"Doljan, Joan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
From: "Doljan, Joan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 'Joan Doljan' <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: FW: Quick questions from a lay person
Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2005 12:56:00 -0500
-----Original Message-----Dear Joan: This is the first that I have heard about FIV predisposition and calicos, but I will keep it in mind from now on. Interestingly, a study from France shows that orange male cats are larger and more dominant. Therefore, it was not unusual to find the alpha male in an area to be an orange male. They also found that the dominant cats were the ones that were more likely to be FIV infected. Calico female cats always carry one copy of the orange gene (orange males also have only one copy, because the orange color is X linked and males have only one X chromosome). Is it possible that cats carrying the orange gene are more likely to defend their territories and to engage in cat fights? Cat bites, due almost always from territorial fighting, are the primary mode of FIV transmission. You have posed an interesting possiblity and I will pass it on to our geneticist. thanks, Dr. Pedersen
From: Niels C. Pedersen [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2005 12:38 PM
To: Doljan, Joan
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Quick questions from a lay person
At 11:56 AM 12/22/2005, you wrote:
I have a number of FIV+ cats. I have noticed that all my FIV+ females are calico and that I have lost some of my younger FIV+ guys and gals relatively quickly. Is there any evidence that female FIV+'s tend to be calicos? Is there any data showing that if FIV+ cats reach a certain age, they are more likely to live longer lives?
Thanks,
Joan
