Could you help me with a cat issue?

Ok, this is gonna seem real dumb, but there ARE male calico cats, right?

Yup. But they're very rare. And sterile.

Phoenix is right, although I would say calico males are *usually* sterile, I don't think they're always sterile. If you're interested in the science, it's because fur color is determined by a gene on the X chromosome; calico patterning happens when a female has one color encoded on one X and another on the other X. One X in each cell is randomly inactivated early in development, so the remaining active X determines the color for the patch of fur cells that eventually grow from that original cell. For a male to have calico patterning, he's probably got XXY chromosomes, which means he's probably sterile.

Calicos or calicoes. No capitalization. They're sterile means just that--they can't father kittens.

(p.s. Google is your friend...)

Thanks, guys.

A friend had a male calico. Even though they are supposed to be sterile, she had him neutered, just in case he wasn't.

They're veeeeeeery rare.

Male calicoes (my spell checker says that is the plural, but I'm pretty sure it's fine either way) do exist, but they are very rare because if a male cat were to have the calico coloring it would have to have an extra chromosome (the y chromosome contains no color genes, so to have both brown/gray/black AND orange the cat would need to have two x chromosomes as well as a y).

Everyone else here has it right. For there to be a male calico, he would have to have two X chromosomes, in addition to a Y chromosome, and would most likely be sterile. In human males, having an extra X chromosome is known as Klinefelter's syndrome, and usually results in decreased fertility, although it obviously does not have the impact of coat color like it does in felines.

Thanks. That answered my question perfectly. I really appreciate the time you took in answering that.

Quote:
Many myths abound about male calico cats. While they are relatively rare, with an estimated one male in three thousand calico cat births, there is no extraordinary demand for them. They do not make good breeding studs because almost all male calicos are sterile. In fact, only about one in ten thousand male calicos is fertile.

I believe there are Persian calicoes and Tortiseshells. Those males might be worth something but that would be due to breed not color.
Plus even if the male is fertile, it does not mean the kittens will be healthy or survive due to the extra chromosomes.
I'd be rather surprised if any worthwhile breeder would bother trying it out.
Calicoes and Tortie's are very common and don't need any special breeding to have happen.

I've a lovely Tortie girl, she has two pieces of white fur and 4 white whiskers (age).

I had a male calico. His name was Pieface. Unfortunately I don't know if he was sterile or not because he didn't live long enough to reach maturity. My neighbor's dog killed him. My family had no idea how rare male calicoes were until he'd been dead for years and years. My family had always had a lot of cats though, so honestly I'm not surprised that we ended up with a male calico after all the litters we'd had and all the strays that kept getting the girls preggers. My parents weren't exactly responsible pet owners, and never got any of the cats spayed or neutered.

You know, I was told a female orange was just as rare as a male calico, but I saw one in PetSmart once. I think if it's a possibility as someone above already showed it can be, use it. See, there's a lot of rarities in the world. You hear about certain physical traits that's so rare only a handful of people have it. The point is, they do. It has to happen to someone to happen at all. I don't think it's necessary to have a traveling uncle who searches out rare cats and decides to bring it home. The world's tallest man can be found in a small village somewhere. Why can't your character have a fertile male calico just because it was born that way to his female kitty? Have it be a shock to them to find out it's fertile. Have the character surprised to find out how rare it is. I think addressing it for what it is would be really cool way to breathe that extra little life into the story.

~~Kat

Orange what? Tabby cat? Nope that one is a myth. More males are born orange but females arent that uncommon at all. My sister has two orange tabby females.