Kittens

[Bexxie82]

How can you tell what sex a kitten is?

[saanen]

Look under the tail. In both sexes, you will see the little round hole of the anus just below the tail. In females, just below the anus, there is a smooth bit, and then a little elongated hole (vagina and urethra). In males, the smooth bit below the anus is much longer before you see another little round hole (the urethra). Sometimes it is very difficult to tell, when the kitten is very small, but generally the males have a much longer smooth gap between the anus and the urethra. As the kitten grows, you can clearly see in males the beginning of a swelling (the scrotum) between the anus hole and the urethra hole.

[lankeela]

There is a diagram on here (not to scale!) Scroll down list on left to sexing:

http://www.moggies.co.uk/catguide/toc.html

[wolf63]

I used to think that people were stupid when they didn't know if a cat was a boy or girl. I had always had dogs and it is pretty obvious which sex is which.

Then I got George and suddenly realised that cats don't dangle their tackle like dogs. And after they are neutered there is nothing obvious to differentiate the sexes.

We live and learn.

[saanen]

That is a great wee diagram, lankeela, thanks for that - I have printed it off to put up in the sanctuary for the helpers. The only problem I find is that when the kits are very young, the little scrotum isn't there, and it is sometimes difficult to tell what shape the little urethra is, and how far it is from the anus. It is much easier if you have a male and female together so that you can compare, but if you just have one sex, it is quite difficult when the kitts are small.
I remember seeing a tv programme about a man whose job it is to sex newly hatched chicks. Does anybody know how that is done? My granny used to rear chicks and I still don't know how she knew which were the roosters.

[lankeela]

There appears to be several theories on this one, ranging from the shape of the egg, to white spots on the head, to the length of the feathers.

Here is one article that seems reasonable:

"Hold the chick in the normal head-up position as if it were standing. Extend either wing-tip and look at the feathers on the surface. Look closest to the edge of the wing and you will see that there are two distinctly different kinds of feathers. One set is more feather-shaped and the other is fluffy, downy feathers. The first is called the "primaries" and the others are the "coverts." If the coverts are shorter, you have a little pullet - a baby hen. If they are the same length, or the coverts are longer, reach for a cigar because it's a baby boy. Granted, you have to look closely, and remember that the primaries are closest to the wing edge and the coverts are higher up. "

[eileenb]

Wolf, I used to think that as well....until we got 2 "girls" from a local cat sanctuary.
picking them up after we took them to be neutured,the vet said "oh by the way..the black one WAS a boy,but we didnt find out till we opened "her" up.so we did him as well!
Needless to say Rocky gave me filthy looks for about 2 weeks afterwards,cos the poor sod couldn't sit/lie down properly. :o(