Bobbin cohabitates with my brother, Karl (Best. Brother. Ever. In case you were wondering). Her particular tortie coloration* is a bit unnerving - something about splitting a face into distinct halves severely distracts the eye from it's familiar sense of the whole - and apparently she sat in a Brooklyn shelter a lot longer than the average homeless cat because of it... but she's got a swell home now. I don't think she's very fond of me because I compete for chair space at the breakfast table when I visit, but she's ever entertaining, and a whole lot different than living with a dog.
*Apparently, tortoiseshell coloration is nearly exclusive to female cats (this fact may very well be common knowledge to cat people, but I, being a dog person, was unaware). Here's how it works: The coat color gene in cats is located on the X chromosome, which female mammals, as we know from high school biology, have 2 of (XX) compared to males (XY). 2 co-dominant color alleles (orange and black) exist on this gene and during very early development, a phenomenon known as "X-inactivation" takes place in which one or the other X chromosome in each cell is randomly turned off - cells in which the chromosome carrying an orange allele is turned off will express the alternate - black, and vise versa. The result is a uniquely variegated coat pigmentation. Very rarely male tortoiseshells will be born, though since they are genetically abnormal (XXY), they are nearly always infertile. Animal coat color genetics are such a trip...
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