Ragdoll Cat Forums

I'm very curious about the Red gene. I've been doing research to learn more about it but wanted to hear from any of the experts their takes on the gene.

One question in particular that I have is -- when the red gene is introduced is it more dominant than the other colors? Will a female cat who carries the red gene be very likely to pass it on to the males she gives birth to -- or is there just as likely a chance she won't have any males with the red gene. From what I can tell ---(looking at pictures of litters on breeder's websites) when the red gene is introduced a majority of the litter seems to receive it. For example I've seen a lot of litters where there are approximately 6 kittens - there are three flame boys -- 1 blue girl -- and two Tortie's. Is this commonly the ratio of kittens who receive the red gene?

Haha - sorry my question is so long. I'm very interested in the genetics of ragdolls!

There's an easy to follow prediction on this website. The link is on the left hand side pattern/colour predictions

http://www.tbrcc.co.uk/

(03-03-2010 10:43 AM)Dustysmum Wrote: [ -> ]There's an easy to follow prediction on this website. The link is on the left hand side pattern/colour predictions

http://www.tbrcc.co.uk/

Thanks! I've actually seen this - and this is where my curiosity started to stem. How accurate are these predictors -- ie. when it says 1/4 red, 1/4 blue, 1/4 blue mitted, and 1/4 seal mitted --- how correct is that?

Red (orange) is dominant and sex linked. A tortie can have red and non-red boys. A flame/cream queen will have only red boys.

It predicts what you 'could' have in a litter of a particular mating.
A Red (carrying dilute) x Seal (carrying blue) could have all male Seals or all female seal torties or some blue and seal males and some blue torties and seal torties.
What it will tell you as in the above example is the females will be tortie.
A red x seal or blue will not produce red or cream. You would need a tortie x red/cream or a red/cream x red/cream to get red/cream kittens.

The percentages represent the random chance of that result. However, think of it in terms of sex. One can have a large litter of all boys or all girls, while statistically the prediction would be 50% - and over a large number of litters, the percentage will be close to that.

Thanks for all the answers - this all makes sense. I assumed it was just chance - not what would always be

Hi. The red gene is like an overcoat, if it is there it is on top and you se it, it is not carried at all. Because it covers the other colours a red boy may be a seal or a chocolate underneath and this colour can be brought out during breeding depending on the colour of the queen. A cream boy could be blue or lilac underneath. The girls are generally torties, seal/red, chocolate/red, blue/cream or lilac/cream. You can get a red or cream female by mating a red or cream male to a tortie.

The simplest way to remember what happens is to remember that the males get their colour entirely from the mother, the females get their colour from both parents. Thus a seal/red tortie female can produce seal or red males no matter what colour the sire is, a red male will produce only tortie females unless the mother is already a tortie in which case the female kittens can be tortie or red. Cream is identical in behaviour to red, it just occurs in the dilute colours, blue and lilac only.

When two colours are possible, say seal and red, the average over a number of litters will be close to half and half of each, etc. However, in any particular litter you can get all of one colour just as you can get all of one sex.

I hope that helps.

Mike

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