We adopted one years ago from the SPCA, told it was a female, took it to be spayed, changed the name to Mr. Queenie!

Beautiful kitty! Mouse, what a cute name.

Same thing happened to me when I was 16yo and picked a kitten from a litter. Seriously, I do volunteer feline rescue/shelter work, it can be very hard to tell just by looking - when they are tiny, furry kittens.

Thank you for saving a life.

What a pretty boy anyway, it's easy to see he's had good care.

When I was a child, I had a pet duck named Willy Waddles. Willy was a few months old when he laid his first egg. ;)

What a cute little guy. He looks so much healthier than when he was just a baby. Lucky you to have found him and lucky him as well.

Someone I knew years ago had a kitten she named Alice. Took her to be spayed at about 6 months old (the old standard I believe). Then when Alice was a bit older, she went to a different vet for some kind of care and the vet commented that Alice was an interesting name for a male cat. "No, she's a spayed female." The vet, "No, he's an unneutered male." So "Alice" was then neutered, after having been spayed. True story.

What an adorable kitten. Just beautiful,. My son and his wife rescued a cat from the streets and called him Malcolm. A few weeks later , Malcolm gave birth.

Donna, isn't this the kitten you found in a flower pot on your porch? It would have been hilarious if you had taken my serious suggestion that you name 'her' Petunia or Pansy.

What a cutie pie!!

I had the same thing happen - took her to be spayed. The vet called and said your little girl is a boy. He lived to a ripe old age and was a good cat.

Donna, he's gorgeous! Can boys be called gorgeous? I loved the other stories, but I'm disappointed that Olychick's vet took out something that wasn't there, and charged you.

Olychick, so your friend's first vet billed your friend for spaying a "female" cat that later turned out to be an unneutered male? Yikes!!!

donna_loomis -- what a little love! He's lucky to be happy and at home with you!

had the same problem as others, found a little stray, gave "him" a male name and when it came time to "neuter" found out it was a female. I know that tortoiseshell cats are supposedly female, and something about a "semicolon" vs something else when looking from behind but damned if I can tell the sex of a cat, lol.

Donna, he's even more adorable! I didn't think it possible when I saw the fuzzy ball of fur, but wow, he's gorgeous!!

Along the lines of jasdip's thought... if they went to spay oly's cat, and noticed something was missing, why not go ahead and neuter him, but explain? Sad, they just covered it up.

Look how the eyes have changed color!

That's a well loved little pile of fur! Soooooooooooooo precious! lol funny tho...

He is gorgeous and so healthy looking, I'll be he's fun. I've worked at a vet's office, had probably 10-12 cats and I STILL can't sex a kitten and whenever we get a new one, I ask the vet several different times what the sex it. I don't trust her, either, LOL.

Not sure how anyone could have an unneutered male and not know it, though, unless he had undescended testicles. They are pretty obvious once they get to be about 4 months old.

My neighbor went so far as to look it up on her cell phone and kept the photos of kitty anatomy on it just so she could tell for sure who was what in the litter her cat had. When I questioned one kitten's gender, she whipped out her cell phone and said, "Oh no - it's male for sure!" and yep, she was right. Something about how far apart the - um, privates- are from each other. Right now I can't remember for sure. lol

Sorta OT, but I had an appt. this morning at a low cost spay/neuter clinic to drop off a female (the mother of above litter) to be spayed, between 8am - 8:30am. Had a cage in the cellar all set up for her for overnight stay before putting in a carrier for the journey this morning. Well, she never came around last night at all! I was so bummed. She isn't here this morning either but it is very cold so she may be hunkering down somewhere else. I called the clinic and they said if she happens to show up this morning anyway, to give them a call and they will work the surgery into the lineup. So far, she's no where in sight. I think animals have a sixth sense about stuff like this. She knew SOMEthing was afoot and didn't want any part of it! :)

Rhizo, yes, this is the kitten I found in our huge geranium bush. Glad we picked a neutral name. Once we found out he was a male, DH asked if we should give him a male name, but he comes running when we call "Mouse", so Mouse it is forever.

Schoolhouse, I did my research and read about the colon vs semi colon and viewed pictures and was so sure I was right. Still wrong. Oh well. The older feral is coming around and loves to be petted, but is still skittish and the slightest noise will send her running. And I still can't hold her yet. The only reason I know she's female is that she had her first heat a couple of weeks ago.

Adorable!!! I am glad to see Mouse has become such a healthy cat! He's a beautiful boy and I believe I see some mischief in those eyes!

Sexing kittens when they are very small is hard. There is a rule and you all have mentioned it in some form so let me give you the simple explanation.....this obviously gets easier when the male kitten gets bigger and his extra equipment shows. When they are itty bitty, you have to look harder to determine the sex.

Female cats - when viewed from the rear with the tail up, you should see an upside down exclamation point. The rectum will be at the top (the dot) and the vaginal and urethra entrances will be below in a small line.

Male cats - when viewed from the rear with the tail up, you should see a colon. The rectum will be at the top (dot 1) and the urethra entrance will be below in a dot (dot 2).

Also, all kittens are born with blue eyes. The eye color starts to change at about 6 weeks.

Donna, that's so funny. He's a beautiful boy!! Thanks for posting the pix.

Schoolhouse, did kitty see the carrier? If she's familiar with it, that could be why she's hiding. We've always had to hide the carrier until the last minute. Hope you find her.

Schoolhouse, we are also hoping to be successful at getting the older feral into the carrier on the morning of surgery. Of course, she is in the house, so we know she'll be here, but I can't pick her up and put her in the carrier. DH has been playing with her with the laser pointer and occasionally points it into the open carrier. She was reluctant at first, but now will jump right into it. Hope it works on the day of surgery.

Thus posting reminds me of years ago on the farm....."Fat Man" became "Fat Lady"!!

Mouse is a very pretty boy. Thanks for giving him a good home and good care.

"Female cats - when viewed from the rear with the tail up, you should
see an upside down exclamation point. The rectum will be at the top
(the dot) and the vaginal and urethra entrances will be below in a small
line.

Male cats - when viewed from the rear with the tail up, you should
see a colon. The rectum will be at the top (dot 1) and the urethra
entrance will be below in a dot (dot 2)."

dees, thanks for the explanation, I remember reading about it years ago but couldn't remember it properly, but what you said sounds very familiar.

Actually the female cat is very friendly, used to people, just semi-abandoned by the neighbor and has come to enjoy coming and going at her leisure and not being confined. The time is urgent because I fear she either will become pregnant again soon or may be already. Not sure how she will react to the carrier, but she is very food driven so I have a plan to coax her into the basement no matter what time she comes around today. The clinic said I might be able to reschedule for tomorrow morning if I call by 4:30p. tonight.

Oh, and I want to say that I think Mouse is adorable.

thank you for what you're doing schoolhouse!

I'm actually a bit aggravated with my semi-abandoned neighbor cat. Fluffy kitty doesn't get to go in when it's raining or cold. Oh, and she declawed the cat. I'm amazed she's still with us, but thank goodness she is.

Mouse, male or female, is absolutely gorgeous and looks quite content...You aren't alone with the mistake! I have had cats my entire life and at 78, still make that mistake...I've worked with a trap/spay/neuter group and even had vet techs make the same mistake...One of my own, a long haired tuxedo was scheduled for a spaying until "HE" was seen washing...And I also had a duck when growing up and all at once, Elmer laid an egg............But, you know, we still love them, no matter what......

I'm sitting on the couch with my big orange cat--Maggie--curled up against me washing herself. She's over ten years old, and has become very affectionate over the the last year. We love her like crazy, and can see why your "Mouse" falls into that category, too! Thanks so much for sharing his picture.

LOL!! Murraysmom, I'd pay to see that!

Mdln, thank-you! I used to be pretty good at the kitten thing, but I think that must have been luck. Your illustrations are wonderfully clear.

Roxie and Smudge have so much hair I wouldn't be able to see a thing.

I am very good at telling male from female kittens, but when I adopted some ferals, I couldn't handle them, and for some reason, I thought this one was a female. It was a very old cat, so I named it Grandma. Later, I learned that it should have been Grandpa but I always called him Grandma anyway.

Maryilync- awwww, Grandpa had found a safe haven at last.

Not to hijack the thread, but an update on my attempt at having the neighbor's cat taken to the lo-cost spy/ntr clinic. Coco is still a no-show. I only hope something drastic didn't happen to her. The clinic has been so helpful and understanding that the lady called me again this morning to say whenever I find the cat to call and they will set up an appt. next week. She she told me, "Tell them Sue said you could!" :)

(((Coco)))

They do change quickly ... and I've never claimed to have serious wisdom when it comes to specifying genders in the young 'uns.

Olychick ...

... (unless he did it gratis) can I assume that you returned to vet No. 1 with an invoice, claiming your need for refund of his earlier fee?

ole joyful

Whenever I glance at the title of this thread I see, " Guys, I need a lesson in female anatomy" !

Lol!

I don't claim to be very well informed on some of the nuances of that, either, rhizo_1 of north AL (a long way from here).

o j