Image:Dreamtime
Allison Blair
At this point, I’m sick of summer, and I don’t even live in a super hot place. New England summers are always a little cooler than in other places, but I’m still over it. I need sweatshirt temperatures, cinnamon brooms, and spooky vibes, stat!
There’s one cat who’s definitely bringing this season everywhere she goes. This rare, half-orange cat looks like she’s wearing a spooky Halloween suit, and I might never get over it:
@thejacketcat
The Jacket Cat, whose actual name is Kitty, has gone viral several times because of her looks. Her front legs are completely orange, with a band connecting them around her back. There are other bits of orange around her body, too, but nothing quite like her front legs.
It looks like someone took half of an orange cat, half of a black and white cat, and put them together to make her. They nicknamed her the “Jacket Cat,” and you can see why: her orange front legs make her look like she’s wearing a Halloween tuxedo!
My favorite thing about Kitty isn’t her built-in Halloween costume, and it’s not even her pretty eyes. It’s the way that almost no one had been able to figure out exactly what she is! They’ve made all sorts of guesses.
Kitty Is a Calico Cat
She might look like Frankenstein, but the way her colors developed is strictly coincidence. Whenever her mom pans around her whole body, you can see that she’s only black, white, and orange: a calico!
To be considered a calico, a cat’s fur has to follow a few different rules:
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The fur must have big white patches, not just small specks of white throughout.
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There should be no other colors present: only orange, black, and tan.
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Since calico is a pattern rather than a specific breed, any breed can have calico cats.
Though male calicos happen very rarely, almost all calico cats are female: they need 2 X chromosomes to present that way. Male calicos would have to have an extra chromosome. If you see a male cat being advertised as a calico, odds are, they’re not … But Kitty is, and she’s amazing!
@thejacketcat
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/articles/rare-frankenstein-cat-looks-she-120000606.html
