Rare King Cheetah

Rare King Cheetah - photo copyright Fred Hood.

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The rare king cheetah sports one of three anomalous coat patterns and colors. The others are the melanistic cheetah (black with ghost spots) and the white cheetah. Both black and white cheetahs have been recorded. They too are rare.

The king cheetah is found in South Africa. Apparently way back in 1926 a farmer in southern Rhodesia, now the Republic of Zimbabwe purchased a cheetah skin that had an unusual pattern of stripes and blotches rather then the spots. The farmer donated the skin to the museum in Salisbury.

It was initially believed that the skin had belonged to a hybrid cheetah - a mating of a cheetah and leopard. The skin was sent to the British Museum in London, England to be examined by R.I. Pocock. He described it as a separate species, scientific name: Acinonyx rex.

However it has been subsequently decided that the king cheetah is simply a "normal" cheetah with a different coat. The king cheetah is not a subspecies of cheetah.

The unusual coat is the result of the presence of a single recessive gene. Accordingly if both parents carry the gene, one quarter of their offspring will be king cheetahs.

It is believed that the same process of genetic mutation that converts a mackerel tabby domestic cat to a classic or blotched tabby is at play in the cheetah.

In the wild, the king cheetah is found in:

• Zimbabwe
• Botswana
• Transvaal

They were almost never seen in captivity until 1980. Now, you can see them at the De Wilt Cheetah Breeding and Research Center near Pretoria and around the world. There were 9 there in 1984.

Devon Rex Health Issues - Hereditary Myopathy

The elfin faced Devon Rex can suffer from the autosomal (non-sex linked) recessive genetic defect called hereditary myopathy.

The signs are visible at 4 to 7 weeks of age. Kittens have low energy levels (low exercise threshold) and the head is flexed downward when the kitten walks or on the toilet. An associated disease is an enlarged esophagus. This causes swallowing problems.

There is no treatment for this condition. A short life is expected. Sorry.

See more at Devon Rex health.

How much are calico cats worth?

"Calico" refers to the color and pattern of the coat. It is a North American term that means tortoiseshell and white.

Calico does not refer to a cat breed. You will see cats of a certain cat breed that have calico coats and you will see random bred cats that have calico coats. Calico coated feral or sem-feral cats in the Mediterranean are commonplace. See for example Cats of Morocco (scroll down to see a calico cat).




So, the answer to the question "How much are calico cats worth?" is as follows:

1. Where a purebred cat has a calico coat the price will be the standard price for a purebred cat unless the individual cat in question is a special cat (a champion) or a breeding cat. The normal price is around $500 or £500 in the UK.
2. Where the calico cat is a random bred female cat the value is almost nothing. In fact the worth of a moggie cat is the admin fee at a rescue center. Courts sometimes value random bred cats at about $30 as I recall but an account of the emotional connection rarely made. Although things are changing.
3. Where the calico cat is male and fertile (rare) the value may be high to an individual buyer. I discuss this on this page.

Hope this helps.

Are calico cats always female?

Are calico cats always female? The answer is No. Because sometimes you will meet up with a male calico cat but they are rare.

Genetically the color and pattern of the calico cat is linked to the sex of the cat but genes are not machines. Things go wrong and on those occasions you will get a male calico cat.

How rare are male calico cats?

Photo by Giane Portal (on Flickr)

What percentage of calico cats are male?

It seems, and I can't verify this, that 0.033% or one cat in 3000 are male. The Yahoo Answers lady has got the math wrong incidentally. No criticism intended.

Male calicos are usually sterile it is said.

Read more on calico cats here. The linked page explains how the coat type is sex linked.

Burmese Cats Health - Hypokalemic Myopathy

Burmese cats can inherit through an autosomal recessive gene a condition called hypokalemic myopathy. The signs are evident at about 3 to 4 months of age. Kittens affected show periods of paralysis and weakness. Their heads tend to be "flexed downwards".

The treatment is a dietary supplement of potassium. This reverses the symptoms. The supplement needs to be provided until the kitten can regulate their potassium metabolism. This varies from cat to cat.

See also genetic diseases in purebred cats.