Are the colors a cat is, an indication of how they act?

[Archae]

Had an interesting conversation with two of my sisters this morning, and we were talking about how cats act.

I say the domestic shorthair breed, (the catchall name for your garden variety cat) it makes no difference how they look, each one has their quirks and good points.

A tuxedo cat will act about the same as an orange cat.

Some breeds do act different, Siamese are the vocalists, Maine Coons are the big babies, etc.

I have a tuxedo cat and a calico.

[MissMillie]

1. Cosmo and Millie

Cosmo was orange and Millie was a tuxedo (they died w/i 11 days of each other this past spring). They did not act at all alike

[PoliticAverse]

2. Don't judge them by the colors of their fur...

but by the content of their catracter.

[MiddleFingerMom]

3. You are good. You are REAL good!!!

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[appleannie1]

4. I have 2 tux and one mostly white with black markings. They each have their own

quirks. Wonder was found unconscious, blue, still damp with the cord still attached laying in the middle of the yard. I warmed & bottle fed her. She thinks I am her mother and spends half the day on my shoulder. She is very curious and playful. Tux tends to overeat and is lazy. She is overweight even though I keep her on a diet. Yoda, the white & black one, is bossy and territorial. I have had cats all my life. I don't think coloring has a thing to do with their personality.

[siligut]

5. Genetic characteristics are associated

Like big, fluffy Ragdolls and their mellow behavior. Or that most orange cats are male. Even though Domestic Shorthairs are basically Mutts, the fact that the physical Domestic Shorthair part of the cat is dominant it would make sense that the temperament would also be more prominent. However, as they are Mutts underneath, they may have broader personality traits, exhibiting the recessive characteristics when allowed.

Then comes the nature vs nurture argument. I don't think I am wrong in believing that most of us accept that both play a somewhat equal role.

I met the sweetest little female Tuxedo. The minute I walked into the house she ran over to me and as sooner as I sat down she was up on the table in my face. She was so soft and loving, she had been a rescue, near dead when found, so she just adored human females. I think that because she was already a sweet, loving Tuxedo, her upbringing just made her into an angel kitty.

[Blue_In_AK]

10. My brother has a rag doll cat

who is a perfect little brat. He got her because she was supposed to be "mellow" as you say, but that is far from the reality.

[csziggy]

15. My husband's old cat looked just like a Ragdoll

And his personality was exactly as described - mellow. Husband could hook the cat's rear legs over his arm, letting the cat dangle upside down, and the cat would purr and knead the air, happy as happy could be.

Then we saw an announcement in the paper about a cat show. To generate more local interest, they had a special category for pet cats of no known breed. Since husband's cat was found on the side of the road, he fit the bill. We got him cleaned up, cleaned out our carrier, put a nice pillow in it, and a collar on the cat, and hauled him down to the show.

BIG mistake. The cat was like Mr. Hyde. Totally berserk. He attacked my husband when he took him out of the carrier. He attacked the judge. He almost got loose when he tried to attack another cat.

Our sweet, mellow, Ragdoll personality cat 'won' a black ribbon at the cat show. We're not doing that again - ever!

[LWolf]

6. All of my cats

over the years of my life have had distinct personalities, without any discernible color-related pattern.

Distinct CAT personalities, of course.

My old cat died last spring of old age; I was given a kitten as a gift a couple of months later, and she's taken over the house. She looks a lot like your tux. My very first cat, at age 4, was a long-suffering tuxedo; nothing like the current tornado. Her personality is unique in the cats that have owned me in my 5+ decades.

She verbalizes; a whole range of verbalizations in addition to meows, purrs, etc.. Sometimes I can hear her talking to her toys in the next room.

She likes to groom people, and makes a nuisance of herself with the licking.

She plays more intensely and aggressively than any other cat I've ever known.

She's shredded all the houseplants, knocks everything off of surfaces she can reach, repeatedly, to add them to her collection of playthings.

She chews up cardboard boxes, book marks, books; anything she can sink her teeth into.

She is a one-cat destruction machine when it comes to those cardboard scratching post thingies.

She can open every drawer and cupboard she can reach, and does so regularly.

She hides in the bathtub, behind the shower curtain, waiting for someone to sit on the throne, at which point she springs out from behind the curtain and attacks while the poor victim's guard is down.

She will climb anything, including walls.

She takes 98% of attempts to stroke her as an invitation to play, which means "attack."

She has a favorite toy out of several that she carries with her everywhere; at 9 months old, that's 7 months of loyalty to one toy.

She loves cat-tolerating dogs, and will nap with them, groom them, play with them, and torture them for fun.

[TrogL]

7. My Russian Blue acted like a Cossack

The description says "gentle, quiet, intelligent".

Yeah, she was intelligent in a crafty sort of way. It's been six months since she died and I'm still finding bullshit she's pulled like hiding some of my tools.

"Gentle?" She got out one day and wouldn't let the next door neighbour in his own house. She was in full attack mode and he feared for his safety - thought she was rabid. Her idea of fun was a game where I'd try and it her in the chest lightly with one finger and she'd try to claw me to death.

"Quiet?" No. She'd start beating up one of the dogs and caterwaul the house down. Or if she wanted in/out/make-up-your-fucking-mind she'd stand there and yowl no matter the time of day or night. 3 a.m. cat stampedes across the bed hissing at stuff that wasn't there.

[Arkansas Granny]

8. Over the years I have owned and/or known hundreds

of kitties. I have never associated any specific behavior to be related to color or any other physical characteristic. Their personalities just are.

[nolabear]

9. Kind of. Calicoes are always female and whites often deaf

That certainly makes a difference. And black is a recessive of Siamese so some blacks have that Siamese personality.

[easttexaslefty]

11. Black cats are intelligent

quirky and loving.

[pink-o]

29. I got a shelter cat that was classified as Black Domestic Shorthair...

But later on I realized she was a Bombay--a cat with city distinct personality traits! First indication: damn cat would never leave my lap. Even before I'd completely touched my ass to the chair, that kitty would be curling up and purring on my legs. And forget about her sleeping anywhere other than the bed. With a human. Half the time, we'd wake up with a face full of black fur suffocating us.

About 10 years ago, I broke my leg in a cycling accident, and was totally outta commission for 2 months. Guess who was happy? She had a nonstop lap, and was blissed out till I healed.

Kitty died just about a year ago, and I still miss her. So I guess you can say fur colors might indicate personality traits, especially if your Domestic Shorthair is really a different breed!

[Honeycombe8]

12. Oh, they're beautiful! And they look so comfy on your comforter. nt

[Archae]

14. That's one of their favorite spots to nap.

The couch, the desk, the bed, the chair on my exercise bicycle, all kitty nap attack spots.

[Honeycombe8]

17. The chair on your exercise bike? Also, they're positioned exactly the same on the bed.

They're facing the same way, curled the same way, their tails are precisely positioned the same way. Pals to the end.

[Archae]

18. Yeah, I have one of those exercise bikes with a chair, instead of a bicycle seat.

[Honeycombe8]

21. Oh, a recumbent? I wish I had the room for one of those. nt

[Lokey]

13. I agree makes no difference

We had 3 tuxes, and orange, a grey tabby, and and all black.
The black female and the short haired tux female were very sweet and cuddly.
All the rest were boys and were shit balls.

The long haired tux lived a long time and was a survivalist. (someone dumped him off at a campground) When we brought him home he continued his pigeon eating, garbage slashing, hamburger stealing survival attitude. But ate plenty of cat food as well and became a large boy. He would wake us up in the middle of the night for a meal. Even in his senility he would try to bring large rabbits in for dinner...bleck.

The current short haired tux is quite the shitball and even answers to that when I call him. As with the other boys he only wants to cuddle when he wants food or treats. He is very vocal though--always talking loudly. Doesn't like anyone else yelling and will climb up your chest and look in your mouth to see where the noise is coming from.

They all had their own weird quirks and different personalities, but I never based it on color.

[kiva]

16. Orange kittehs I have known

all seemed to be very social and very verbal.

[Arugula Latte]

19. Agree. They tend to be males, and big love bugs.

Also, many of the calicos and torties I've known have been smart and feisty, with a 'tude. I love 'em!

[kiva]

23. My last orange boy was Hercules.

Brave, fearless, and loved everyone. In his last year or so he was also a touch insane, so the other cats were verrrryyyy careful around him...but when he was younger he was the mama when we got a new kitten.

[TexasBushwhacker]

32. Yup, orange cats are usually male and have very sweet temperments n/t

[sakabatou]

20. My cat is very affectionate, hardly aloof

[WhoIsNumberNone]

22. Solid grey ones soon learn they are invisible after twilight.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

24. No, no difference.

They are all little dictators.

[Jamastiene]

26. Lol, true.

You learn to live with the cat, not the other way around.

[Jamastiene]

25. Most tortoiseshells cats are either female or sterile males.

Other than that one little quirk, I don't know of any one trait associated with cat color. Each cat has their own personality from what I have seen.

[harmonicon]

27. I'm pretty sure the answer is no.

I know that to a large extent, the colour of a cat is determined in utero. I remember learning this, because the first cloned cat wound up being a different colour than the cat it was cloned from, and the explanation followed. Of course there's a chance the "cloning" was just done by a guy in an alley saying, "um... yeah, I can clone yer cat. Give me a sec." Going into a rusty van and coming out with a kitten.

[grasswire]

28. yes and no

but I have had cats who fit the profile AND simultaneously defy it.

My rusty orange tabby was both a sweet darling AND a vicious bully, determined by some whim of his own. He hated certain cats and would block their food dish and engage in other antisocial behavior. We had to keep him separated from another orange kitty for a full year. And yet he was the second sweetest cat I've ever owned.

Calicos always revert to type, I think. Vocal and bossy.

[KamaAina]

30. Calicos are the feminists of the cat world

99.9% of them are female, of course, plus there's an extra helping of sauciness: for instance, you can pet one all you like, put picking her up can be another matter altogether.

[Archae]

31. I pick up Charlotte all the time, she loves being cuddled.

Right now she's alternately napping and cleaning herself on my desk.

[HeiressofBickworth]

33. I've always thought each cat has his/her own distinct personality

My old black cat (died at 18) loved me but was very unfriendly to other members of the family and would scratch if petted by one of them. Our current black cat (now 16 - an illegal immigrant from Canada) is the sweetest girl. She doesn't like to be picked up, but will reward you with a few minutes in your lap for a few pets and snuggles before taking off for other parts of the house.

As I write this, our 12-pound, 30" (nose to tip of tail) black with white markings girl is stretched out across the desk in front of the monitor. She can stay there as long as she keeps out of my line of sight. Her sister is asleep on one of the beds. The feisty one, a white with black markings, is a very assertive cat, probably with some Asian cat in her. But when the doorbell rings, she runs into the garage and gets up in the rafters before the bell stops. What a fraidy-cat! For those of you counting, yes, we have 4 cats. They have all been with us since kittenhood so I don't think the "nurture" argument fits these girls -- each one developed her own personality.