Have you been told that tortoiseshell and calico cats are always female?

Also, that if you find a male with calico or tortie coloring he is very valuable?

Although it is very rare to see (approximately one in 3,000) it does happen as a genetic "slip". Some may be sterile, but some may be fertile, so don't skip neutering your cat. There is apparently no greater monetary value than any other cat.

For clarification, tortoiseshell cats have a black coat with patches of yellow or orange.  A calico cat is a tortie with patches of white. Torties and Calicos can have a dilute coat pattern in which the black is replaced by gray and the orange is replaced by a cream color. For simplicity, all these cats are classified as tricolors.

For a normal cat to have both red and black coat colors, it must have two X sex chromosomes: one to carry an orange gene, and one to carry a non-orange gene. Normal females carry two X sex chromosomes (XX) and can have both orange and black. Genetically normal males are XY and can’t be both orange and black. So for a male cat to be tricolored, something must be genetically amiss. One of the more common genetic abnormalities, called Klinefelter’s syndrome, results in sterility.

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