Tortie or calico?

[WeirdAndPissedOff]

Not the most important/pressing of matters, but one Ive been puzzling over for a while: We have a 3 year old tortie and white cat, and for a while I've been curious as to whether she counts more as a calico or a tortie - from googling it seems torties have speckled coats with only small flecks of col our, and little to no white whereas calico have larger patches of colour and more white.
Well our little Beastie has a typical tortie back and head - muted black with flecks of orange - and white paws and stomach - sort of a tuxedo tortie. She also seems to be more "patchy" on the edges of her white areas - almost like she's a tortie from above and a calico underneath.
I'd say her colouring makes her a tortie, but the consensus online seems to be that a tortie with a significant amount of white would be a calico.

We don't know her parentage as she was one of several litters found in a barn.
So I thought I'd come here for a few opinions. And show her off
Pics attached!

I thought Calico was a U.S. term. Tortie and White?
Gorgeous too!

Looks like a cut & shut to me - front end calico, back end tortie 😂.

I used to have a spares cat - white body, tabby head & tail.

I thought calico was just the American term for tortoiseshell too.
She's a lovely looking cat.

Calico is just (as far as I know) a different way of saying "tortoiseshell and white".

Tortoiseshell cats can be more blended or have more distinct patches.

If you want to be fancy you could call her tortie tuxedo, as that'd match the shape of her white bits.

I love 'spares cat'.

Looks like top end calico, rear end tortie to me. And beautiful.

We had a calico cat when I was growing up. I'm all nostalgic for her now. Had gingers ever since (as they give such good hugs)

Our Dcat is a calico.The first photo , your cat doesn't look calico, but the other 2 definitely do. Ours is the same, one face, legs and tummy with black and ginger on top.

I would have thought calico too as she has a lot of white. Have attached a pic of our tortie!

Shameless photo of my beautiful girl. I think yours is just a darker calico.

Sorry, not one face! I meant white face, tummy and legs. Then ginger and black on top.

Black, white & ginger = calico.

See picture of our beautiful example. ❤️

Calico is American for tortie as pp have said. What you are looking at is the difference between blotched and spotted which also happens in tabbies (along with striped/ticked and probably 101 other variants).

tortie & white

Another one who thought calico was just an American term for tortie. Mine is what you describe as calico - although very much a naughty tortie. You see more calicos around than torties don't you?

Yes it's an American term. Like tabby point Siamese are called Lynx points over there and not Siamese just colour points.

You can't beat a naughtier tortie. Gorgeous cats on this thread.

Attached caramel tortie pt Siamese

Damn auto correct NAUGHTY tortie

Calico = tortie & white

The OP’s cat has a lot of white so is a calico (tortie & white in the UK). Ms Jolly’s cat is a tortie but not calico.

Yes calico is an American term for tortie and white in splodges I believe, which is in fact a useful term to differentiate between the two different types of tortie and I can understand why it is now being used in the UK sometimes.

We use the categories 'brindle tortie' or brindle tortie and white' for the non splodgy type. And simply tortie or tortie and white for the 'calico' or splodgy type.

OP yours is somewhere between the brindle and splodgy type from what I can see. If she came to our clinic she would just be noted down as 'tortie and white'.

We have an odds-and-sods tabby cat - stripey one side, spotty the other. The difference was really obvious as a kitten but less so with increased adult floof.

We have recently adopted a calico kitten. The vet said what makes her calico and not tortie is her white tummy.

Oh, Tigress that is a stunning cat.

'Spares cat' Love it!! I have one of these - have put our black -but slept in the sun too long and bleached - cat in too ... he's gorgeous!!

@flumpybear - I have a sun-bleached-black just like yours!

Attempted picture of "Spares Cat", aka Columbine Bumtrinket.

Torbie.

I discovered this when I was trying to find out why my mostly grey & white tabby girl had little gingery bits.

My little calico kitty. Her sister is a 'spares' cat with a load of different markings including a little leopard print tummy!