- Neuter (mods if you don’t mind?)
*Assume earliest ethical age, whatever that may be, then wait a year or two.
Are there any lingering gender characteristics that could be identified through “personality” or other general behavior? \
Yes. According to my veterinarian, neutered males will sometimes continue to attempt to mate as a form of dominance. I have seen this myself and it’s the reason I asked Dr. Garrison about it.
Also, you specifically said “underneath.” You don’t have to look underneath a male cat to see they are neutered.
Presuming that one doesn’t know the individual cat, because if one knows the cat then one probably knows what sex it is; and based on my individual experience:
If they’re neutered young, then without looking under the tail it’s hard to tell. (As cats aren’t shy about their bodies, it isn’t generally necessary to look “underneath”; and wouldn’t help if you did. Just look at the cat from behind while the tail’s up.) There may still be behavior indications, but they’ll be more subtle, and may show up mostly if a strange cat’s introduced into the house; maybe not then.
If they’re neutered late: a cat who’s already developed the Tomcat Look with thickened head and shoulders is still going to look that way. Cats who’d been in the habit of particular behaviors will very often continue them, though generally in a somewhat toned down form. I have a tom who was neutered at about ten months, and years later he’s still much more interested in sniffing under the tails of female cats than of male ones – although the females are spayed.
Not infallibly. My friend who is a veterinary nurse tells me it is not uncommon to open up what appears to be a female cat for a spay operation and find out it is a neutered male.
Newtered isn’t good enough; they can get better
Nice.
I’ve always had girl cats, but I got my first boy cat last year. He was neutered relatively young. I don’t see much difference in personality, though he’s one of the more chill cats I’ve ever had. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t get the crazies on a regular basis. He still has a little penis bump, but if not for that I don’t think you’d be able to tell his sex.
Sometimes they have a heavier build, but that’s not reliable. Sometimes they mark more, but females can do that too.
The penis on male cats is generally retracted inside the body when not actually mating (though I did know one neutered tom who liked to stick his out in order to wash it.)
So you don’t tell male cats from female cats based on whether you can see a penis; you tell them based on whether you can see the opening of a vagina. The male opening for the penis is smaller, round, and further from the anus (to allow room for testicles inbetween, whether or not they’re still present); the female opening is elongated. A full (unneutered) tom who’s at least a few months old will have visible testicles, though the size can vary.
– I’ve heard of people who brought a neutered male in to be spayed because they thought the cat was female. I wouldn’t be astonished if, once in a long time, a vet. gets as far as opening the cat before they notice the difference; but I’d be surprised if that happened often. With adult cats or even half-grown cats, someone who’s used to telling the difference IME nearly always can; though there’s a stage of growth in young kittens during which it’s difficult to tell.
Personality varies a lot between individuals, to the point at which it’s not a reliable guide to gender. Toms are on average more aggressive, but I’ve known some very non-aggressive toms and some aggressive females.
A calico cat is going to be female, so there’s that. (The vast majority anyway. Finding a male calico is like finding a rare penny in your change.)
Anecdotally, I’ve had two neutered males who performed mating behaviours (humping and “neck” biting) with blankets. Interestingly, both were monogamous, faithful to one specific blanket.
Then again I had a spayed female cat who would hump the duvet with a silly moony look on her face.
Our previous cat, who had been neutered as an adult, was a humpy thang. His preferred “girlfriends” were fuzzy/fluffy blankets or sweaters (thankfully ones that weren’t currently being worn by someone at that moment), and while he had certain favorites, anything fuzzy like that was going to get his attention.
In my experience, if you scratch a cat’s lower back at the base of its tail, a female, spayed or not, will hitch up her hindquarters, while a male will either do nothing or start licking the area around his face.
I dunno – I’ve only had male cats, and all of them do/did the “elevator butt” move when you scratch them there.
Thanks, everybody.
So, essentially what everybody is saying, is that generally the earlier the cat is spayed or neutered, the fewer sexual characteristics will emerge, and that sometimes it’s hard to tell, even looking “underneath”.
The reason I asked is because I think my dad is the Cat Whisperer. He’s had three un-neutered tomcats, and all were kind of like dogs They come when he calls them and are very friendly with strangers. His ex wife took Fido with her. Bobby was born without a ta il and let my daughter dress him up with clothes, but he had an apparent stroke or heart attack which was captured on surveillance video at their estate.
Now he has Tommy, a rescue who was found with his face half torn off, and shotgun pellets throughout. What evil asshole would do that?
Anyway, my dad has rehabilitated Tommy. One of the coolest cats ever.
I’ve had good luck with spayed females. Weird.
ETA: I guess the major difference is that he’s in a very rural area, and his cats go outside. I’m urban and have inside cats.
That sounds like Lucky, who lived with flatlined here for what I’m sure were the happiest days of his mostly feral life.
He also had half his jaw/face shot off, by some evil asshole. Hence, the name!
Her stories about him were great.
Back to O.P. though, I’d say that a lot of people who say they can tell every time, every cat … got lucky frequently. Pretty sure the odds are 50-50 either way.