It Can Be Hard to Tell Men from Women
Given that kitten genitalia are less developed than those of adult cats, gender identification is challenging. Even specialists struggle to immediately distinguish a female kitten from a male. However, sex-specific behavioral traits, genital spacing, and coat color can be evident in kittens as young as five weeks old.
Careful handling
Avoid interfering with the mother-kitten routine during the first few weeks of life. If a kitten is handled too much during this time, its mother can reject it and stop giving it food entirely. So don’t worry too much about the gender of your kittens. Instead, wait until your kittens are at least two weeks old—or better still, longer—before handling them.
When deciding kitten’s gender, try not to worry so much.
However, male cats are frequently orange or ginger in color (think of the iconic male tabby cats). When you itch them precisely at the base of their tail, they may elevate it, giving you a bird’s-eye view of the trouble spots. Put off the inspection and focus your worries on a more docile kitten if a kitten is aggressive or scared.
How to Identify Genitals
At two weeks old, a kitten’s genitalia resemble punctuation, according to some breeders. A female kitten’s genitalia would resemble an upside-down exclamation point, with the vertical vaginal slit sitting just beneath the anus and very little space between them (when the cat is upside down and facing you). Because the penis is situated just beneath the anus and is spaced from it by enough for the testicles, the male kitten’s organ resembles a colon more. There may even be a few lumps there that you can see that will enlarge as the cat ages.
If at first glance every kitten looks the same to you, pick one and gently press your finger and thumb against the sides of the scrotum (on a suspected boy). Under the skin, two little, hard, oval-shaped particles can be felt. These are the testes, which slither away from your fingertips and are quite challenging to grasp. It is clear that your cat is a boy if the testicles are visible.
Paint Shade
You can identify your kitten’s sex more quickly but less accurately by looking at the color of its coat. Cats with tortoiseshell or many colors are typically female. 1 Because calico cats only have the chromosomal makeup of female cats, you can pretty well be confident that any calico cat is a girl. To begin, pick them up, stroke them gently, and hold them near to you. However, compared to tri-colored cats, only 75% of ginger-colored cats are male, making this attribute less reliable.
Behavior
As kittens get bigger, their individual personalities start to show. A male “tom kitty” may start to stray after he achieves sexual maturity. They may also become extremely territorial, constantly spraying to delineate their boundaries and deter intruders. Males are also more aggressive and agitated.
As young as four months old, female kittens may begin to vocalize their “coming of age” with loud yowls and attention-seeking behavior. But the earlier you spay or neuter your kitten, the less likely it is that it will exhibit these gender-specific qualities (the typical recommendation is five to six months, while pediatric procedures can be done at six to eight weeks).
It’s said that male cats are friendlier and more outgoing than female cats. This distinction does not always exist, and cat personalities often range across a wide range, almost as wide as human personalities. Choose your pet less for its gender and more for the connection you experience at your first encounter.
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If you suspect your pet is sick, call your vet immediately. For health-related questions, always consult your veterinarian, as they have examined your family pet, know the pet’s health history, and may make the best recommendations for your dog.
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