Photo courtesy facebook.com/HSSCG A “unicorn of the cat world” has popped up at an animal shelter in the Peach State. Specifically, the kitten (appropriately christened “Pegasus”) is a male calico, which occurs only once in every 3,000 births of the breed. The eight- to 10-week-old kitten was presumed female when he was surrendered to the Humane Society of South Coastal Georgia (HSSCG) last month alongside his mother and bi-color orange and white brother. Staff member Bonnie Miller happened to check Pegasus and was surprised to find the calico was male. “I thought I was wrong,’’ she tells the Brunswick News. “I had someone else check under the tail.” The calico pattern is attached to X chromosomes (meaning, two X chromosomes are required to achieve the white, black, and orange color palette). To produce a male, a Y must accompany the double X chromosomes, making the cat XXY. The discovery was a first at the shelter, says the facility’s veterinarian, Missy Weaver, DVM. “I’ve been practicing 25 years, and I’ve never seen one,’’ she adds. Weaver knows of a Humane Society volunteer who once had a male calico, and there have also been reports of one in Savannah, Ga. “So, obviously it happens,” she says. More than 600 kittens come through HSSCG each year and are adopted. Pegasus will also go up for adoption. Written with files from Brunswick News.
