Do most brown tortoise shell cats or "torties" have tortitude?

My ex and I had a Torti. Her name was Mystery (and she definitely lived up to her name). Much like yours, ours was also sensitive to emotion, she was a fabulous little ‘fisher girl’ (would drop her dry food into the water dish, then scoop it out), was a master at hunting bugs and zeroed in on the tiniest insect on the wall/floor and stared at it for minutes. At times, when looking at her, she’d be staring at the wall/floor, but there was nothing there. I also heard that all Torties are females (the same as Calicos). She abhorred dogs and tolerated the other cats. She was a sweet little thing with us, though.

I’m not sure what a “brown” tortie is – that color designation refers specifically to cats that have both black and red (orange) mixed in their coats. A splash of white becomes a “tortie and white”. Distinct patches of all three colors is a calico.

Torties and calicos are almost always females. Males are the result of genetic defect. Their offspring can be of either sex.

In veterinary circles, you will find that calicos and torties have the reputation of being more difficult patients.

My cat Misty is considered a tortie. The proper name for it is a dilute calico, the tri-colouring is there but the colouring is diluted and not “patched” as it is in a calico. Cats who carry this tri-colour gene are primarily female but it can occur in males but they are sterile.

I have heard from several sources that calico cats tend to be territorial and do not always like to share their territy with another animal.

My Misty is quite high strung, talkative and is also sensitive to the feelings or her surroundings. My husband tripped over her one day and she hissed at any man for the next 48 hours, then she got over it. How much is innate and how much is learned is an ongoing question however.

Misty is a terror at the vet as noted by @syz. The vet has to come out to the car to give her any shots because she’s demon spawn once the doors to the building open and she catches the scents inside!

We have had two tortiseshell cats. One, Beauty, was a very sweet and very shy formerly feral cat that never, ever gave the vet any trouble at all.

The other, Gracie, was possibly schizophrenic, saw things no one else did, and basically spent her life in fear of everything except sleeping on me. She lived underneath the waterbed most of the time and at the vet simply froze in fear. As a result she never gave anyone any trouble. She was a perfectly normal cat until she hit about 6 months of age and them she took a left turn from reality.

Based on my very small sample, I can’t say our tortoiseshells had “tortitude” or any other sort of attitude.

Now one particular orange boy we had was known at the vet’s office as “demon cat,” but the three other orange cats we have had never gave the vet a lick of trouble.

And male tortoise shells and calicos are XXY, which is why they are sterile. It is a recessive sex-linked characteristic so typically only females (XX) can be that color.

In our family, we recently inherited our fourth Tortoiseshell, and my ex-bf had one also. None of them have had an attitude; they were all pretty mellow. In fact, it is my ginger/marmalade tabby that has the biggest attitude of any feline I’ve ever known.

I have heard that only female cats can have three or more colors in their coat… not that they only produce females.

I think because she was abandoned and had to live on her own for awhile it imprinted in her brain a very demanding attitude for affection, or petting, and also a very aggressive appetite. When she wants to lay on you she doesn’t give up-even if your on the throne. She, is a very nice, smart cat, just demanding in that regard, use to be a great mouser-trouble is she’s slow and lets Fred the female tabby (orphan) do all the hunting for her; then, Fred lets her eat them-eeew!
The word “tortitude” I think came from a cat book-not sure.