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Tortoiseshell describes a coat coloring found mostly in female cats. Cats of this color are mottled, with patches of orange or cream and chocolate, black or blue. They are sometimes called torties. A cat with this coloring, but also with the tabby pattern, is a torbie.

"Tortoiseshell" is typically reserved for cats with brindled coats with relatively few or no white markings.

Those that are largely white with red and brown patches (rather than a brindled aspect) are described as tortoiseshell-and-white (in the United Kingdom) or calico (in Canada and the United States). Tortoiseshells and calicos are not specific breeds of cat. The tortoiseshell markings appear in many different breeds as well as in non-purebred domestic cats.[1] This pattern is especially preferred in the Japanese Bobtail breed.[2]