All her kittens were adopted out before her, and she was laying in her pod looking sad and lonely. She let me pat her right away when the volunteer opened the door.She had a sign on her pod door saying she gets really stressed out by the noise and activity in the shelter. My home is quiet and peaceful so I brought her home and she let me give her some more pats when I let her out of the crate in the bath. Now she's hunkering down in a quiet dark corner getting her bearings. Her full name is Margarine.

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[–] daannii@lemmy.world 30 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Hold on. A female ginger?

That's incredibly rare. http://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwywdjjgvqqo.amp

[–] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 20 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Apparently it's roughly an 80% chance that a ginger is male, so not quite incredibly rare. Male calicos are, though!

[–] RebekahWSD@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago

Male calicos are in the "you really sure that's a male cat or a calico cat cause it's that rare better check again"...rareness

[–] HornedMeatBeast@lemmy.world 8 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I've only seen two in my life.

When I was very young we had a female ginger and then a friend of mine had one when we were about 12 or so.

Whenever I see a ginger I just assume they are male.

It's the same with calico cats as well from what I understand, almost all are female.

[–] CreateProblems@corndog.social 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

It's the same with calico cats as well from what I understand, almost all are female.

Yep, to get calico coloring, cats must have two X chromosomes, so they will be female. If a male calico is born, it will be XXY. So that's a rare mutation to encounter, and those cats are always sterile too, so they're not passing along their mutation to any kittens either.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 2 points 5 months ago

Torties are almost always female, also. My family are big fans of Torties.

[–] NutinButNet@hilariouschaos.com 18 points 5 months ago

Poor girl, I’m glad she’s with you and warming up to you! Hopefully her kittens went to good homes too.

[–] ickplant@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago

Congratulations on your new kitty! She looks beautiful, and it sounds like she will be so happy with you. I’m wishing you both the best!

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 3 points 5 months ago

Once she figures out that you're not going to eat her, she'll be a very grateful and happy kitty.

Unless you work at home, you might want to get her a companion.