There is a tricolor male stray here. Sweetest little fella ever, he’d be in our house if it weren’t for Bella, the obnoxious, who feels that she should be the only cat in the world. We carried him to the door, and she ran from the window where she had been glowering at us all to the door spitting and snarling, and the little guy...he just didn’t get it...he kept leaning out, sniffing. Put the Bella beast in her soft kitty carrier so he could sniff her and keep his nose...she was so mad that she was scooting the kitty carrier across the floor. So...in the end, Jerrie (named by the Princess of course...yes, it’s short for Mungojerrie) is outside, comes to our house every evening to eat and play with the Princess, and spends the night planting lovely kitty paw prints on the hood of our car. Spends the days sleeping, usually in our pumpkin patch (the big leaves are pretty shady). And Grizabella, who thinks she should rule the world, is content to glare at the pumpkin patch from the living room window...and occasionally hiss. For the record, Rummy (for those of you reading this who are not family, yes, Rummy is short for Rumpelteazer...but...he’s a dog, not a cat and...well...he’s a he...not a she...don’t ask me, ask the Princess, she named him) loves Jerrie, and wishes that he would let him kiss him all over his little furry head.
Oh yeah, back to my reason for posting! We assumed that Jerrie was a she (and originally called “her” Demeter)...that ended the day “she” let the Princess pick him up...she carried “her” to us with “her” belly and lower exposed, and “she” is definitely, indeed a Tom...in need of a visit to the dreaded snip snip office!
I had just assumed it was unusual to see a male tricolor...not that it was all uber rare...I’m going to have to have a talk with the Bella, convince her that Jerrie is special and needs a safe home (and a trip to the snip snip office).
Ya know what? You’re a great writer.
It’s unusal due to the fact that the orange/black coat trait being tied to the X chromosone. In females one X chromosone is activated randomly in each cell, giving a random black/orange pattern. In Male Tricolor cats it requires a XXY mutation.