EXPLOSION~

IMMA GETTIN A KITTEN!





Anyways, I'd like to resolve a common question about torties.

What is the difference between a Tortiseshell and a Calio?

The honest-to-god truth? NONE!

They are the same thing, geneticly.

The X chromosome can carry an 'o' which decides wether the cat is orange or not. O means the cat is orange, and o means it carries the orange gene, but it is not showing. Male cats have the chromosomes YX, so they can only carry one 'o'. But females have the chromosomes XX, so they can either be oo, OO or oO. When the cat is oO, they are a tortie.
Now, depending on the cat, the markings can show as brindled patterns or as splotches. When the tortie has white on it, it's a tortishell-and-white. Splotched torties almost always have white on them, for whatever reason. Since they differ so greatly from a simple brindled tortie, some people classify them as a different type of coat, known as "calico".

And that's it. Calico is a term more common in the US.