Is it true that all ginger cats are male and/or that all white cats are deaf?

"'Tortoiseshell cats are always female and ginger cats are always male.'

Tortoiseshell cats are mostly female. Ginger female cats are not as common as ginger males, but they are by no means rare. Tortoiseshell males are rare, but are not valuable in terms of money. Most, but not all, tortoiseshell males are sterile."

http://www.messybeast.com/catfacts.htm

See Mosaicism: http://www.messybeast.com/mosaicism.htm

"Dominant white (more properly "epistatic white" since it occurs on a different gene to the black-based or red-based colours) denoted by the gene symbol "W", is the colour associated with deafness in cats. Dominant white masks all other colours and cats may have blue, orange or odd eyes. Those with blue eyes have a high chance of deafness. Those with one blue eye have a high chance of deafness on the blue-eyed side. Those with orange eyes are far less likely to be deaf. Some dominant white kittens are born with smudges of coloured fur on top of the head where the colour is incompletely masked, this smudge of colour usually disappears by adulthood, but kittens with colour smudges are more likely to have normal hearing. These cats are not albinos; genetically they can be any colour, but the white is dominant to those other colours (albinism is an absence of other colours)."

" - 95% of the general cat population is non-white cats (i.e. not pure white) and congenital deafness is extremely rare in non-white cats.

- 5% of the general cat population is white cats (i.e. pure white). 15-40% of these pure white cats have one or two blue-eyes.

Of those white cats with one or two blue eyes, 60-80% are deaf; 20-40% have normal hearing; 30-40% had one blue eye and were deaf while 60-70% had one blue eye and normal hearing.

Of the 5% of white cats in the overall population, 60-80% had eyes of other colors (e.g. orange, green). Of those 10- 20% were deaf and 80-90% had normal hearing.

Deaf white cats with one or two blue eyes account for 0.25 - 1.5 of total cat population

Total number of cats with white coat and blue eyes account for 0.75 - 2.0% of total cat population

It is evident from those studies that blue eyed whites exhibit a higher incidence of deafness than do orange/green eyed whites or non-white cats! But not all blue eyed whites are deaf and here's why:-

There is a known link between white coat color, blue eyes and deafness - but since the coat and eye color can be caused by different genes it means that only some blue eyed whites are deaf. There is a gene/gene complex which causes white coat, blue eyes and deafness, but not all cats get their white coat and blue eyes from that particular gene, so not all white cats will be deaf."

http://www.messybeast.com/whitecat.htm

Ginger And White Cats

No, never "all". I have never heard that statement that all ginger cats are male; I have seen plenty of female ginger kitties. It may be true that most ginger cats are male, my male kitty is a ginger cat, after all.

Also, no, not ALL white cats are deaf. It is a common problem for cats that are all white with blue eyes to go deaf later in life, but it's not like they are always born deaf, nor do all white cats with blue eyes go deaf.

Ginger cats are about 4-5:1 in favor of males.

Researchers found that only 17 to 22 percent of white cats with non-blue eyes are born deaf. The percentage rises to 40 percent if the cat has one blue eye, while upwards of 65 to 85 percent of all-white cats with both eyes blue are deaf. Some of these cats are deaf in only one ear. Interestingly, if a white cat with one blue eye is deaf in only one ear, that ear will invariably be on the same side of the head as the blue eye.

No, i had a female ginger cat years ago, and there's a pure white cat that lives a few doors down from me and no way is she deaf.

Ginger And White Kittens

Old wive's tales for both.

Red tabby (ginger/orange) tends to be more males then females simply cause of genetics. In order to get a red tabby female, both parents have to be or have red tabby on them. Dad would have to be a red tabby and mom either is (1) calico, (2) tortoiseshell, or (3) red herself.

With white cats - any of the 3 eye color combos (blue eyed, gold eye, or odd eye) can be deaf but doesn't mean they will be deaf. Blue eyed whites have the highest percentage of deafness, followed by the odd-eye and then the gold eyed white.

I had all 3 eye color combos in my Cornish Rex - my blue eyed white and odd-eye white were 100% hearing cats. I had a deaf gold eye white kitten!

It's true that about 90% of ginger cats are male, and almost all cats w/ blue eyes and all white fur are deaf. Funny thing is an all-white cat w/ one green eye and one blue eye is almost always deaf in the ear on the same side as the blue eye, but hears in the other.

Most orange cats are male but there are a few that are female...and my sister has a white cat and it's not deaf at all

No on both counts. Red (aka orange) is sex-linked meaning it is carried on the X chromosome. Because of this males (who only have 1 X) only have to have one copy of the gene to be orange while females (who have 2 Xs) have to have 2 copies of the gene to be orange. Females with only 1 orange gene are tortoiseshell

Blue eyed white or bi-eyed white with one blue eye are more prone to be deaf than the cat population at large but far from all white cats or even all blue eyed white cats are deaf. Something like 60-80% of white cats with at least 1 blue eye are deaf in at least 1 ear. Something like 10-20% of white cats with no blue eyes are deaf in at least one ear

RE:

Is it true that all ginger cats are male and/or that all white cats are deaf?

Just wondering - I have heard both these statements and wondered if they're old wives' tales or genetic reality.