Why are calico cats sometimes called “money cats”?

Some cultures consider them good luck and male calico’s are EXTREMELY rare so people believe they could sell them for a lot of money. Calico is prodominantly female gene and male calicos are actually hemaphrodites. Male calicos are sterile so there is no way to breed two calicos.

I have Japanese Bobtail (cats)

One is a Calico, but in Japan she would be called something like Mika.

In Asia (in some countries and in some cultures around the world) there is a story of such a cat. The story varies from neighborhood to neighborhood and town to town.

Some times the Story is that a Temple was suffering for money and had a cat that hung around. There were some soldiers that were in need of help, they were hungry, wary and had some things that needed medical attention. The Cat, that was a Calico Japanese Bobtail, went to the path the soldiers were on. It sat down and flipped it’s arm and paw up, looking as if it was waveing.. it sounded like it said something,.. maybe Hello.

To the soliders it looked as though it was beckoning them to come to it. So they did. It turned and seemed to try to talk to them some more, and walked a little stopping from time to time to make sure they followed. It lead them to the Temple that was endanger of being no more what with all the bad luck it had been happening. The cat was the only thing to lift the spirits of the Monks or Priest in the temple,..

The soliders and the Monks or Priest met, the Monks or Priest helpped the Soliders (or travelers),.. even though they only had a little left of food and things themselves. The Soliders told people higher then themselves, spreading to the royalty. The temple was saved.

The Cat was called The Beckening Cat and a Mika is a female apprentice of such things as being a Priestess or a Geisha.

So in America there is an Assosiation with Money because people do not know the details.

The Truth is the Beckoning Cat Statues come in different colors, with different things on them, different fur patterns,.. and different things they hold. They almost always have one arm lifted with their paw as if it is waveing.

Solid Black ones are actually for Wealth and Money. The Solid Black Japanese Bobtail (cats),.. the live ones that are bred, are actually the most expensive I’ve seen.

The normal Mika one is usually displayed on the Counter at stores, outside the door of stores, or on the path to stores. It is to bring good luck or fortune (not as in money) and has been attractive to customers for a very long time.

A Greeting usually assosiated with Chinese, but that is found in many cultures and has a connection to this story is ” Nihao” although spelling varies the sound/pronouncation is about the same. This is even found in parts of Africa and Europe.

So I like to say “Nihao” to people some times. It is like saying ” Greetings, may luck/fortune find you today.”

I was looking this up & found that someone called Siobhan had answered this already in response to another question from someone about calico cats.

She said:

In England and parts of the United States, male calico cats are considered to be even luckier than normal calicos due to their extreme rarity. These cats are often called money cats, due to the popular, though mistaken, belief that they are worth a lot of money.

This rumor probably started when a research establishment put out a call for male calicos to test them for fertility. In fact, because the vast majority of male calicos are infertile, they are no good for breeding programs and therefore, not worth a great deal of money. Amazingly, male calicos are said to have been advertised for sale at more than $10,000. That does not mean that anyone paid that price though.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=200610…

but she may have got her information from this site:

http://www.best-cat-art.com/calico-cats.html

In England and parts of the United States, male calico cats are considered to be even luckier than normal calicos due to their extreme rarity. These cats are often called money cats, due to the popular, though mistaken, belief that they are worth a lot of money.

This Site Might Help You.

RE:

Why are calico cats sometimes called "money cats"?

Money Cat

I believe you are thinking of the Maneki Neko. Neko means “cat” in Japanese and Maneki means “beckoning”. You can read about the legend of the Maneki Neko here http://www.namaii.com/manekineko/legend-of-maneki-… . The cat in the legend was a Japanese Bobtail. This is a pedigreed cat that has a puffy, stub tail and is mostly white with patches of color. Many of them resemble calicos, but calico is a color pattern, not a breed, and they are almost always female, which is not necessarily true of the Japanese Bobtail. You can see a photo of these beautiful cats here: http://www.cfainc.org/breeds/profiles/japanese.htm… .

just a guess, but male calico’s are very very rare. if they actually do live, not usually for very long. i have always heard that male calico’s were worth quite a bit of money for testing purposes.

i have a female calico that was born on my lap almost 14 years ago ( I was 13). The owner told me i could only keep it ,if it was female. Males are very rare and worth alot of money…..

I haven’t heard of this… but I know male calicos are very rare, so maybe it is just for the males. Most males will die at birth for some reason.