Tricolor cats are actually almost always female. No wonder a Las Vegas animal shelter is completely smitten with a little cat. He has a very special coat.

In the photo that “The Animal Foundation” posted on Instagram last Friday, the young cat looks a bit disheveled. But the half-long fur also indicates that the animal is something very special: the tomcat is three-colored, according to animal rights activists. So his fur has black, reddish and white elements.

Employees of what they claim to be the largest facility for animals in need in the US state of Nevada are over the moon, as the Instagram post shows: Because animals like the tomcat, who was baptized Comet, are so rare that they are also called “Unicorns among cats”. Hardly anyone ever sees them.

Two things make Comet so special: on the one hand his three-colored coat and on the other hand the fact that he is a tomcat.

Although tricolor is not particularly common in female cats either, males with such a coat are extremely rare, as stated in articles on the tomcat from Las Vegas and on tricolor in cats in general. Only about one in three thousand tri-colored cats is male, the shelter operators write – a number that is generally confirmed in articles on the subject. It is sometimes even said that cats with tricolor coats are always female. But, as the case from Las Vegas shows, there are apparently exceptions.

Tricolor cats are rarely born – but tomcats with such fur are an absolute rarity

Some employees in animal shelters or veterinary facilities have not seen such an animal in decades of their job, writes the organization “The Animal Foundation”, which claims to have helped 15,500 homeless, injured or abused animals in the past year alone. Comet is without a doubt one of the most unique cats ever accepted by Animal Foundation. “So cool!” the Instagram post reads.

No wonder Comet was also adopted on the spot, as the animal shelter operators wrote in an update on Instagram about the little cat. Maybe its new owners hope it will bring them luck. Because cats with three colors have been considered “lucky cats” for centuries, the expression is also used in German.

In earlier times, ship crews are said to have liked to take cats with three-colored fur with them on their voyages. That should protect the ships from harm. Presumably the four-legged crew members on board also had to catch mice. Merely looking good and being lucky will not have been enough to qualify as a ship’s cat.

Anyone who now looks at their grey, black and white house cat and thinks that it is also a “lucky cat” is wrong: because there must be reddish elements in the fur in addition to white and black.

Tricolor is a freak of nature and cannot be bred. The phenomenon occurs in many different breeds.

The little Comet will probably not have offspring. Because tricolor tomcats are considered generally infertile due to their genetic characteristics.

Sources: “MyNews4”, The Animal Foundation on Instagram, “Heart for Animals”, “Fressnapf.de”

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