What is a ginger cat? Color, patterns and parents, plainly

What is a ginger cat? It is a cat with an orange coat. Ginger is a color, not a breed, and the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) gives it a different name: on its Colors of Cats page, the common name "Orange or Ginger" has the correct name "Red". This guide sets out what the CFA says about the color, the ways a red cat can look, what a red kitten's parents must be, and how to name the ginger cat you meet.

Ginger cats in the CFA's own words: names, looks and parents.

What is a ginger cat? A color with two names

The CFA's Colors of Cats page explains that in the cat fancy one color can have several names. A cat you might call grey is blue, and an orange cat is red.

Its Coat and Color Descriptions page says the same: experts call an orange cat a red cat, and a yellow or beige cat a cream cat. So ginger, orange and red all name one color, and cream is its pale relative.

Because ginger is a color, it is not tied to one breed. Many ginger cats you meet have no breed at all. Our guide to telling whether a cat is a mixed breed covers that question.

The ways a ginger cat can look

Red turns up in several patterns on the CFA's coat page:

• Solid red. A solid colored cat has one color, with no tabby pattern and no white spots. Red and cream are both on the CFA's list of solid colors.
• Red tabby. Red tabby and cream tabby are on the CFA's list of tabby colors. It describes a cream tabby as a light beige background with darker beige stripes. Our guide to what a tabby cat is explains the four tabby patterns.
• Red and white. The CFA lists red and white, cream and white, and red tabby and white among the usual bi-color coats, and says all these colors occur in male and female cats.
• Red point. A pointed cat can have red, cream, red tabby or cream tabby points. See what a colorpoint cat is.

Ghost markings: why a red cat can look striped

The CFA's Basic Feline Genetics page gives a rule with an exception. A tabby kitten must have a tabby parent, except red or cream cats, which may appear tabby without having a tabby parent. The CFA calls these "ghost markings".

It goes on: whether such a cat can pass on a tabby pattern depends on whether it is a genetic tabby (with a tabby parent) or not. A red or cream cat that only shows ghost markings cannot produce a tabby kitten unless it is bred to a genetic tabby.

For you on the pavement, that means one practical thing: faint stripes on a ginger cat do not tell you for sure that it is a tabby underneath.

What a ginger kitten's parents must be

The CFA's genetics page sets out two rules for red and cream kittens:

1. A red or cream kitten must have a red, cream or tortoiseshell mother.
2. A red or cream female kitten must also have a red or cream father.

Read them side by side and you can see why the color behaves differently in males and females: a red male kitten needs the right mother, while a red female kitten needs the right mother and the right father. The CFA's page does not give a share of ginger cats that are male, so this guide does not either.

Ginger and the sex linked orange gene

The CFA's coat page says many of the parti-color coats, those with more than one color, are related to the sex linked orange gene. Its examples:

• A tortoiseshell is a black, chocolate or seal female cat with patches of red throughout her coat.
• A calico is a female cat with white and large solid areas of black and red, blue and cream, or lilac and cream.
• A patched tabby is a brown, silver or blue tabby with patches of red or cream, and is most likely female.

The genetics page adds that tortoiseshell cats are almost always female, but males do occur occasionally and are not always sterile. Our guide to what a calico cat is covers that side of the family.

How to name the ginger cat you meet

The CFA suggests describing a cat by color first, then pattern, then coat length and special features, with "and white" after the color and pattern, and the breed last. Its own example is "a red mackerel tabby and white Maine Coon Cat."

Here is a worked example, with Cat Go open in your browser.

1. Name the color. A cat on a wall has an orange coat. In the CFA's words, it is red.
2. Name the pattern. It has clear stripes and a white chest and paws. That is a red tabby and white. If the stripes were faint, remember ghost markings and just say red.
3. Stop before the breed. A cat on a wall has no papers. Without them, "a red tabby and white cat" is the honest description.
4. Take the photo from where you stand. In Cat Go, tap the camera on the map. The screen says "Fit the whole cat in the frame."
5. Pick the breed yourself. The game asks "Which breed is it?" and reminds you that "Most cats you meet are mixed breed" and "Mixed breed is always a safe pick."

Every catch keeps its breed and where you found it, and the bar at the top of the map counts the breeds you have found out of 34.

Cat Go starts on a map. You tap the camera when you spot a cat.

Frequently asked questions

Is a ginger cat a breed?

No. Ginger is a coat color. The CFA calls an orange or ginger cat red, and the color appears in many breeds and in mixed breed cats.

Why do some ginger cats have stripes?

Some are red tabbies. The CFA also says red or cream cats may look tabby without a tabby parent, which it calls ghost markings.

Can a ginger cat be female?

Yes. The CFA says a red or cream female kitten must have a red or cream father as well as a red, cream or tortoiseshell mother.

What is the difference between ginger and cream?

The CFA calls an orange cat red and a yellow or beige cat cream. A cream tabby, it says, has a light beige background with darker beige stripes.

Get started

Cat Go turns the ginger cats, and every other cat, you meet on a walk into a collection. It plays in your web browser and needs the camera and location allowed. You photograph a real cat, pick its breed, and keep it in your Catdex with the place you found it.

Play Cat Go: walk anywhere, photograph a real cat, lure it with food and catch it.