Exceptionally rare cuteness afoot!

[chanter1944]

That's not hyperbole. This one's truly gasp-worthy.

Over at Love And Hisses, they have a male tortoiseshell foster kitten! Yes really, a male tortie! They're also fostering his equally tortie sister, plus two sweet tabby boys, all of whom are being treated for or monitored in their recovery from a medical issue. Things are looking better every day over there, and oh my goodness, a male tortie...!

I've never met a rare male tricolor cat. The closest I've ever come is one fictional representation purring in Adrien Agreste's ear, and one childhood misunderstanding of a sweet brown tabby's coloration. Someone in the old livejournal tortielove community had one, which was amazing enough, and there were a couple stories of others around - one calico, one dilute calico with extra toes. Maybe some day I'll actually meet one, and then someone will have to pick me up off the floor! XD In the meantime, I'll be enjoying the adventures of Ollie the male tortie and his friends in north Alabama.

Comments

[soc_puppet]

Okay, but the medical issues they survived are also pretty mind-boggling, IMO. Until just a few years ago, FIP was a death sentence for cats. Last I knew, the treatment had only just entered a more public testing period a year or two ago, so a male tortoiseshell who has also survived FIP is practically one in a million.

[mdlbear]

Seconding that. The cat in the userpic died of FIP, before treatment became available. For some time after it did, it was practically unavailable because FIP, like COVID, is a coronavirus disease and the drug that treats FIP is a less expensive precursor to (IIRC) Remdesivir.

Male torties are XXY -- two X chromosomes and one Y.

[soc_puppet]

Once in a while I think they can also be chimeras (where two fertilized eggs fuse in the womb), which still means two X chromosomes, but also the cat is still XY, he's just XY twice.

[chanter1944]

Re chimera male tricolors: I believe you're correct! I suspect this one isn't a chimera, though there's really no way to know without genetic testing. One rare kitty is afoot for sure, though!

[chanter1944]

Re the tabby in the icon: Awww. I'm sorry. :( It took the current fuzzy foster crew at Love And Hisses to make me aware that FIP had a treatment.

[chanter1944]

He truly is a one in a million kitty! I deliberately nerfed the medical details in the post itself; it took the current fosters over at L&H to make me aware that FIP was no longer a death sentence for cats.

[cmcmck]

Male torties do happen, they're just very rare.

[chanter1944]

Yep! They are delightful rarities!