Whiskers of Four Dominions, Genetics & Environment

Whiskers of Four Dominions

We had the fortune to be owned by four curious-eyed, cuddly cats: Sicily, Baby Cat, Lily, and Goonda. Each one is distinct, with its own dominion, quirks, and tales of mischief.

Sicily – The Graceful One and the Smoker

The oldest, Sicily (14 years), lives with us; she spends a lot of time in my smoking room, designed to drive out lesser mortals like my wife!

A ballet dancer among cats, she is self-contained, balanced, and intelligent. Once, stuck on a balcony sill, she used a lowered bucket as a lift. In another escapade, she jumped twelve feet up onto a generator roof to evade labradors, though she couldn’t come down on her own. Sicily walks with such grace that nothing stirs from its place. She eats delicately, demands service with her tail, and stops when she is full. Only the best of Sheba for her, she has expensive tastes, and doesn’t suffer fools gladly.

Sicily has birds and fishes in the aquarium as companions , thinks herself a queen while the the bird give two hoots to her from their cage.

Baby Cat – The Bumbling Boss

The Baby Cat, orange and lazy, is gentle yet oddly commanding. He bosses Lily, gets the first bite, and watches every morsel that goes down your mouth. Clumsy at heights, he is a poor judge of jumps, though he has learned to manage the hoop. He doesn’t keep servants but enjoys being petted. To escape him Lily lives on heights and secluded corners.

Lily – The Furtive One

The youngest, Lily, is furtive and athletic but not as graceful as Sicily. She hides, appearing briefly, mistrustful of touch and wary of everyone. She shares her space with Baby Cat, though she resists his dominance.

Goonda – The Wild Lord

Goonda, grey and regal, lives in a coffee plantation in Kodagu. A wild soul, he behaves as if the world is his cradle. He keeps three laughing dogs as his servants — sometimes as sentries, sometimes as escorts, though at times they lead one to the wrong room. Faster than the dogs, Goonda eats first, and the dogs keep a respectful distance when he dines. He demands affection like a tax collector, jumping on every lap. He goes Hunting dogs with Bopa Rai, Short for Bopanna.

A Note on Genetics

Sicily, the female cat, is orange, while Baby Cat, the male, is also orange. Goonda and Lily have grey fur. The orange colour in cats is X-linked recessive: for a female to be orange, both parents must be orange. Sicily once birthed four kittens — two orange males and two grey females — confirming this genetic inheritance.

Together, these four rule their dominions with eyes of curiosity, grace, suspicion, and wild authority. Four cats, four dominions, one chronicle of feline grace and mischief.

Correct Genetics of Orange Cat Fur

The inheritance of orange fur color in cats is a classic example of X-linked inheritance. The gene responsible for orange color (O) and its non-orange allele (o) are located on the X chromosome.

• A female cat has two X chromosomes (XX).
• A male cat has one X and one Y chromosome (XY).

The Alleles

• O (orange allele) is dominant to o (non-orange allele).
• Cats with the O allele will show orange fur.

Genotypes and Phenotypes

• Male cats (XY): Can only be either orange (XOY) or non-orange (XoY). They get their single X chromosome from their mother.
  • XOY: Orange male 🍊
  • XoY: Non-orange (black or other colors) male ⬛
• Female cats (XX): Can have one of three genotypes:
  • XOXO: Homozygous dominant, an orange female 🧡
  • XoXo: Homozygous recessive, a non-orange female ⚫
  • XOXo: Heterozygous, a calico or tortoiseshell female 🌈. These cats have patches of both orange and non-orange fur due to X-inactivation.

Correcting the Text’s Statement

The text claims, “for a female to be orange, both parents must be orange.” This is not true. A female cat (XOXO) gets one XO allele from her mother and one XO allele from her father.

• The mother must be either orange (XOXO) or calico/tortoiseshell (XOXo) to provide the XO allele.
• The father, who is XOY, must be orange to provide the XO allele.

Therefore, for a female cat to be orange, her father must be orange, and her mother must be either orange or calico/tortoiseshell. The text’s statement is incorrect because it implies the mother must also be orange, which isn’t always the case.

Sicily has birds and fishes in the aquarium as companions. She thinks herself a queen. Meanwhile, the birds give two hoots to her from their cage.