Get to Know Zoya my Ginger Cat and 5 Facts About Gingies that you might not have known!
1. Ginger Cats Are Always Ready For The Holidays
They are always ready for the holidays with their ginger coats. While black cats always are dressed to impress with their little LBDs, gingy cats with their gingy spiciness are always ready for fall and winter holidays. They’re also super spicy on their own.
2. They Have 5 Coat Types
Gingy cats come in five different coat types: swirled, mackerel (striped), spotted, ticked, and patched. Zoya has spots and mackerel stripes. She also has little white paws, a little white star on her face, and a super cute white belly. Zoya will flip over on her back with her paws up like she’s saying, “Oh hooman, I love you!!! I’m so sweet, I love you!” And then she’ll attack and getcha!
3. The Ginger Gene: Pheomelanin
Just like one of my best friends who is a human ginger, ginger cats also get their pigment from a specific gene. That gene has a pigment associated with it called pheomelanin. It’s what gives ginger cats their reddish orange hue, which is the exact same pigment that produces red hair in humans.
fun fact:
My mom is a redhead. I had dark red hair when I was a baby, and then all of a sudden I went toe head blonde. It’s been getting darker ever since. I had a strawberry blondish color and now as I get older it’s turning into a darker blonde color. So my hair has changed a lot. I’ll be sharing why my hair is part of my spiritual practice soon, so make sure you join the tribe and subscribe so you don’t miss it.
4. Tabbies Aren’t A Breed
Tabby’s aren’t actually a breed, which I knew, but what I didn’t know was tabby just refers to the coat patterns and tabbies can come in five different coat patterns. When I was growing up on the farm I thought that tabby cats were the “mutts” of the cat world. I thought that they were just a mix of different breeds and just a “run-of-the-mill” cat. But apparently that’s not true.
5. Ginger Females Are Rare
Zoya is super special. She is a gingy female which is pretty rare. Normally orange cats are male, 80% of orange cats are male and 20% are female. This is because the “ginger gene” which produces the orange color is on the X chromosome. Females have two X chromosomes and so need two copies of this gene to become ginger, whereas males need only one. This means there are roughly three males to one female ginger cat. Ginger tom cats father tortoiseshell or ginger females. If both parents are ginger, then they will have all ginger kittens as well.
That’s pretty cool, I thought that it was just a recessive gene that popped up randomly throughout the cat world.
Get To Know Zoya & The Story Behind Her Name
Zoya doesn’t actually talk much unless she wants food, then she gets very vocal, very very vocal.
Zoya and Olena both actually do tricks. Yes, cats are trainable, you can teach them to do tricks! All you have to do is find that jackpot treat that they will go crazy over and withhold it from them. Only use that jackpot treat when you’re training them.
Her name means Star in Ukrainian. And is a variation of Three Slavic Goddess Sisters. Zorya Vechernyaya represents the Evening Star, Mercury, Zorya Utrennyaya (the Morning Star) and Zorya Polunochnaya (the Midnight Star). This is also why she has stars on her collar.
Zoya has a ton of nicknames. Her first nickname was “Zoya the Destroya” from G.L.O.W., the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. And she really lives up to the name when she has the zoomies, which in our house we call, losing your noodle.
She is most affectionate to me when I’m having a down day. It’s like she knows.
She’s a sous chef she loves to smell every ingredient that we put into the pan and just see what we’re doing up there while we’re cooking. Along with being such a sous chef, she also loves food… and is a bit of a chubbins. We finally discovered that she’s stealing Olena’s food, so we have separated their bowls and are trying out an automatic feeder and slow eater to manage her weight so our vet doesn’t get mad at us and so she’s a happier healthier cat.
She’s a shoulder cat, but doesn’t like to be a scarf cat.
Her favorite toys are garbage (bottle caps, and crate paper) and mini whiffle balls. She’s always carrying around toys in her mouth like a dog.
