calico

"Here's my offering - the shorthair is a boy named Bob and the calico is a girl named Marley."

Her mother filled out the Virginia shelter's online application for a supposedly bonded pair: a 1 1/2-year-old gray tabby and 2 1/2-year-old calico.

Most orange cats are boys, a quirk of feline genetics that also explains why almost all calicos and tortoiseshells are girls.

The curious calico and her orange tomcat friend, Monu, had recently been sterilized and returned to the market.

Meet Zia, my dilute calico who enjoys chasing droplets of water in the tub and lying flat on her back, like a fluffy rug in a log cabin.