From the article: Telling the Sex of a Kitten Isn't Always Easy
I've made a couple of mistakes now and then in determining the gender of a kitten, one memorable one resulting in the birth of a litter of kittens from what I'd thought were two male cats. I even once had a female cat named Arthur, from the result of a similar mistake. From emails and forum comments I've read, it appears that the same thing has happened to others. Now you can share your own "kitten gender goof" with other readers by completing this easy form. Share Your Story
Jojo Becomes Joe
- We found our kitten at our doorstep at about a month old, and decided to adopt her. Called her Jojo, and was confident that we got a girl. We brought her to the vet to get her vaccines and deworming, had her record card printed as "F". We gave her a pink collar with a red bell to wear around her neck. She had her regular check-ups at the vet's till she was about 5 months old and ready to make the appointment for spaying. It was only then, the vet pointed out to us that we had adopted a male kitten. Luckily we found out before the surgery procedures were made.
- —Guest Shu
puss n boots and a "girly boy" ebeneezer
- when i was 8 and my sister was a year, we got our first kittens, both siblings. i was supposed to get the boy and she the girl. my grandparents had incorrectly sexed them and i cried and cried. i wanted the boy cat not the girl, it really didn't matter in the end. "puss"and "boots" they were. when i was a teen we took in a stray fluffy maine coon we called "ebeneezer" he looked feminine and even acted like a girly cat. now i am not sure, but i could have sworn our ebeneezer was a gay cat! he and boots were like a tag team, ganging up on the neighbourhood cats and dogs. they were well known on our street....in a good way.
- —Treasa2
1 for 3
- After our female, Fuzzball passed on, we acquired a longhair 'female' who was an impostor. He became FIGARO. Later on we acquired a 'female' gray short hair impostor who became JACK. We got both kittens from private owners. The 3rd female kitten was indeed a female, Maggie Mae was from a pet store. Conclusion: Have your kitten's sex checked by a professional.
- —Guest pluto127
You're no Lady!
- Several years ago, my family decided to adopt a female kitten. When we got to the owner's home, we saw two identical kittens. The owner lifted them both, discovered one was heavier, decided that was the male, and gave us the other. After a long discussion, her name became Lady Katherine of Hoffmeyer (Kat for short). Later, Kat began to exhibit male behavior. A closer inspection verified that "she" was indeed a "he." So, even though my parents continued to call him Kat, I started calling him Tootsie, after Dustin Hoffman's cross-dressing character.
- —Guest Aisling
From Seppi to Sonja
- I rescued a very tiny kitten on 31 August 2000 when the kitten followed one of my neighbors in the gate to the farm where we lived. My other neighbor and I looked at the kitten and decided it was a male so I named him Seppi, a South German nickname for a male named Josef. About the time I was going to take Seppi in to have him neutered, she went into heat so I had to change her name and have a different operation. I decided to change her name to Sonja after HM Queen Sonja, the queen of Norway, since they were both beautiful and regal, and I thought another name with the "s" sound would be easier for her to get used to. I had her for over 11 years until I had to euthanize her the day after Christmas, 2011 to prevent her from suffering more. She quickly became the queen of the L. house and lived up to her royal name. She is truly missed.
- —RevImmigrant
Tasha Became Travis
- Many years ago, I got a real job and a real apartment. I had an adult cat, Cinnamon, but was looking for another kitten. One of my family's cats had a kitten who was born with one eye. They told me it was a girl kitten, and my sisters named her Tasha. When she was old enough, I brought her to my home. Cinnamon took over teaching Tasha the things kittens should know. Tasha and Cinnamon were not bothered by Tashie's missing eye, and neither was I. What I didn't realize that Tasha was missing something else. One day, I was playing with Tashie and rubbing her belly, when that missing part poked out from the genital area. I was very surprised, and so was my family. I decided to name the little boy kitty Travis (long story). When I petted Cinnamon, she looked at me in that wise look cats have. Of course she knew all along.
- —readerlady
Lady Was a Laddie
- A beautiful very large Tuxedo cat opened my storm door and found the way to the bedroom where I sat at my desk. He/she was very vocal and made himself/herself at home. When I couldn't find out who this beautiful creature belonged to I took it in and named "her" Dark Eyed Lady. There was no evidence of exterior genitals and the cat seemed very shy when I tried to look more closely. I've seen people with less modesty than this cat had. I adopted a calico kitten to keep "her" company while I was at work and they were so much fun to watch together. Soon there was a reason for "her" to visit the veterinarian ...an injury as I recall... and soon I was told I could come and pick up my beautiful cat. "And, oh yes, "she" is actually a he." His name changed from Dark Eyed Lady to Dark Eyed Laddie immediately. He and the calico (Sassy) had one kitten together and it was a tuxedo also but we lost it in the flood. Laddie and Sassy have both gone on to the rainbow bridge now.
- —Guest Biscat
My Sylvester
- When we got our beautiful little black and white cat, the kids asked me what it was. I checked and proudly announced that it was a male! Well, I took him to the vet for shots and a check-up and much to my surprise... the Dr. says.....This is a Female cat!! Well, we had already named her Sylvester, which is known as a male name. She not only appeared to be a male, but she loved to wrestle with one of the older cats! She still does and she is 7 years old. I believe she is a Tom (boy) cat!! We love her just the same!!
- —donnarene60
marysrn
- Same thing happened. We had a cat we called Sarah, who was a very girly acting cat. We caught her(?) spraying, and then noticed her(his) hiney. The cat kept the name Sarah and we didn't bother with explanations!
- —Guest Cats' Housemother
Our little Tuffie
- We foster kittens and a little boy kitten, Tuffy, stole our hearts. We didn't realize he already had a name the Humane Society had given him of Trent, but he was still Tuffy to us. We took him and his littermates to have them spayed and neutered but that night decided that Tuffy had stole our hearts. We called the Humane Society the next morning to say we would adopt "the little gray boy". The Humane Society said they only had a gray girl from our foster kitten litter. This can't be possible, we thought, and assumed they made a mistake about which kitten we were talking about. We went to the Humane Society to pick up Tuffy and they brought him out and lo and behold our little Tuffy was a girl! We still can't get over everyone's mistake and since this little one had always been our Tuffy, we renamed her Tuffie. She is almost 2 years old now and is a great little mama to the kittens we foster.
- —Vickie.C
That's MR Mitzi to you !!
- About 16 years ago, when my children were young, I adopted a little Maine Coon kitten from one of my families from my work as a Head Start home visitor. They said she hadn't a name so I named her Mitzi. She was a gorgeous tabby with a distinct "M" on her forehead. A friend was over one day and playing with the kitten. He suddenly looked up at me, laughed and said, " You have four kids and you can't tell the difference between a boy and a girl???" He already knew his name, so the only thing to do was to add a surname... so it was Mr Mitzi until last October when he passed away. He was an 18 pound bruiser of a cat, loving and gentle and never scratched or bit, but his growl would let you know if you were approaching his limits. And no other cats... ever... were allowed into the yard except one he adopted and brought inside to live with us. What a character... I always wondered if his nature was affected by the "Boy named Sue" phenomenon.
- —VTButterfly
My boy turned out to be a girl
- I know, I know. It sounds crazy, doesn't it? I took in a long-haired gray kitten and was positive it was a boy. There were two perfectly placed round tufts of hair on it's rump. I never FELT them to make sure, I just assumed that they were what I thought they were. The day before it's appointment to be neutered it fell asleep on my foot and I felt it's belly moving. That's when I inspected a little more closely and found out that those were just balls of fur and that she was pregnant. The hair tufts went away after the kittens were born and she is now the queen of the castle, well, behind me of course.
- —Guest MissJ
He's the expert?
- For a while, I was at the vet all the time with one of my cats who had been ill. My vet was telling me about a kitten he adopted named and named Amtrak. A few weeks later, while at the vet again. My vet told me Amtrak turned out to be Amy!
- —Guest Tosca
My kitty was both!
- We got our wonderful Isis at a rescue shelter and at the time we were told that "she" was a girl kitten that had been spayed. We gave her the name Isis - for the Egyptian goddess. Some years later, after she was full grown, she became very ill. We took her to our vet and found out that she was "clogged up" and that urea was backing up in her system. The vet thought it was odd since that was more common in male cats. When we came to pick her up after surgery, the vet told us that Isis was a "he/she." Apparently she had organs from both! She had been both spayed and neutered but it was a big surprise! She is still with us and we still think of her as our girl!
- —Guest kathy
Bonita became Buddy
- I rescued 4 four-week-old kittens, took them to my vet, & the techs sexed them. Two boys, two girls. Wrong! I kept the 2 "girls", but one day when they were about 3 - 4 months old, noticed something odd about "Bonita". "She"always was the more bold & playful kitten. Turned out, she was actually a "Buddy". So, even the pros get it wrong!
- —Guest Debby
My poor male cat
- I rescued a cat that was adorable and named him him ghost. At first I thought he was female so I would call him a her and he responded to it for awhile. When I was playing one of my video games I started to pay attention to my other male cat and found out he was humping ghost. I thought they were ready to breed so I put a stop to it immediately. When I stopped them I picked up Ghost and noticed that my little girl was not such a girl after all. Ghost was in fact a male cat and I still do not know why the (other) male cat was humping him.
- —Guest Adri
surprise!
- Sapphire was brought to my dooor at 3 wks old. We fell in love with the little girl. What a surprise when the vet reported her post-op condtion...I looked for ovaries and there was none to be found...instead I looked lower and found testicles that had not descended. Oops! Sapphire became Sapheirous. I dropped off two female kittens for spaying and return with a boy and girl. Now if I can just stop calling her my little girl :)
- —ttalitmile
