Thanks, Gutenberg!

[PeterB]

ka jot, it may be that I'm thinking genetically, you (and the rest of the world) are thinking cat-wise or phenotypically. As I understand it, a male can be white with either black patches or red patches because the red and black are X-linked-- whereas the female can have both black and red patches (the white is controlled by a separate gene), because one X carries black and the other carries red, and one X is always inactivated; and mosaicism results in some black and some red patches. So thinking about it from this perspective, a "calico male" can never be a real calico, because he only has one X (which is never inactivated; excepting the Klinefelter's cat who has two X's, and can therefore be a true calico).

Anyway... this is all off the topic, I'm just glad my bro and fiancée have adopted a nice kitty...