We were talking about barn cats of past and present and someone brought up the cat’s personality in contrast to it’s color.
Examples we brought up.
Tuxedos - Usually have been real people cats and comedians.
Orange - Shy, but love bugs on their terms.
Tabby - Goofballs who love to get in trouble.
Torties - They look aloof, but are love bugs.
What’s been your experience?
I’ve heard that grey cats are quite temperamental. I think they are beautiful, but don’t have cats myself. I’ve always heard that orange males (and I’ve heard that most orange cats are male but not all) are exceptionally friendly, so I’m surprised to hear them called shy. I knew a lovely orange male cat that had the sweetest personality.
Funny, I’d say my experience is similar to yours.
My parents have an orange tabby who is female (which is relatively uncommon, as are male calicos) and she is similar to your description.
I disagree with your orange assessment. I’ve had mostly orange tabby males and they are friendly and big people cats.
I don’t think there’s much correlation. I’ve always had a tortie. Three, so far. And they’ve been as different as night and day in their personalities.
It’s just like the ‘chestnut mare’ stereotype. It’s all confirmation bias. Every cat tht doesn’t match is viewed as exception, while every cat that slightly matches confirms the bias in your mind. It’s completely untrue.
In the south, often, the people who judge an animal’s temperament/intelligence by it’s color do the same with people and skin color. 
I’ve never noticed a correlation on a lifetime sample of hundreds of cats (Mom was the patron saint of stray and down-on-their luck cats). I’ve known several black ones who were strong personalities, including my current Emily Dickinson, but I’ve known some other black cats who were laid back. I’ve known sweet calicoes and cranky calicoes. Goofy orange ones and one flat-out mean orange (even after neutering).
Even with my own Siamese, there are differences among them. Mom never had purebred Siamese, but I maintain a split pride between Meezers and ex street/shelter cats, and once I started getting into certified, purebred Meezers, I discovered that, like other cats, they are all different, contrary to the “Siamese” stereotype. Not all Siamese are talkative, for instance. I will say that with the Meezers, they do all so far, in my statistical sample of 4 purebreds to date, seem “dialed up.” Whatever personality they have, they will have it more intensely than street/shelter cats. But the personalities are still different among them.
I have two orange cats, and had one that passed away a few years ago, and they have all been huge lovers. Very friendly and gregarious. My little one can be skittish, but not so bad that he won’t investigate something or someone new after observing from a few feet away first. One of the barn cats here is also orange and he is VERY friendly, greeting people out in the driveway and hanging around when people are congregated in the barn aisle, he’s usually in the middle of it.
Otherwise, I don’t really notice a difference (though, I’ve been known to joke that calicos are evil. But that’s because my grandmother had a WICKED one. I’ve known quite a few real sweet hearts since). They’re either sweet or shy or evil and their color has nothing to do with it. In fact, every color mentioned, I’ve known at least one (if not every example I’ve met) to be the complete opposite.
The only cat I grew up with was my neighbor’s cat – Whitney would hang out with us for awhile till he found something more interesting to do than watch us play.
He was indoor/outdoor. Had about two teeth in his head, and enough toes for three cats on his paws. Best. Orange. Tabby. EVER. If I ever find myself owned by an orange tabby, I’m going to name him Whitney in honor of that guy.
In my limited experience and population pool, I do have to say that orange tabbies seem to have the most similarities amongst individuals – of the five I’ve met over the years, they’ve all been complete love bugs and don’t mind being social in the least even if they’re “hardened” barn cats.
I’ve had 5 cats in my lifetime (not including the Ooops Kittens). They have been:
Orange male: Appeared on our door as a young, intact cat. Started running others strays out of our yard. Has been around ever since. He’s 18 or 19 this year:) Super friendly, lazy, dog personality.
Gray male: Friendly enough, didn’t LOVE to be around people but didn’t mind us, either. Loved my dad, though. He was our Mighty Hunter Cat!
Black Tuxedo male: Like the orange kitty…fat, lazy, dog, loves everyone, wants to be petted all day.
White male: littermate to the tux kitty, but completely different. Wary of people, would leave for days at a time, hunted, liked back scratches but didn’t want to be held or cuddled.
Tabby female: Mama Cat Katie Kitty, used to be a psycho hyper cat, but has settled down and is a pretty “normal cat”. She likes being cuddled sometimes, other times she doesn’t. Sometimes she hunts and stalks, sometimes she’s lazy and she sleeps.
My experiences have been totally different. I have 3 female orange cats and my sister has 2. We have found orange cats to be highly opinionated and that they are the ones most likely to start fights.
I have a solid black right now who, if he could, would crawl right up my behind and live there. He is a capital-L Lover. He pretty much lives to give and receive hooman love 24/7.
My heart cats were a tuxedo and tabby who made it quite clear that they loved me but were not underfoot All. The. Time.
An orange gave me a cat bite so bad I had to get a tetanus shot. And I swear that effer lured me in by acting like he wanted to be petted.
I have a black cat too who is constantly attached to me. He is a maine coon x so very long haired. His coat is black on top and smoky grey closer to his skin. He is the biggest lovebug out there. He’s constantly with me, sitting on me, demanding to be petted. Loves new people (new people = more petting!!) and is fairly bold.
I have a black cat and my previous 2 cats were each black…very sweet, sort of mellow but spunky…not neurotic, pretty people oriented and a bit “dog like”…though of course they climb, they are usually more near the ground , and will leash walk and are friendly.
I notice more difference with breeds of cats then coat color of domestic shorthair, and imo, long hair cats tend to be more mellow and less athletic than the shorter hair ones.
I am a huge fan of big orange male cats. They always seem to be the most owner oriented lovebugs. Somehow I always end up with a black and white cat of some sort and an orange cat of some sort…not really interested in acquiring any other color cat for some reason…
Orange - Shy, but love bugs on their terms
This fits the two orange kitties I’ve had to a t. My gray cats have been major love bugs, both male and female. My Siamese have all been Siamese whether they were seal points, blue points, or flame points. :lol:
I currently have 5 different black and white cats- all unrelated and all very different on the personality spectrum
I think the only cat color thing I believe after 20 years working at the vets, is calicos are tuffer than nails. I dont know how many times I have seen them pull out of something you were sure was going to get them. Seriously they are tuff.
Based on just my experience:
Barn Cats:
Solid black female, friendly but not a cuddle-bug. Wants to be near you but not ON you or or held.
Tabby male: Foot sitter, follows you around like a dog.
Black&white (full-dress) female – love bug, lap cuddler, follower, all over your car.
My own kitties:
Torti-and-white – very shy and disappearing with visitors; lap cat for me when home alone.
Tabby and white female – grouchy, touch-me-not, always has to be on her terms.
Ginger/marmalade/orange female – very playful and cuddly
Torti female – same
Full-dress male – lap cat.
Solid whites, solid blacks – some very friendly, one walked with us like a dog (on or off leash).
Ginger male – lovebug.
In my experience of barn cats and house cats the color and sex have nothing to do with the cat’s personalilty.
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