‘Naughty Tortie’ is a phrase used among pet owners and veterinary staff alike, but is it really true that certain coloured cats are more temperamental than others?

In the past it has been thought that cats of certain coat colour are more aggressive than others. The colours include tortoiseshell (red and black are combined in two solid colours), calico (red and black interspersed with white) or torbie (a tortoiseshell colouring in a striped or spotted coat).

These coat colours are ‘sex linked coat colours’. Sex linked coat colours are specific colour patterns that are linked to the genes on the X chromosome. Females have two X chromosomes (XX) therefore tortoiseshell cats are commonly female. Males have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome (XY) therefore only males with an extra X chromosome (XXY) can exhibit such patterns (this is rare).

Recent research looked into the relationship between these sex linked coat colours and aggression. They found that aggression towards humans may exist in sex linked females. They also found this may be true for grey and white, and black and white cats, which surprised even the researchers!

However, the results must be carefully looked at and it is clear that much more research is required before confirmation of such results. The international cat care group have provided a very good critique of the research http://icatcare.org/news/dont-judge-cat-its-coat-colour.

What we feel is most important is that the overall frequency of aggression amongst all of the studied cats was in fact very low. Cats are not generally aggressive animals and often aggression is a result of anxiety or fear.

Please don’t let the ‘naughty tortie’ name tag put you off owning cats of this coat colour as we have also met lovely and well natured torties along the way. They can all be just as troublesome as each other when they want to be!