There were tortoiseshell cats, and there were calico cats. To us, the tortoiseshell were darker (like The Cat), and calico had more white (like The Cat’s daughter Sprocket).
And then there were dilute calicos where the colours had become paler through the generations. In all the cases we saw, the mother was a darker calico or tortoiseshell, and their daughter paler; it didn’t seem to work the other way round. In all cases, their tails were darker and more solidly coloured (often in bands) with the tip of the tail generally being the darkest part of their entire body.
The first dilute calico kitten was probably The Cat’s daughter, Fickle. Born in the fields, she was raised there with her siblings Fred, Fleckle and Drip, coming to the garden for weaning. It was the first time we had seen these paler colours which, in Fickle’s case were white, grey and ginger.
Visitor Cat’s daughter Fennel (aka Fennel the Ferocious) was more peach, grey and white and not as orange. She had strong tabby markings which were clearly visible in her fur and bore the ‘tabby ‘M’’ on her forehead; her face was quite symmetrical in colour.
Pippin, Flora’s daughter, had similar shades to Fennel but overall more white, and with none of the tabby markings. Her face was divided more along the tortoiseshell lines with all three colours visible in the traditional asymmetric pattern.
And then there was Snopake who was definitely one of a type. She was the only cat with blue eyes and, at a glance, could be easily mistaken for a white cat. But within that fluffy fur coat there were patches of the palest peach along with pink ears, and the tail that gave her away as a calico-in-disguise as it bore her three colours – white, peach and grey.
Her deceptive appearance led to her being picked up (as a very small kitten) by ‘another human’ and washed, as her patches were mistaken for dirt. Luckily this was noticed immediately and Snopake was rescued, dried off and warmed up, snuggled against the body of one of her carers.
