Tortoiseshell cat

Tortoiseshell is a cat coat coloring named for its similarity to tortoiseshell pattern. Like tortoiseshell-and-white or calico cats, tortoiseshell cats are almost exclusively female.^[1][2][3][4] Male tortoiseshells are rare and are usually sterile.^[a][6][4]

Tortoiseshell cats, or torties, combine two colors other than white, either closely mixed or in larger patches.^[2] The colors are often described as red and black, but the "red" patches can instead be orange, yellow, or cream,^[2] and the "black" can instead be chocolate, gray, tabby, or blue.^[2] Tortoiseshell cats with the tabby pattern as one of their colors are sometimes referred to as torbies or torbie cats.^[7]

"Tortoiseshell" is typically reserved for multicolored cats with relatively small or no white markings. Those that are predominantly white with tortoiseshell patches are described as tricolor,^[2] tortoiseshell-and-white, or calico (in Canada and the United States).^[8]

Tortoiseshell markings appear in many different breeds, as well as in non-purebred domestic cats.^[8] This pattern is especially preferred in the Japanese Bobtail breed,^[9] and exists in the Cornish Rex group.^[10]

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