In color and pattern, the Tortoiseshell Longhair duplicates the Tortoiseshell Shorthair. In show cats, too, the patches of red, black, and cream in the long, silky coat must not mix or fade into each other. The body is more massive, however, the legs are shorter and the nose is pug. Almost all are females. The few males that do occur are, with rare exceptions, sterile. This, of course, makes the breeding to maintain the standards extremely difficult. The female must be mated with a male of a solid color, and often no tortoiseshells occur in the litter produced.

The Tortoiseshell-and-white Longhair is the complement of the shorthaired variation and goes also by the name of Calico Cat.