Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties:
Recently we found three abandoned kittens which we’ve adopted. How do I tell what sex they are?
~Georgina
Siouxsie: Well, Georgina, we’ve bumped this question up in the roster because we understand how important it is for people to be able to tell what sex their kittens are.
Thomas: Some people will prefer to adopt kittens of a particular sex, and, of course, you’ll want to know for your own sake.
Dahlia: Even professionals can sometimes make mistakes when it comes to figuring out a cat’s sex, because it’s not easy to tell with cats like it is with dogs, cows, or other animals whose parts are on obvious display. In fact, for some reason the animal shelter staff thought I was a boy!
Siouxsie: So, to help you and other kitten caretakers to figure out whether your kitten is a boy or a girl, we’ve found this helpful graphic somewhere on the Internet.
Thomas: Mama says to ask yourself, “Does it look like a colon (:) or a semicolon (;)?” Boy kitties have a : and girl kitties have a ; — because girl kitties have a vulva, which is a vertical slit. Boy kitties have two dots with some space in between where the scrotum will eventually be visible.
Dahlia: Male cats have a penile opening. Unlike dogs, boy cats keep their penises respectably sheathed when they’re not using them.
Siouxsie: With newborn kittens, though, it’s even harder to tell. Newborns are so tiny that you typically only see two dots, no matter what sex your kitten is. In female cats, the dots are closer together than they are in males, so if you’re very skilled you may be able to make a good guess at the sex of your newborns.
Thomas: Here is the graphic from above, modified to show you what male and female newborns’ genitals might look like.
Dahlia: You can see how easy it would be for people to make a mistake when sexing newborn kittens. The difference in the placement of the “dots” isn’t even really as obvious as it’s shown in this drawing. Sometimes it can be a matter of just a couple of millimeters.
Siouxsie: And you can’t really tell unless you’re lucky enough to grab two kittens of different sexes when you’re trying to figure out who’s who.
Thomas: So, Georgina, if your kittens are older than about three weeks or so, you’ll probably be able to use the “color or semicolon” method to figure out who’s a boy and who’s a girl. At that age, even if your kittens still only have “dots,” the difference in space between the vulva or penile opening and the anus will be more obvious.
Dahlia: We hope this helps, Georgina. Please let us know.
JaneA Kelley is a punk rock cat mom and award-winning blogger. She is a regular columnist for Catster Magazine, and she and the Paws and Effect Gang share a home in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
My 13 week old kitty looks like she has both gender. She has a hole than some big hairy thing than another hole.
What gender is it?
She’s not a she.
Well I have a kitten and we thought it was a girl, so we named it Lilly. But later in the months we figured out it was a boy! We name it Leroy. :)
Hi : I was give a kitten which I named Bella
I was told she was a female , well she is turning 6 months now, I just scheduled her 1st clinic appointment and a nuetering appt.Well
I was looking at her the other day and something struck me odd. Looks like somthing dropped, two little cottonballs so my bella is a fella. what struck me odd is it took so long to tell. I don’t know it been years since I had a cat, I only got the kitten to keep my male dog(Westie)after my female Westie passed away. He became very lonely. Bella answers to name ,not sure what to change it to now???
Belly would be good I guess :) lol
My kitten Has Some big hairy thing and a hole and my brother in law thinks its a girl but i think its a boy. because it looks like balls to me.. but i still can not tell!!. its like . hairy thing . ! looks like a boy to me but i’m not sure. Some one please help!!? =).
Hi,
iv had my kitten for a couple of days now,
and im not sure what the sex is, its between 8-10 weeks old and its started raisin its tail upright & vibrating it along the furniture, does this mean that it is a male?
please help!?
I think my cat is a it cat. so im just gonna call it a it-cat, :)
K, your cat cannot be an it cat. i dont thik its possible…or maybe it is a hormathadite or what ever its called;
i <3 kittens ^^
mine are so tiny! I only had two cats they were brother and sister there names are mark and angie and mark got angie pregnant and shes so small! I thought that her being pregnant would kill her but this morning she had one then and hour later another and they look just like mark i have incest kitties! There one big happy family in more ways then one so there uncle is there dad! If i introduce mark to my kittens will he try to attack them? And will they be deformed since there…All related…Wink wink
“I own 4 cats!”…to answer, no they will likely not be or become deformed. “Inbreeding” in the animal world is much more frequent than people think and often is necessary when circumstances have “bottlenecked” a small genetic group from the wider range of the species. Sometimes there can be a recessive or harmful gene that will become present in inbreeding, but this usually doesn’t occur until a few generations later, and the truth is that these genetic faults occur naturally all the time in very distant and even healthy animals. I think your “interesting” family is going to be just fine. I would take them to the vet soon to get them fixed though. Female cats can come into heat VERY quickly after delivery and another pregnancy can seriously stunt her growth, cause her kittens to abort, or be sick/delivered early. Also domestic males don’t usually attack the kittens. This is usually confused with lions who will come into a pride and kill the cubs which causes the lioness to come into “heat” again. This assures that all future offspring are the lion’s, not his competition. However, your female (especially a young and unexperienced mother) may not like the attention of other cats around her kittens, even her brother. I would give her peace and quiet and keep the male away, within reason. She might kill her young if the thinks they are in danger. He’ll just likely not want anything to do with them, lol, at least until they are old enough to play with.
my moms cat just had six little kittens last night i dont no if they are a boy or girl there is one black ones two gray ones and three white ones i get to keep the black one
My cat had a kitten last night around 7-8pm I’m pretty sure its a boy when I checked. I’m just wondering if she is done giving birth. Since there was only the one cute kitty :D
hello,my cat is nearly 8 weeks will i be able to tell if its male or female yet ?
Hi, I just got a 6 week old kitten but I’m not sure what gender it is. I’m pretty sure it’s a girl but it might be a guy because the placement of the second dot is kinda low. Can you help :)
Hey me and my friend are having a fight because she thinks her kitten is a girl but i think not
So her kitten has a bigger thingy so i need to know quickly
Hey, My cat (bee) just had 5 kittens, they’re about 1 week old. Im pretty confused. Yesterday we had 3 girls and 2 boys but today it looks more like they all maybe boys. Im very confused and the picture did NOT help a much at all. Nightmare (all black) looks like its got a hole very close to its tail than two hairy bumps side by side than a hole underneath. boy or girl? I dont got a clue. Patches (black and white) has a hole close to its tail, underneath is one little ball a hole than another ball side by side. Weird… Spartacus(a tiger kitten with all white feet and tummy and ribs) Has a huge hole a big ball underneath and than another whole. Whinny’s (poky Dottie) got a little hole close to its tail, a small ball than another whole. Lastly is MeeWee, it looks exactly like mama kitty. (tigered) but MeeWee looks extreamly blessed to me, its got a hole about 3 milimetters down from its tail, a triangle looking form than a hole in the middle of the traingle bumpy thing. I REALLY NEED HELP!
why on earth would anyone REALLY NEED HELP! determining the gender of week-old kittens? What is so essential that anyone would need that information for when the babies are so young? lord
Because they need to get used to a girl or boy name while it’s little
Well The neighbors cat had kittens under our porch and we have to get rid of these wild kittys asap because by husband is alergic to them. I’m trying to talk family and friends into taking them but they want to know what they are getting. I would feel guilty just bringing them to the pound, and 9x out of 10 they would just be youthinized because they ae “wild” kittys. Right now we believe ther is only two kittens.
I do nit know why all of you want to know the gender, but for me its important because I don’t want to have a bunch off kittens later wich I don’t know what to with. And with a makle you can avoid all that. And still have a micecather around
Wowsers. This cat is a boy! No question even though he’s only a week old.
Soooo…. We got this adorable little platinum colored kitten and named “her” Princess Peach. It appears that Princess Peach is Prince Peach. I suppose Peach is fairly unisex….
i need help i have two cats when is the earyest they can be wend i have to get rid of the mother???
jennifer age 9
Hi, Jennifer. We tried to e-mail you directly, but your e-mail didn’t go through, so we hope you come back and read this.
First of all, we’re sorry you have to get rid of the mother cat.
Kittens are fully weaned by 8 weeks of age. They’ll start eating canned food before that, but they’ll still be nursing from their mother. They won’t be able to eat dry food before 8 weeks because their jaws and teeth aren’t strong enough to chew it.
I just got a 7 week old kitten today and I can’t tell if its a boy or girl, my sisters bf said it was a girl but It looks lijr it has balls? Is there any other ways to tell the gender? Thank you
my cat had 4 kittens four days ago an i tried lookin at the gender but to me they all look like little males but i have no clue.all thier privates look all the same sex
i found threer kits ih bmy backyard during the winter wwe then kept them and take care of them
My cat had kittens and i think one of them is a girl but it kind of looks like it has balls???
One of my female kitties looked like a male as a kitten. Some female kittens may have fuzzy protrusions around the genital area that can look like the scrotum of a male. Even the vagina area may protrude a little if the kitten is really tiny. Also, some male kittens have tiny genitals that don’t protrude enough to tell. It can be really difficult to tell for the first few weeks. It should be more evident around 6 to 8 weeks. You can ask your vet or try asking someone at a pet store. Most pet stores allow pets to be brought in and most have someone who can provide a helpful opinion on the subject. The penile/vulva distance from the rectum is not always the best indicator because genital size can vary between individuals. If you happen to have a fluffy little York Chocolate, good luck finding the genitals!
Hi: a friends give me n my fam a kitty at. We name NENA we will told it was a girl but at that time she was a baby now she/ him is 6m n we all was look at her n she is a boy not a girl lol
I have 4 female cats that I rescued. I live in Alabama, I am unemployed & on Medicaid. Medicaid has a program where you can get 2 cats a year spayed or neutered for $10 each. I signed up 2 of my cats & my friend that has Medicaid signed up the other 2 but they’re always running out of money so the waiting list is VERY long & I believe we are at the VERY bottom. While waiting on Medicaid to get the money, all 4 of my females became pregnant by the neighborhood male cats, not mine. Unfortunately, I had them put up while 2 where in heat & the other 2 weren’t old enough yet but I had to put them back outside & I no control over it so needless to say….I have about 15 kittens right now! The 1st litter was born around Feb.29th, I don’t know how many because she has them hid to where I can’t get to them. The 2nd litter was born March 14th, she had 4 & she is in my basement. The 3rd litter was born March 15th, she had 5, but she has since moved them & I know where they are but we can’t get to them yet. The 4th litter was born March 27th & I don’t know how many because she has hers hid as well. I know where all the kittens are but we can’t get to them, except for the one’s in our basement which I see & interact with every day to make them socialable. I have homes for at least 7 or 8 so far but I’m worried that 1. if I don’t find them soon & socializing them to people they’ll be too wild to find homes for & I’ll have to give them to the shelter which will eventually kill them if they don’t find homes for them & 2. I’m afraid my mama cats are going to get pregnant again if I don’t hurry up & have them fixed but I’m afraid to do it before 6 or 8 weeks because the kittens are still nursing. I do not have the money to get them all fixed & I don’t have the money to have more kittens. I rescued all these cats from neglectful owners & they are now my babies but I just don’t know what to do. I can’t keep waiting on Medicaid to get money. The Humane Society here will pay for half the cost to get each of them fixed & the cost is $100 so they’ll pay $50 & then I’m supposed to pay $50 EACH cat. That’s $200 compared to $40 with Medicaid plus the vets always give them their shots so there’s another $20 each I’d have to pay & I just can’t do it. I had to file bankrupt & so did my parents. I live with them. They pay all the bills with their social security checks cause they’re 71 & 72 years old. I was on food stamps but couldn’t get anymore because I live with my parents & they make “too much” on ss. Ridiculous! But anyway, my questions are….what can I do? Can you help me? Thank you & God bless! Susan:-)
Dont have a pet if you cant afford to look after it, that includes food, vet bjlls and any other little accidents that might happen simple
My cat…Cherry just had a kitten May 28th 2012. That’s right I said a kitten. One kitten is weird but o well. We desided to keep him because he was the only one:)
What if the cars y think are females have lined but they are long ways not virtacle?
What if the cats u think are females lines are like this — instead of vertiale? I am having a really hard time deciding male or female. I have 4 cats. I believe the black cat is a boy