Every September first is Ginger Cat Appreciation Day! This year we are celebrating by sharing facts, figures, and other fun tidbits about tabbies you probably didn’t know! Enjoy these factoids, and whether we have an orange cat or not, we can all celebrate our kitty-companions by sharing EcoTreats™ Wild-Caught Sockeye Salmon Filet Bits. They are premium, all-natural, 100% USDA-sourced wild-caught salmon from the Pacific Northwest Honestly, if our cats could shop for treats, this is what they would buy. They are a guilt-free, healthful way to show a little extra love.
“In my head, the sky is blue, the grass is green and cats are orange.” ~ Jim Davis (creator of Garfield)
Orange Cat Facts & Figures For Ginger Cat Appreciation Day
- Orange tabby is not actually a breed. It’s strictly descriptive. A tabby is a cat is one with stripes or marbled markings. Usually, they have a ‘W’ or ‘M’ striped shape on their forehead.
- All orange cats are tabbies, but not all tabbies are orange cats. A tabby can be any color but will have patterns in their coat. There is no orange kitty with a solid orange coat.
- Tabby markings come in four different patterns, similar to the brindle coat coloring dogs can have:
- Mackerel, or striped, is considered the traditional tiger look we often see.
- Classic is a swirled or marbled pattern that gives kitties a tie-dyed look.
- Ticked is more of a salt-and-pepper pattern that can look like sand.
- Spotted is, predictably, the appearance of spots or broken stripes.
- Many orange tabbies look like lions with a big fluffy mane of hair around their neck. But because of their stripes, they can also end up looking like little tigers. This makes many people wonder whether they may be related to tigers, but there’s no relation.
- Similar to fair skinned human redheads, ginger kitties will often develop freckles on their noses, and sometimes their mouths.
- A whopping 80% of all orange tabby cats are male. Interestingly, more than 80% of calicos are female.
- All cats carry the tabby gene.
- A popular nickname for orange tabbies is marmalade.
- The orange color comes from a pigment called pheomelanin, which can influence their color from cream to red. It’s the same pigment that produces red hair in humans.
- Our ginger cats are fond of food and snacks. They are often more obese than other cats. Orange cats are also often called lazy because they tend to have a laid-back cattitude, making them less active than other cats.
- Black cats are the least popular cat to be adopted from shelters. The second least popular are orange cats. Sad!
- Many think the genes associated with the breed of cat is what contributes to personality. However, National Geographic has reported there’s a link between coat color and personality. Orange tabbies are gregarious, talkative, and adventurous.
- The origins of the word “tabby” as a reference to cat markings is uncertain. It does refer to the markings on a silk material produced in the Middle East, but how it came to refer to our kitties is a mystery.
- There are many famous ginger cats. Here are just a few:
- Winston Churchill was known as a cat lover with an orange tabby named Jock.
- We all know Garfield from the infamous comic strip.
- Milo, from the Milo and Otis movie.
- Orangey from Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
- Jones from Alien.
- Puss in Boots from Shrek 2.
- Spot from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
- Floyd scares off the killer in Telegraph.
- Katniss’ sister, Prim had an orange kitty in The Hunger Games.
- Stephen King is a cat lover who has included felines in many of his stories. Clovis is a crime-fighting cat in the movie, Sleepwalkers.
- Hermione Granger's cat, Crookshanks from Harry Potter.
- Orion, holder of the Arquilian Galaxy from Men in Black.
For Ginger Cat Appreciation Day, and every day, let’s spoil and love on our gregarious feline friends. Share some playtime, some naptime, and snuggle time. Just remember, ginger kitties like to eat and are more likely to be obese than other cats. Be sure to spoil them with low-calorie, healthful treats.
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