You’ve seen them — those striking, fiery-coloured cats with a patchwork of black, red, sometimes softened with cream or kissed with a splash of white. They’re called torties, short for tortoiseshell. Bold in colour, bold in personality. But here’s the thing: Almost all torties are female. No, it’s not magic. It’s genetics. What makes a tortie? A tortie is a cat that shows two pigment colours: • Black-based (eumelanin) • Red-based (pheomelanin) To display both, the cat must