is my male kitten a tortoiseshell?

Question

our wee guy  

our wee guy   Hi,

I am getting a 6 week old male kitten in 2 weeks time. I would have preferred to wait until he was 8-10 weeks however the owner wishes us to collect him at 6 weeks. Is there any additional care he will need as he will be so young when we get him. Could you also tell me if you think he is a male tortoiseshell, I have attatched a pic. I went to meet him and his three sisters today and all cats have the same colourings of red, black and white. I know this is rare so just wondering your opinion.

Thank you :-)

Looking forward to your reply

Answer
Hi Jeni,

What a most adorable baby!

There is often little distinction made between the sex-linked color patterns, tortoiseshell, calico, and patched tabby. To get into semantics, tortie is black and orange, peppered throughout. A calico is white with patches of brown/black and patches of orange. A patched tabby, also called a torbie, is probably the most familiar of them but is the least heard of. She has patches of brown tabby mixed with patches of orange tabby. Your little one has obvious patches of orange and brown tabby, so to be completely proper, he would be a torbie (or patched tabby) with white. As a male, he is every bit as rare as a male calico or tortie would be! The last symposium one of my vets attended estimated these cats account for only about 1 in 10,000 adult cats.

As for any special treatment, I would see if he will take any kitten formula. He really should be nursing for another few weeks, but you can offer slightly warm formula on a saucer. If he's simply not interested in formula, kitten food is okay, but I strongly recommend that you go with tinned food only. Also, be sure to get him vaccinated at 7 weeks or so, as now that he's off mom's milk, he's not receiving protective antibodies.

The kitten should be litter trained around this age, but I recommend being prepared with a shallow box he can get easily in and out of. Also, try to start off with the same kind of litter the current owner uses.

Best wishes!
Jessica