"X orange and X black makes my kitty a Calico cat"

My little brother found Panini in a garage last year. She was the cutest  little tricolored ball of fluff i had ever seen. I later found out through a blogging friend that these tricolored markings or patches make her something called a Calico cat.

 Calico Cats are mostly female. This is due to the genes for the orange or black color being on the X chromosome.  Female cats have two X chromosomes, while  male cats have an X and Y. Therefore, the mother cat passes the X chromosomes, on to her kittens, while the dad passes either the X or Y, thus determining the kitten's sex.

To be a calico cat, the kitten must have an X chromosome that has the orange color and an X chromosome that has the black color. Male calico cats are genetic anomalies, with XXY chromosomes and are sterile and extremely rare.

Here's more.... A Calico cat has sections of different colors in it's fur. Usually the calico with more white fur also have a larger and more distinct patches of color.  If  the orange and black fur is mixed, the cat is called a tortoiseshell.   Tortosieshells cats, or torties, have little or no white fur.

A variation on the usual calico color pattern  is the " dilute or pastel" calico cat. This type of calico cat gets its name from the fact that its color pattern is " diluted" or pastel" version of the typical colors.  A dilute or pastel calico has a pattern of buff or cream instead of orange and "blue", a slate gray color, instead of black.