Calico cat

A calico cat is a domestic cat of any breed with a tricolor coat of black-based and red-based pigments with white. Outside of North American English, this coat pattern is called tricolor or tortoiseshell and white. Calico is not to be confused with a tortoiseshell, which is a bicolored coat of black-based and red-based pigments, without white markings. The calico cat is most commonly thought of as being 25% to 75% white with large orange and black patches; however, they may have other colors and patterns. Cats with diluted coloration (e.g. blue tortoiseshell and white) have colloquially been called calimanco or clouded tiger. Occasionally, the tricolor calico coloration is combined with a tabby patterning, called tortoiseshell tabby (torbie/y) with white. A calico-patched tabby cat may colloquially be referred to as caliby or tabico. Derived from a colorful printed calico fabric, when the term "calico" is applied to cats, it refers only to a color pattern of the fur, not to a cat breed or any reference to any other traits, such as their eyes. Breed standards set by cat registries limit the breeds among which they permit registration of cats with calico coloration. Calico cats are almost exclusively female except under rare genetic conditions, e.g. in the case of chimerism or Klinefelter syndrome.