by Michael
(London, UK)
Do red tabby cats have a certain personality? And why are they nearly always male? The answer to the first question cannot be that scientific as it is based on observation while the second is a question of cat genetics, an almost impenetrable science! Incidentally red or cream (diluted red) coloured cats are always tabby cats even though the tabby pattern might be very faint. This is because a red cat is red (orange) because it has an orange pigment in its hair strands called phaeomelanin. The gene that produces a solid colour, the non-agouti gene, does not work on the pigment phaeomelanin. By default the agouti gene that produces the banding in hair strands of the tabby cat works on phaeomelanin, resulting in the tabby pattern1. Red tabby cats are often called orange cats or ginger cats. Marmalade (after the tabby orange pattern), yellow, butter, caramel, or butterscotch are also used to describe this cat.
Red Tabby Cat Personality
Franny Syufy says that red tabbies are mellow and warm in nature in tune with the colour of their coats. She also says that they tend to be dominant, alpha males. Another expert2 says that they can have fiery temperaments reflecting the idea that red headed humans have hot tempers. I have never had the pleasure of living with an orange cat so I asked a cat expert who has kindly provided her own observations on a fine red tabby cat, Fredu (Maltese for Freddie). Martha Kane rescues cats as your probably know. Fredu lives with her amongst the other cats she cares for. Martha says this about Fredu:
“About Fredu …well, he is the sweetest thing alive when it comes to me and he is always first for my affection but then real red cats are rarely aggressive with people. He is intelligent and shows this by rarely getting flustered even when total strangers are around. When it comes to his dealings with other cats he feels superior and so he is King. I wouldn’t say that he fights for his territory but he doesn’t wander far away from it, lest someone decided’s to take his place. Food is important to him but affection comes first and he will gladly walk away from his dinner if it means an extra cuddle from me. All in all I would say that like most ginger cats he’s a gentle giant and he lets most of the other cats share his space just as long as they know who’s boss. Health wise, going by my experience alone I would say that red cats are quite a sturdy lot and live for quite a good many years with very few serious ailments.
Ummm…well, this fits very accurately the thoughts of Franny Syufy. This is not conclusive, of course, but it provides a nice little bit of confirmatory information based on first had experience that I would rate highly. It is also said the calico cats have a certain personality.
Red Tabby Cats Are Male
This is about cat genetics again, unfortunately. I’ll briefly quote Robinson’s Genetics if I may, “All of the..red tabby cats display the sex-linked orange gene O. The O is carried by the X chromosome. The male has only one X chromosome. The female has two X chromosomes3. For a male cat to be red his X chromosome must carry the O gene. For a female to be red both X chromosomes must carry the O gene (homozygous). The latter is rarer than the former so there are more male red tabby cats than female red tabbies4. Phew..I think I got that right…! Oh, calico cats (tortoiseshell and white cats) are almost always female. Do you want to know why? Please see: Calico Cats.
Notes:
1. Legacy of the Cat by Gloria Stephens and Tetsu
2. Sarah Hartwell
3. Robinsons Genetics 4th edition page 51
4. http://wiki.answers.com
The picture of Fedu was taken be me in Malta. The red cast on one side of the body is from a red tarpaulin. The typical Maltese stone is in the background.
How rare are female tabbies? I adopted my cat, Redsie, a few weeks ago and she is beautiful. Unfortunately, I’m not her favorite person. She loves my husband and, I guess, that’s okay
Female tabbies are not rare. Red tabbies are rarer than brown. Cats do have their own preferences as you say. There is something about your husband that she likes. It is no reflection on you. Things might change anyway. I have heard this before: cats liking the husband. Although it is not uncommon for the husband to be less enthusiastic about cats than the wife. Thanks for sharing Rosalie.
My cat Timmy is my best friend already. I have only had him 2 weeks but he has grown to be my buddy.he talks to me .gives me heck when I do something foolish.he is very smart.
I love red tabbies. He’ll bring you tons of joy and some sadness over his lifetime. Thanks for commenting.
This is my daughter’s amazingly smart Red (& white) 7yrs.old. His name is Bailey, but nick-named “Daddy cat” because he runs the house.He actually plays hide-n-seek with my daughter and often, he leads the trail to the kitchen to eat with the other two cats following.He usually is the one who alerts us when the food dish is empty. He likes to “body-slam” us when he wants attention and a few months ago, he’s started giving out kisses too, when he feels affectionate. Sometimes he is chatty too, for no particular reason…he like to talk to both the humans and the other cats. He’s very affectionate to a smaller female tabby who is very submissive to him and Bailey is very playful and friendly to a younger male but he does invoke his dominance over him. All cats get along very well, but it’s clear that Bailey is boss!
Thanks a lot Barbie for sharing.
Hello. I too, have a rare orange female cat, named Bella; when I adopted her, she was 9 months old and while playful and affectionate, she still hasn’t quite gotten used to the idea of sitting in my lap…she is rather shy at times, but now that I have a new sweet Calico kitten named Kelly, she seems to be warming up even more…before these two, i had the most beautiful, delicate, well behaved Abyssinian-tabby mix, whom i cherished for over 17 years …delicate, playful and she would suddenly materialize in my lap…and there was not one night in all of our 17 years together that she would not sleep with me…of course, i got her at around 2 months old, so she fully bonded with me…My Bella is sweet, but it seems to take longer for her to come ’round…and my kitten, who i adopted at 3 months, (and who coincidentally was born on my birthday) is much more cuddly, though she does not often cuddle with me when i sleep…i eagerly await the day when both of them do so…but then again, knowing how cats will always sleep in the dead center of the bed, there would be no room for me!
Loved your comment, Brian. As you say the silver lining is that you have more space to sleep in. My cat sometimes sleeps with me (when he is not out hunting!) and he affects my sleep. I protect him and don’t want to disturb him. This prevents me from moving and I like to move a bit. Bella has her own character I guess. Each to their own. I can tell that you are a very loving cat caretaker. She should come around.
My red tabby Ginger is my first pet. She adopted us when she walked to our home in October of 2013. Her personality is very dominant. We have a feral cat colony this year and she doesn’t like it, in fact she chases the cats out of the yard. She doesn’t like to share anything. She is also aggressive with me when she is playing. If I don’t pay attention to her and she wants to play, she jumps up and bites me. Any thoughts on this?
I think the aggressiveness when playing is because she wavers between play with you (domestication) and aggression (uncertainty due to lack of socialisation when a kitten). It is like a switch. The root cause is a lack of good socialisation making her not wholly suited to the human environment. That said, well done in caring for her.
They say that ginger cats tend to be more dominant which might also enhance the chances of her being more aggressive. There is a page on ginger cat personality.
Thanks for visiting and asking.
I currently have 3 red tabby toms. Two of them are littermates from a red tabby pussycat belonging to my daughter here in Maine. She brought them to me as a birthday gift after I lost my last male cat (a grey tabby, age 21 years and 4 months). I have a very strong affection for cats, especially tomcats.
Sandy and Andy were about 2 months old at the time and lew with her to St Louis, MO, where I then lived. They did very well and got along well with their much older female housemates. They also made friends with a feral black tomcat who my husband and I had been trying to tame before the death of my older males and my husband. He was fascinated to watch me play with the kittens and after a couple of months, when I had them outside and had to run inside for a ringing phone, when I came back out, Oliver, the big black boy was entertaining them by having them chase his tail. He weighed about 18 pounds, the kittens were about three or four pounds at this time. Oliver also became petable not long after this I’d fed him for almost 7 years, though we had to be outside and near the food bowls for petting. He also learned to come inside to use a litter box when it was wet or snowy, and would sleep inside on a chair downstairs if it was really cold and/or wet. He also had two outside beds, one on the screened in back porch and one in the garage, where I left the door cracked open for him. Unfortunately he died about 6 months before I moved to Maine with the other cats. He was at least 12 years old by then.
Thank you, Juanita, for sharing your charming experiences with us. I enjoyed reading your comment.