Orange cats are also called ginger, red, marmalade, tiger-cat, and cinnamon. They are not a specific breed of cat, but rather a coat color found in many breeds. Orange tabbies, also called red or ginger, are white with any shade of orange, from the palest cream to the deepest red. All orange cats have tabby markings of some kind, whether it is classic, mackerel, or ticked. The orange gene has two alleles -- dominant (O) and recessive (o). The dominant gene for orange color will actually mask black and brown genes and convert them to orange. If a cat also inherits a tabby gene, it will appear to be an orange tabby. Male orange cats are more common than females, with about 80% of orange tabbies being male. This is because the gene for orange color is carried on the X chromosome, making it sex-linked. Males only need one copy of the gene to be orange, while females need two copies.