Kittens: How to recognize the sex?

Kittens: How to recognize the sex?

Female cat or male cat? What is the sex of the kitten? With these tips you can easily identify the sex of the kitten yourself.

Young cats are always cute. But the kittens grow up quickly. At the latest when the first kittens move to a new family, the question arises as to what sex the lumbering animal might be.

The veterinarian can tell that in cats in no time, but with a little knowledge cat owners can also look whether their darling is a male or a cat.

Let's take a closer look at the important differences in the genitals of cats. Then you will learn what tricks and tips help to examine the kittens for their sex without stress.

At what age can you tell the sex?

If a cat gets kittens, the joy is usually great. But what will the kittens look like? And what sex will the kittens be?

The younger the kittens are, the more uncertain it is to determine whether a male or a female is growing up. The sexual organs of cats are tiny and so are the differences.

But of course we want to know which kitten is male or female. After all, the little balls of fur should get beautiful names as soon as possible. 

A visit to the vet is not mandatory to determine the sex. If you inform yourself in advance, you can also find out the different sex characteristics of cats yourself. A few days after birth it is not very useful to look for the sex, but after a few weeks and with advancing age the decisive differences become clearer. From about two months, the difference can be clearly seen.

However, even now one can not guarantee ultimate safety. If you are unsure, ask your vet or an experienced breeder. These experts are not only good advisors in matters of health: They can also be wrong, but due to their experience they have a very high hit rate when it comes to determining the sex of kittens.

This is how female and male genitalia differ in kittens

• In kittens you will see a small vertical slit below the anus. The intestinal outlet above it looks like a small "i" along with the female genitalia.
• In male cats we see a small round hole below the anus: here the two exits in combination look like a colon.
• Another difference is the distance between the two openings. In the male cat, the distance between the anus and the genitals is somewhat greater than in the cat. Here it helps with the sex determination of the kittens especially if you can compare several cats with each other.
• From the age of about two months, the testicles of young male cats are visible as a small elevation between the anus and the genital opening. If you can't see anything, you can feel them very carefully with your finger: Sometimes you can feel two pea-sized bumps. If you cannot feel them, it does not mean that it is a female cat. In kittens, the testicles may be located further inside the groin area.
• A kitten that is six months or older, if female, will already show signs of "heat" or readiness to mate. The cat does this by marking with urine, becoming very affectionate, meowing a lot, stretching its rear end in the air and thus offering itself to an imaginary partner.

What is  How does coat color and gender relate?

What has the coat color to do with the sex of the kittens? First of all this consideration seems absurd, but surely you have already noticed that tricolor males are rare. And red velvet paws usually do not have a female cat name, because they are almost always males. This has to do with genetic conditions and the laws of heredity.

This is not a law set in stone, because there are exceptions. But the distribution of certain coat colors and combinations is so common that the coat color of cats can be a first clue in sex determination. This is particularly helpful if the small tigers are still very young. The fur and its color are already recognizable a few days after birth. The differences on the genitals, on the other hand, can elude the view of the observer for weeks.

Tri colored cats and those with tortoiseshell patterns are almost always female. They need a certain chromosome constellation for their beautiful pattern. There must be two X chromosomes. This is only the case in females, males have one X and one Y in their chromosome set.

There is an exception for a rare genetic defect: Some males have three sex chromosomes, and these can be composed of two Xs and one Y. Then a three-colored male is possible. However, these animals are infertile because of their genetic defect.

Red cats are found a little more often than tricolor males. But also they do not occur too often. In order to have a red coat, the kitten needs two parents with red coat, which is quite rare. That is why there are red-haired female cats, but they are not the rule.

Identify the sex of the cat without stress

Especially veterinarians and experienced breeders can determine and safely distinguish the sex of a young cat. If you want to look yourself, provide a suitable environment so as not to stress the cats unnecessarily.

Kittens are very sensitive to cold and should always be raised in a warm environment. In addition, they should not be set down on cold surfaces, such as marble tiles or a metal surface - even for a short time. In general, the little kittens should only be removed from their mother for a few minutes for grooming or even sexing.

Removing her baby is also stressful for the mother cat. The smell of the little cats changes, which in the worst case can cause her to reject and exclude the kitten. Therefore, kittens should always be removed from their mother for as short a time as possible.

Tips and tricks: distinguishing between male and female cats

In a few steps and carefully carried out, the sex of the kittens can be determined. This is the exact procedure in individual steps:

1. First, the kitten is carefully picked up and gently stroked until it calms down. Then it is placed on a clean cloth, with its head away from the observer and its hindquarters facing the observer.
2. Now the young animal's tail can be carefully lifted. Caution: Do not pull on the tail, it is very sensitive. Injuries can easily occur.
3. If the kitten resists the examination, it should be returned to the mother. Sometimes it helps to have a second person present to help hold and pet the animal.
4. Now the genitals can be viewed. They are located below the opening under the root of the tail, this is the intestinal outlet.
5. The comparison with the other pelt-noses from the litter can help with the distinction: This makes it easier to notice small differences between males and females and to determine the sex.

we wish you a wonderful time with your mini-tiger! ♥

Thanks for reading: Kittens: How to recognize the sex?, Sorry, my English is bad:)