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How Do You Sex A Kitten

Ask Your Vet For Advice

How To Litter Train a Kitten | Chewtorials

If youve attempted to determine the gender of your kittens but arent 100% sure that youve got it right, its always a good idea to ask your vet for advice. If youre rehoming kittens, some families will want a particular gender, so its important to know for sure!

Your kittens will need vaccinating when theyre around 8 weeks old, so this is the perfect opportunity to ask your vet to help determine the gender of each kitten. You may also want to speak to your vet about when is a good time to get your kittens spayed or neutered.

Featured Image Credit: Tom Pingel, Shutterstock

Contents Overview

What Is My Kitten’s Gender

If you’ve established a good relationship with the cat, pick him or her up and lift its tail. If the kitten isn’t responding well, you may want to solicit the assistance of a friend or family member. If the cat still isn’t lifting its tail, try scratching it where the lower back meets its tail most cats lift their tails if you do this to them.

What To Look For To Determine The Gender Of A Kitten

The most obvious first step to find out the gender of a new cat is to look under their tail. This is easier to do with short-haired kittens, so you may have to comb away any extra fur if you are examining a long-haired kitten. Make sure the kitten is lying flat on a towel and lift the tail gently to avoid injuring the animal. Never lift a kitten up by the tail!

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Recommended Reading: How Often Should Your Cat Go To The Vet

Male Cat Sexual Behavior

Unfixed males will also engage in behaviors that you may find annoying to deal with, and these can begin as young as six months. Even male cats that have been fixed may continue to engage in these behaviors if they were fixed later in life. Typical mating behaviors of male cats are:

  • Spraying urine to mark their territory, which unfortunately means your home

  • A greater propensity to roam and want to be let outside if they sense female cats in heat nearby

  • Fighting with other cats, whether it’s other males in the home or neighborhood cats if your cat goes outside

  • Howling or caterwauling if a female in heat is nearby

  • Scratching behavior may increase more when a male cat is stimulated by the presence of a female cat in heat

  • You may also notice mounting behavior from a male cat toward toys, other cats, or even your leg. This can happen when an unsterilized male is aroused by the scent of a female in estrus.

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Also Check: Home Remedy For Male Cat Urinary Tract Infection

How To Determine The Gender Of A Kitten

Differentiating between young male and female kittens is notoriously difficult, even for experts, because they are not yet fully developed. However, there are a few key signs that can help you find out, and these signs become more obvious as the kitten gets older.

If you are trying to determine the gender of a kitten, youve come to the right place! Read on for our detailed guide.

Once Youve Decided That Its The Right Time Gently Pick Up Your Kitten And Proceed To The Next Steps

  • Place the kitten on its front on a soft non-slip surface like a towel.
  • Lift up the kittens tail so that you can visually inspect the perineal area .
  • In younger kittens and in some older kittens, it can be hard to distinguish this difference, so instead, focus on the distance between the two orifices.
  • Once you have divided the kittens into a male group and a female group, double-check them by having a quick look again to ensure that each individual in the group has a similar appearance.

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Sometimes Behavior Shows Gender Too

If youre not convinced by the coat color cheat, and youre not sure about the punctuation marks that youre seeing on your kittens back-end, there is one more way to determine gender. Male cats often behave differently to girls.

Male kittens usually become territorial, which means that they to establish their home and ward off anyone who might be a trespasser. Male kittens are also more restless than females.

Female kittens, on the other hand, can go into as early as four months old. They vocalize this coming of age experience with lots of attention-seeking behavior and yowling. The earlier you can spay your kitten safely, the less your cats will display these gender nuances.

Some people feel that male cats are more confident and outgoing than females, but this comes down to personal experience. The truth is that all cats are unique, and your kitten is bound to have its own special personality male or female.

About Dr Pete Wedderburn Dvm

How To Know The Gender Of Kittens

Dr Pete Wedderburn qualified as a vet from Edinburgh in 1985 and has run his own 4-veterinarian companion animal practice in County Wicklow, Ireland, since 1991. Pete is well known as a media veterinarian with regular national tv, radio and newspaper slots, including a weekly column in the Daily Telegraph since 2007. Pete is known as “Pete the Vet” on his busy Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages, regularly posting information on topical subjects and real-life cases from his clinic. He also write a regular blog at www.petethevet.com. His latest book: Pet Subjects, was published by Aurum Press in 2017.

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Need More Help Sexing Kittens

About the author

Ross writes extensively about cats and kittens and has been featured in magazines such as Your Cat and Our Cats and has also guest authored on newsletters for various cat organisations. He is also a guest speaker at cat seminars.

Leave a Reply
  • 07/08/2017 at 8:51 am

    Hi Ross,

    Thanks,

  • Send me a picture and I will take a look for you.

    I have sent you an email that you can reply to.

  • Send me a picture and I will take a look for you.

    I have sent you an email that you can reply to.

  • I am more than happy to help.

    I have sent you an email which you can reply to.

  • 09/09/2017 at 9:55 am

    Hi Amanda

    It is always hard when you are just looking at one kitten rather than a litter. No chance for comparison.

    I have sent you an email which you can reply to.

  • 09/09/2017 at 8:20 pm

    Hi Ross!!I am having trouble telling the gender of my 3wk old kitten. Is there a way to send you a picture for your opinion?

  • Send me a picture and I will take a look for you.

    I have sent you an email that you can reply to.

  • Hi. We just got a 10 week old kitten and was told it was a female but now thinking it may be male. Could we send a picture for you to confirm??Thank you!

  • No problem, send me a photo.

    I have sent you an email that you can reply to.

  • No problem, send me a photo.

    I have sent you an email that you can reply to.

  • No problem, send me a photo.

    I have sent you an email that you can reply to.

  • No problem, send me a photo.

    I have sent you an email that you can reply to.

  • 09/30/2017 at 1:10 am
  • Your Friends Keep Their Boyfriends Away From You

    Your friends get wary when you start talking to their boyfriends because they secretly feel threatened by you. And your friends hate the fact that youre so good at getting any guy you want.

    This could start to cause problems in your friendships but you know that its their problem if they feel insecure around you youre just being yourself.

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    How To Determine The Gender Of Your Kitten

    It is when they are 21 days old when we begin to appreciate some differences between female and male cats. Although it is common for many people to be wrong when venturing to say the gender of a kitten when it is barely a few weeks old, with a simple visual examination you can get an idea of whether it is a male or a female.

    Discover how to differentiate if a kitten is male or female with two very simple and practical techniques.

    Leave The Kittens Alone For The First Few Weeks

    How to Determine the Sex of a Kitten  Kitten Lady

    When kittens are under a month old, its best to leave them with their mother. Taking a kitten away for too long can be distressing for the kitten and their mother cat. Some mother cats may abandon their kittens if theyre handled too often.

    As kittens get used to your presence, you may be able to start handling them at 2 weeks old, but its safer to wait until theyre 4 weeks old, if possible. Its also extremely difficult to tell the gender of a kitten under 4 weeks old, so you may be putting both the mother cat and the kittens under unnecessary distress.

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    Should You Choose A Male Or Female Kitten

    Ultimately, the choice is up to you and for many cat owners, there’s no clear favorite between the sexes. You should be aware though of potential behavior differences and needs, particularly if your cats will not be sterilized. The mating behavior of male and female cats which can begin during kittenhood can be a lot to deal with so consider these traits before you decide to buy or adopt a kitten.

    How To Tell The Gender Of A Kitten

    While its exciting to meet a litter of newborn kittens, it can be tricky to tell if your fluffy new friends are male or female. Even experts can have trouble distinguishing the gender of a kitten. There are a few tell-tale signs to look for, though, and once you know the difference between the genitals of male and female kittens, its much easier to work out which they are.

    Also Check: What Breed Is A Calico Cat

    How To Tell If A Kitten Is A Boy Or Girl: Coat Color

    Ginger or orange cats, on the other hand, are often male. Three-quarters of ginger cats are male, so while the percentages arent as high as for calico cats, theres still a high chance that your ginger kitten will be male.

    With any color, its worth confirming with a check of each kittens genitals when you can handle them safely.

    When Can You Determine The Gender Of A Kitten

    Saving a 7-Week-Old Kitten’s Broken Leg

    If you know what to look for, you can usually determine a kittens gender from around 3 weeks old. Before this point, their external genitalia are not yet fully formed, and males look almost identical to females. After about 21 days, a few differences begin to appear, and you can start to make educated guesses about the kittens gender. There are three ways to determine a kittens gender.

    Read Also: How To Make Homemade Treats For Cats

    How To Determine A Kittens Age

    If youve helped rescue a few kittens or found a stray litter that you want to support, its a good idea to find out how old the kittens are. This can help you work out what specific care they need.

    Its worth noting that stray kittens should never be separated from their mother or removed from their nest before you establish if the mother is coming back. Before you do anything, contact your local animal rescue organization for advice.

    If youre looking for a quick summary to find out how old is my kitten and key milestones of their growth, weve included a checklist at the bottom of the article!

    Female Cat Sexual Behavior

    Female cats will go first go into heat around six to 10 months of age. Some cat breeds will go into heat even younger, such as the Siamese at around four months. A cat will go into heat at least twice a year, although an indoor cat can potentially enter estrus much more often. Typical behaviors that your female cat in heat will display include:

    • Rubbing up against any and all vertical areas in your house

    • Howling loudly which is her mating call to potential mates

    • Entering a “bowing” position often, which is the position a female cat is in during the mating process

    • Spraying urine on your walls is rare among females but can happen

    • Inappropriate defecation around the house

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