Calico cats: Caturday Spotlight

Welcome to the first post in my Caturday Spotlight series! Every week I will be bringing you great photos of the most beautiful, adorable or downright unusual cats. This week’s Caturday Spotlight is one of my personal favorites, Calico cats.

Fluffy calico cat walking towards camera credit @bibikonito — Medium-haired Calico
Credit: @bibikonito on IG

Calico cats are my favorite.

Calico cats are distinguished by their tri-colored coats which are usually a combination of orange, black and white.

They can be dilute like the one pictured below or more vibrant like the one pictured above.

Medium-haired dilute calico cat on a bench looking off to the right Credit: lalalaurie on flickr — Dilute medium-hair Calico
Credit: lalalaurie on Flickr

Fun fact: Calico cats are usually female. In fact, only about 1 in 3,000 Calico cats are male. So, if you have one, you can count yourself pretty lucky!

The confusion about Calicos.

Calico cats are often confused with another coat pattern known as Tortoiseshell or “Tortie”.

Tortoiseshell and Calico cats both have multi-colored coats but there’s one thing that sets them apart.

Tortoiseshell cat — Classic Tortoiseshell coat pattern
Credit: Piranka/Getty Images

The difference between a Tortoiseshell and a Calico is the presence of white.

Tortoiseshell cat close to camera looking off to the left — This Tortie could be mistaken for a Calico.

Some Torties are mistaken for Calicos because they have a light creme color in their coats. But creme isn’t white.

So, if your Calico doesn’t have at least some white in it’s coat, then it’s actually a Tortie.

A little or a lot.

Calico cats can have varying degrees of white in their coat. For example, they can be mostly white with patches of orange, gray, creme, brown or black.

White cat walking towards camera with calico tail standing straight up — Short-hair Calico displaying a white coat with a multi-colored tail.

Credit @miss_coco_calico a young Calico cat sitting on a counter looking into the camera. — Calico kitten
Credit: @miss_coco_calico on IG

They can also be mostly black and orange with a white underbelly and paws.

Young calico cat sitting on a quilt in front of a bed — Short-hair Calico with white underbelly and front paws. Credit: Pam Greer

Long-haired calico stretched out on it's back showing it's underbelly — Long-hair Calico

While others have very little white like these two pictured below.

Two calico cats with mirroring faces — Calico sisters with mirroring split-colored faces.

My Calico cats.

My first Calico was a rescue kitten named Bella. I rescued her from a lady that claimed to run a cat rescue but when I went to pick Bella up from the lady’s house, I quickly realized the lady wasn’t a rescuer, she was a cat hoarder.