A cat owner has gone viral on social media after sharing his theory that gray tabbies are just orange cats "printed black and white," but how much truth is there to it?

In a Reddit post shared on Monday, under the username u/TheVoiceOfCheese, two of the poster's cats, Boots and Calypso, are pictured napping on the couch after a day full of shenanigans. They are lying on top of one another, with Boots, the orange one, hilariously resting his bottom on the gray kitten's head. "Are gray tabbies just orange cats printed in black & white?" reads a caption shared with the viral picture.

Ryan Sweeney told Newsweek that he and his wife have five cats in their home: two orange tabbies Boots and Jack, one gray tabby kitten Calypso, one black kitten Noir, and a grumpy old lady brown tabby Yam.

"The joke is that all orange tabbies share a single brain cell. Our little gray tabby has goofball energy that is reminiscent of orange tabby behavior, so we just thought it was funny that she's just an orange cat with a grayscale filter," Sweeney said.

"[However] I think there might be a bit of bias toward orange tabbies, because so many cats, regardless of coat, are just absolute goofballs that bring humans joy with their silly antics."

Orange cats are known for being friendly, goofy and just generally more affectionate than other felines; white ones are thought to be shy and aloof; and black cats aggressive and mean. But does color really affect a cat's personality and behavior?

An article by Catster, medically reviewed by Dr. Amanda Charles, says that the answer is no. But while coat color doesn't affect the cat's behavior, its breed surely does; in fact, almost half all behavioral differences between felines can be attributed to this.

For example, British shorthairs have been found to be less sociable, while Korat and Devon Rex have been found to be more friendly, and ragdolls shy.

Another question posed by the viral post is whether or not gray tabbies are actually the same as orange tabbies, and the answer to that is yes. Gray tabbies, as well as orange ones, are not a breed but a color, which can come in different breeds.

Tabbies can come in different color variations including gray, orange and brown, and in different breeds, like American shorthair, Abyssinian, and many others. Most tabbies also have a sort of M-shaped on their forehead created by the fur pattern. So, yes, gray tabbies are the same as orange tabbies, just printed black and white.

The post quickly went viral on Reddit. It has so far received over 26,000 upvotes and almost 400 likes on the platform.

One user, Littlebookwyrm, commented: "The evidence seems to support it 100 percent."

Flimsy-Turn-8995 posted: "I wonder the same thing with black tabbies. I have a black tabby named Taco and he is just as stupid as my orange cat TC."

Smarty1017 wrote: "I laughed so loud at work … everyone looked at me …"

Jupiter68128 added: "Yeah, the cat distribution system clicked the grayscale button before printing."

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