Determining the actual sex of your cat is not as hard as many people make it appear. Even the sex of your tinny kitten can be easily determined. One tricky aspect of this task is how to convince your cat you do not mean any harm as you turn his or her tail from side to side in a bid to have a clearer view of the private parts.
For the sake of accuracy, wait for about a month after the birth of your kitten before trying to determine its gender.
How to Tell the Sex of a Cat: Check Out the Genitals of the Cat
Handle Your Cats Gentle
If possible, give the kitten 3-4 weeks after birth before holding them for proper gender determination. Ensure the mother kitten has no objections to your holding her kittens before you do so and return them to the mother kitten as soon as you notice any sign of agitation.
You will need the help of someone else when it comes to handling ornery or wiggly adult cats. To encourage the cat to lift the tail higher, you will have to scratch and pet the spot between the tail and the back region.
See Gender Differences
When it comes to how to tell the sex of a cat, you have to know the right measurement between the genitals and the anus in both sexes. Don't touch the cat's genitals, measure the distance with your eyes.
For female cats, their genitals look like some vertical slit positioned directly within or below half inch from the anus. If you notice the difference is more than an inch in an adult or half-inch in a kitten, it shows the cat is a male cat. Male genitals are more rounded in shape. The scrotal sac does not develop until 6-10 weeks of the cat's age.
The genitals of neutered adult male cats are smaller than the genitals of cats who are not neutered. You can equally see the video below to learn more about how to determine the sex of a cat.
How to Tell the Sex of a Cat Through Other Differences
Consider the Color
Cats are known to have some colors that are gender-specific. If your kittens are much, consider their colorations. This can be an easy way to tell the sex of your cats:
Tortoise-shell of calico colored cats are mostly female cats.
Ginger and slightly orange cats are more male than female, though this cannot be said to be a very accurate way of determining the sex of a cat.
Look Out for Gender-Specific Characteristics
Telling the sex of intact cats is much easier than telling the sex of neutered or spayed cats. This is because intact cats will always exhibit their natural tendencies that are characteristics of their sexes:
Unneutered male cats are always more aggressive than their female counterparts. They are also known to possess thicker skins and larger heads than the females. They enjoy roaming about, and can leave home for a couple of days at a stretch. They spray urines with powerful odors as a way of marking their territories.
Female cats do not usually mark their surroundings by spraying urines.
Look Out for Signs of Heat or Pregnancy
How to determine the sex of a cat can be a bit hard if you do not have all the important tips handy. Knowing the signs to look out for to ascertain when your cat is in his/her heat period will help you determine the sex of the cat. Intact female cats are known to experience heat periods or fertility periods prior to pregnancy. This happens every 3-5 weeks in a climate controlled house or during warm climates. Every cat undergoing heat period exhibits some very obvious behaviors, such as:
Making some vocal sounds as a way of attracting a male mate. The sound may sound like whining or something out of pain.
Moving her tail to expose the genitals or positioning in a way that makes sex easier. Sometimes, there may be a clear secretion of some discharges from the vulva.
Rubbing against every available surface like walls, humans, other pets more than normal.
Pregnant female cats always have distended, low-hanging bellies.
Breastfeeding female cats have sharp nipples protruding from both sides of their bellies. But using nipples to determine the sex of the cat can be tricky because both genders do grow nipples.
- Do not handle your kittens roughly.
- Do not pick them up or hang them by their tails, they are not mice!
- Do not allow them twist or spin on their tails while they are in your grip. They may fracture their tail bones in the process.
- For all kittens below 3 weeks of age, do not handle them if possible. If you handle fragile kittens too much or get them to smell like humans, mother cats can become angry and reject the kittens.
- Do not handle the kittens if they are still suckling and yet to be weaned. This is most applicable if you notice that their mother is distressed by the way you handle them.
- Do not handle kittens less than 3 weeks old for long. They can develop cold.
- Never attempt to draw out prepubescent male cat's penis. These are cats under the age of 6 months. At that age, they are not able to expose their penis, and any attempt to do so forcefully can get the penis damaged.
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