of hard to explain. like? it's not my headcanon, but i still appreciate it.

anyway! to the point: if you care about statistics and likelihoods and how many tortie toms you've had in the clan, yes, you're probably better off saving your chromosome anomalies for when they need to have kits, and using XX karyotype for the rest.

(under the cut: matthew rambles about trans cats and gender identity for a while)

i'm pretty sure cats don't have the western concept of gender. i don't think they have a human concept of gender, either, but at some point i need to be able to pin down something, and i think a third/fourth gender is closer to what they have.

i've been thinking about this a lot lately, because i decided i wasn't satisfied with my old approach to trans cats. i can do better than that. i decided cats don't have gendered pronouns, so why should the solution be, "trans cats don't really get to do anything about it"

no. i am dissatisfied with that.

at the same time, for specific reasons: i also don't think cats are trans in the western sense of the word.

because if for nothing else, remember that cat sexual dimorphism has a bigger effect on their life than in humans.

like, queens are going to be uncomfortable around male cats they don't hella trust and their kits. that doesn't go away if said male cat isn't a tom. y'know?

i'm in a constant state of tweaks with this, because i basically: form opinion, test opinion, refine opinion. my initial opinion was too harsh. and!

part of what's changed is i decided i wanted fernsong to be able to raise his kits in the nursery instead of ivypool. so i had to adjust how i think the nursery and queens work, slightly, to permit for that. now, i can turn back to gender and think about it some more.

i'm not going to coin any new terms, because i'm not in that kind of mood, but i think there is some idea of a female cat who is not a she-cat. i don't think the cats would call them a tom, but i'm not sure what they would say or how they would describe it.

i think they would just, on some level, get it.

actually okay you know what! i do need some lingo here. queens = cats who are raising kits in the nursery. she-cats = XX karyotype, considers self female (cis, if you will). toms = XY karyotype, considers self male (cis, again). and uh...we'll go with...

god i hate. i don't want anything i say in this ramble to be considered "words i am going to now use consistently" because i literally just need some way to describe this for my own sanity. with that in mind, let us use molly for XY karyotype, but not a tom, and...how about gib for XX karyotype, not a she-cat.

again, i don't want that to be considered permanent, i'm just fishing at words people use to describe cats so i can have something to work with.

right so, i don't think cats think gib and tom are equivalent, but i also don't think they (as a society) care about that.

like, okay, let's say redtail is XX, but not a she-cat. there's nothing to really be done (heck, if he wants to be a queen, that's still fine), cats don't have gendered pronouns or names, but at the same time, there's an intuitive understanding of what that means.

this kind of ties into the matriarchy, kind of? like, hm, queens are an important part of the matriarchy, but at the same time, she-cats inherit family lines. not that cats inherit much, but still.

i'm getting very abstract here. take, uh, like let's say a hypothetical trans mothwing. i think a lot of people have that headcanon?

and i think, like, mothwing would not be considered a tom. if cats had a concept of sexuality, leafpool would not be straight, because she likes mothwing, and mothwing is not a tom.

but! i would still think willowshine probably is the first line for nursery visits, at least when the kits are very young.

and i don't think anyone there would be unhappy with that deal.

right. i just kept rambling for a while, because i've been thinking about this and obviously it's semi-tied to the question.

tl/dr: cats don't care about gender, because they are cats meowing at each other in the woods. if a cat says they're not agab, everyone is just cool with that.

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