Toni and -L.  This is very very interesting.  THANKS for your replies!
The fact that you have more than 34 years experience of many different
kinds of cats between you gives a lot of weight to the theory that there
is a correlation between coat-colour and personality.

And Toni I can see how your views of black cats and ginger cats may
possibly fit easily with my view of my two cats.

My black cat is extraordinarily loving and affectionate to us, following
us from room to room, settling literally under our chins the moment we
recline on the couch, demanding to snuggle up under the duvet as soon as
the light goes out, and so on.  However, every time I take him to the
vet (who happens to be a very sweet and gentle girl), it's as if he
says, "Uh-uh!  No way!  I don't know you on earth you are.  For all I
know you may be a serial killer", and he's TOUGH to handle, bearing his
teeth, and even hissing.  He wants to get straight back in his
cat-carrier.

On the other hand, our ginger cat is almost completely passive when we
take him to the vet.  The vet doesn't need any assistance with him from
me.  She can get him out of the carrier by herself.  She plonks in the
middle of the table and he just draws himself in, looks meek, and
doesn't budge.  He just waits for it all to be over and to be put back
in the carrier.   He wasn't always like this.  When he was a kitten, HE
was the one who was ALL affection, both at home and at the vets.  The
vet still recalls how, as a kitten, he walked straight out of the
carrier, walked up her chest  with his front paws, purred, and sniffed
her nose!   But all that has changed.  Now, at the vet he's absolutely
easy-going and well-behaved, and at home, apart from when he's hungry,
he doesn't show much affection, but seems to be just biding his time
until that time each day when he knows he can go out to hunt!

Our black cat enjoys hunting too, but I think he loves us as much, if
not more than hunting.  Ginger-Tom has clearly decided the fun of
hunting is the only thing worth getting excited about!

Ellie.

Oops- I did leave out the calico/torties.
The very worst, grooming wise.

.Hi, my black and white tux male is handsome and knows it.  He is
definately not interested in being a lap kitty, yet wants to be where
the family is.  He bestows his catnip mouse as a gift, sometimes in my
shoe, on the bed or by the door or in numerous places.

I have a tiny black female cat with quite a sense of adventure, very
smart and loving.  Both cats are "rescue" kitties.  The animal shelter
told me they have the most difficulty finding homes for back cats.  My
kitty had been there two months.

Jon Young aka "dipshit"

Is nothing but a wannabe troll. He's been spanked on usenet endless
times. Be careful or he;ll edit your post.

Oh yeah...? Is that so...? What's you sign...?

I'll bet you see writing in the grass of your front yard, too. Does
your cat talk to you, Ellie? What does he say? Maybe he'z an undercover
operative of the CIA...

You are a f.cking NUT. That much is quite evident. Only a kook would
draw a line between two perfectly unrelated topics like you've done.
What else do you 'see', Ellie...?

What kind? Like the ones you read in the supermarket check-out lines?

IBen

You must be new here. Just killfile the idiot.

Our local spca also finds it takes black cats longer to
find homes. When I was a kid I had a wonderful orange tabby and when I
first started adopting cats recently as a adult I thought I wanted
another one. But I ended up taking home a "leftover" black
kitten..still stuck in a cage at 7 months old. He had been a bit
undersocialized and although he is bonded to me he just doesn't like my
boyfriend, though my boy has always been nice to him and has been loved
by cats in the past. This black cat is strange and a bit skittish, but
he gives me nose to nose greetings and I adore him.

A year later I adopted a Maine-coon-lookalike brown tabby 6 month old
kitten. He turned into a mellow but somewhat distant kitty who likes to
watch what's happening: but he will purr while being stoked or brushed
while held upside down like a baby, a position which in my experience
most cats hate.

Both these cats are rather independant and not lap cats, so recently I
went back looking for a lap kitty. I just adopted two long-haired black
brothers, one of whom is a real lap kitty it seems at 13 months (I just
pray he stays that way!) and the other is sweet next-to-you kitty. Both
are more purry and cuddly than my first black kitty who rarely purrs
except just before dinner or in an occaisonal rolling around mood, and
both are more vocal. So there you have it, three black cats all with
different personalities.

I have a theory about the orange tabby thing. More people like orange
tabbies...they fly out of the shelter. I think that they get handled
more as kittens. In a litter or kittens with an orange tabby or two and
assorted other colors most people are going to pick up the orange
tabby, and there you go, a more social cat, nothing genetic about it.