A pet adopter went home with the happiest of feline phenomena on Friday.
Staff at the County Animal Services shelter in Carlsbad was shocked when a 3-year-old stray male “torbie” cat showed up. Why, you ask?
Torbies are mixed-breed cats, the offspring of a tabby cat and a cat with a tortoise-shell type pattern, or a tortie. What really makes it interesting, though, is that the torbie pattern is sex-linked and nearly all torbie cats are born female, according to County Animal Services director Dawn Danielson.
Kim Tardy, an animal attendant at the shelter, couldn’t believe it either.
“I’ve been in the field for 10 years and I have never seen a male torbie,” Tardy said. “I have a co-worker that’s only seen one in 15 years in the field.”
According to the County News Center, published reports claim that as low as 1 out of every 10,000 cats are male torbies. The rarity of the breed-gender combination is helped by the fact that most male torbies are born sterile.
Although this diamond in the fluff has found a new home, you may stumble upon another friendly feline during a visit to any three of the county’s shelters.
Local
As part of a 90-day pilot project, all three county shelters will now be open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Sundays, excluding holidays, in addition to its normal Tuesday through Saturday schedule.
For more information about County Animal Services, visit its website.
