Ginger cats?

[cliosmum]

How common (or uncommon) are female ginger cats? We've just had a plumber in who was very taken with our ginger cat Loulou (aka Ginga) and was totally amazed that she is female. He was convinced it wasn't possible!
She is completely ginger tabby, without a trace of white or black, and has deep green eyes - a wee smasher!!!

[dustypuss]

I thought that there are no such thing as a ginger female cat . hence ginger Tom

[greenrook]

We had a ginger girl cat years ago, came from a pet shop in Ruislip, and the woman in the shop said ginger she-cats were very uncommon, but always seemed to have a certain amount of white on them somewhere. So your Loulou must be quite a rare lady - she sounds lovely anyway

[tonyav]

it's true what greenrook say's female ginger cats are very rare.

[Maggoty]

Yup very rare and so are tortoisehell boys....

[maggiemcgill]

As a child we had what we thought was a ginger Tom (Bagpuss)& a black/white female (Poppet). Poppet was pregant and had 6 kittens & much to our surprise, the very next day Bagpuss has 5!!!
I did'nt know ginger female cats were rare, God bless old Bagpuss!

[yelofox]

I have a all Ginger female called Ruby - they are very rare.

[cliosmum]

Yes, she is a lovely cat, and so sweet natured, but also a bit of a mystery.
About 18 months ago a friend answered an ad from someone looking to re-home 3 adult cats. She offered to have 1 of them. Well, to cut a long story short, she arrived home from work the next night to find all 3 of them in cardboard boxes on her doorstep. Each box had a note with details of each cat. My friend kept 2, and I offered to give Loulou a home.Her note said she was about 7or 8 and neutered. She was very thin and very nervous, but otherwise healthy enough. On day 3 it became quite obvious that she hadn't been neutered because she went into heat and was practically climbing the walls for the next 10 days. Took her to the vet soon as poss to have the op, told the vet her story and asked his opinion on her age. He checked her over when she was out cold, and estimated her to be between 18 months - 3 years old. She has plumped up nicely and can be a cheeky little madam.
We love her to bits!!!

[wildwood]

The ginger mutation gene is carried on the X sex chromosome. A male cat has only one X chromosome so the ginger colour shows. The female cat has two X chomosomes and as this mutation is also recessive it has to be carried on both X chromosomes of the female to show.

If you mate a ginger male with a female which had a ginger father you will have a one in four change of getting a ginger female kitten.

All the young male kittens from a ginger female will be ginger, doesn't matter what colour the father is.
All the young female kittens from a ginger female will be ginger carriers, but the father is has to be ginger for the kittens to show it.

[josaphine32]

Our cat had 3 Femal Ginger Kittens....The vet was amazed she told me that it was unusual, We kapt all ot them,

[natalie_1982]

As others have already said, they are very unusal but not unheard of. My friend had a ginger tabby called Tom, they assumed it was a boy until she had kittens, and by then it was too late to change her name!

[lankeela]

I had a ginger female, and she had one litter of one kitten, which was by a black Persian and the kitten was a very dark fluffy tortoiseshell who was called Evil Edna.

[snigsthecat]

I have a ginger female who was born with brain damage she is now 15 years old we didnt know what to call her at the time so because her head wobbled we called her wobbley (wobs for short). We were told by the vet that she is a rarity so we feel blessed to have her and she keeps our other cats in their place. We have 2 ginger toms snigs 17 years ,bouncer 11 months ,bonnie 5 years ,milly 11 months and we have a new addition gizmo who is millys son 6 weeks today (didnt know she was pregnant when we got her) he will shortly be going to his new home. I wouldnt be without any of them and they are well and truly a part of our family.

[aka pixi]

I too had heard that all ginger cats were male but my cats mum was a ginger tabby. The father was pure black and the 3 kittens were all totally gorgeous, a ginger tom and two silky black females with ginger flecks. Mine has a black face with a ginger stripe straight down the middle from her forehead to the tip of her nose.

[Bee35]

I have an extremely large ginger tom. He is huge but not actually a large eater. my friend has a ginger female and we both believed them to be quite rare also.

[cliosmum]

To Roaldo M - Wow! that's amazing! Is she still in good health? I hope my lovely Loulou lives at least that long, but since we don't know her true age, how will we ever know!We've had several furry feline friends over the years and the oldest any of them lived to was 17. Maybe ginger cats carry a long-life gene!

I'm fairly new to AB and it's nice to know that there are so many other people who are dotty about cats. I reckon cats are the most discussed pets on AB.

[tickledtrout]

I have a ginger female who has a torty son the vet was amazed