Maggie is a boy
By dorannmwin
@dorannmwin (36392)
United States
May 13, 2010 4:30pm CST
Yesterday I was finally able to get our cat, Cornbread neutered. We've had him since February, but when I called the Humane Society there was a very long wait for the opportunity for low cost neutering.
So, when I went to pick him up yesterday afternoon, there were a lot of other families there to pick up their beloved pets as well. One gentleman gave his name and they pulled out his paperwork. He looked at it and started laughing "Maggie is a boy!"
The man didn't know that his pet was a male and apparently the people at the humane society didn't initially realize it either.
This brings me to the topic of discussion, have you ever had a pet that you weren't sure of it's gender or do you know someone that has? Is this an easy mistake to make when it comes to cats?
2 people like this
12 responses
@randylovesdar (4932)
• United States
13 May 10
My sister had that happen to her. She had found a stray cat whom she thought was a girl cat. It was not until she took the cat into the vet that it was revealed that her daughter cat "Betty" turned out to be a "Buddy".
I got my cats Blackee and Smyles from the 4 paws human society and they were correct in telling us their genders.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 May 10
Yes, the huamane society is very good about being able to give their genders correctly. We'd actually intended to get a kitten from the humane society, but Cornbread pretty much found us.
@newtalent (1112)
• United States
13 May 10
We had birds that we did not know until they were old enough to tell, lol. Time to switch the names. The other animals we knew though.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 May 10
When it comes to birds, I wouldn't even be able to begin to tell you how to check for their gender. So, if I had birds I'd have to change names occasionally I think.
@Christmas2006 (1661)
• United States
14 May 10
I had a male cat that was very obvious he was a male...until HE had kittens!!! Took us by surprise because she really looked 'male'. Up till then I had never had trouble telling the male and females apart!
We got a pet rabbit, and assumed that if calico cats are always girls, so are rabbits...not true!
@Christmas2006 (1661)
• United States
14 May 10
Oh it was a shock. good thing we live on a farm! My husband brought a stray kitten home the other day. Very scrawney. He found it in town at the part store. He said it had been hanging around for 3 or 4 days so he bought it a can of cat food, it was very thankful for that, then he brought it home when he came home that night because he was afraid it would get hit in the road if he left it there. Our house tom cat had a horrific fit about it. Growled & hissed all night and the next day, tore through the house making all kinds of hissy fits! he has calmed down. I stoped at the vets today and have an appointment for Mon to have it examined...it is a girl...unless! My granddaughter was here today and named it 'tiger lily'...she has an outdoor tiger tom cat that we have had since she was about 2 and carried all over she is 10 now and we still have him so she named this tiger for him and lily becasue it is a girl.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 May 10
Now, I'm sure that the situation with your cat really took you by surprise. I know that it if was me I would be absolutely shocked.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
17 May 10
How cute. I like the name that your granddaughter has given to the new kitten.
@ElicBxn (63252)
• United States
13 May 10
as my blind roommate says...
Boys are ":" and girls are ";"....
I just assume (I know what that makes me) that calicoes/tortoiseshells are female and orange cats are male until I can determine otherwise - well, not so much the former than the latter....
I try my best to check the rest...
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 May 10
I do remember from my studies in biology that all Calico cats are female, but I don't know if there is such a trait in colors of cats that works for males in the same way. Plus, not all cats are multicolored.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63252)
• United States
14 May 10
okay, quick lesson on cat colors...
there is a dominate "red" gene on the "X"
There is also a dominate "black" gene on the "X" in about the same place
So, while a cat with that "red" gene will express in a male cat there are other factors that affect if a cat is black besides that "black" gene on the "X"
However, because when a cat has a "red" gene on one "X" and a black gene on the other "X" you get a tortie (or a tortie with white we call a calico.)
Both mom and dad have to have the "red" X to get a female "red" or orange or ginger cats. Meaning, that mom would have to be either a tortie or a "red" cat and dad would have to also have the "red" gene.
Now, this doesn't cover ALL the coloration, especially not pointed cats and dilute solid cats, but it does mean that that if mom is a tortie, there's a fair chance that her boy kittens will be orange....
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
13 May 10
It's only easily mistaken when they're very little kittens, because the male parts aren't always obvious at that age.. but as they get older the male parts grow in.
I had one cat that I got as a kitten that I originally thought was a boy, but it turned out she was a girl.. don't even ask me how I made that mistake, lol.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 May 10
I imagine that it would be an easy mistake to make with a very small kitten. However, Maggie didn't look to be much younger than Cornbread is.
@cookiecrumbles (629)
• United States
15 May 10
Unless it is a very young cat it is very easy to tell boys from girls in cats. I personally have never made that kind f mistake. I think it would be silly to get all the way to the vet and not know if you had a boy or girl. I am just glad the humane society was able to take care of the spay or neuter in that case.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
17 May 10
I'm glad that they were still able to do it as well. It is wonderful that our humane society offers that service for the owners of pets in our community. I'm thrilled that we were able to get our cat neutered and I'm also sure that if we ever acquire a pet again that hasn't been fixed we will use their service again.
@Thoroughrob (11742)
• United States
14 May 10
We did, we took ours into get taken care of. We thought it was a girl. The vet informed us when we picked him up that he was a boy and certain parts had not quite dropped yet. I have no idea if it is easy to make, it is the first one we had.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 May 10
I really don't know a lot about cats either, so I don't know how easy this mistake is to make. It really was something that tickled me a lot, obviously.
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
13 May 10
hi dorannmwin In kittens it is easy as the male parts just do not seem
to show up so readily as they do when the make cat is older. We had a tom kitten that we were sure was a girl kitten but as it grew a little we realize that the girl was a boy with prominent male parts so we took him to be spayed and called him a more boyish name Midnight at he was a black, black cat. He used to curl up in a walk way at night and several times I almost stepped on him as I padded through the house without lights on. He grumbled though and let me know don't you dare step on me.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 May 10
My son really, really wants a black kitty. He has been asking for one since we got Cornbread, but I really don't think that we are ready to add another pet to our family right now. He wants to name is black kitten Black Kitty.
@CJscott (4187)
• Portage La Prairie, Manitoba
14 May 10
Well when I was growing up, we had these rabbits. And we thought the brown one was a boy, and that the white one was a boy.
Then we had about 11 rabbits. So we were thinking the brown one was a girl, and the white one was a boy, and so my brother, in his youthfully infinite wisdom....went in to see the bunnies, and the albino nearly bit his nose off, he had bad scratches on his face.
And this is how we finally established that the white one was a mother, and the brown one had too much testosterone.
It isn't very common with cats though, there are some fairly obvious signs(in my opinion)
Sincerely and With Appreciation.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 May 10
Having my cat since he was fairly young (but definitely not a kitten), I knew that he was a male and it was pretty obvious. However, like others have informed me, when they are younger, this isn't something that is quite as easy to determine.
@much2say (53942)
• Los Angeles, California
13 May 10
We had a tortoise when I was younger . . . and the little guy stayed in our backyard for years and years. His name was Timmy. Well, one year my dad discovered that Timmy dug a hole near one of his bigger bonsai trees and laid eggs. Eggs? Woh! Well, from then on, my sister and I called "her" Tammy! 
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 May 10
I don't know anything at ll about tortoises, but I wouldn't think they would be an easy animal to determine the gender on. Oh well, at least the name change was a fairly simple one.
@kaylachan (58496)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
14 May 10
I know with my vision, my its hard for me to tell the gender of my pets. I know that sounds a little silly, but that's just how it is. Regardless of this, my parents always seemed to know, and my partner, well he... he simply thinks he's smarter then everyone. He can look at a cats face and tell its gender.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
17 May 10
No, it doesn't sound silly at all. Very interesting that your partner can tell the gender of a cat by its face.
@macyx11 (29)
• United States
14 May 10
Personally, I have never had to figure out if a cat was a female or a male. But I would think it would be very difficult! Especially with kittens! Dogs are really easy to tell apart, but I would imagine that cats would be much more difficult. I would always check with the vet to make sure of the gender. It wouldn't surprise me if vets get asked about genders all the time!
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 May 10
Cornbread is the first time that I've ever had a cat. It actually shocked me quite a bit to see how different sexing them is from sexing a dog. You are absolutely correct, dogs are incredibly simple to do.
