# I found this kitten......... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 10, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066 "2008-11-10T17:43:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066/1 "2008-11-10T17:43:20Z")
I need to try to figure out if it’s a male or female. Calling **Vetbridge, calling Vetbridge** ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066/2 "2008-11-10T17:55:36Z")
Ack! A cat thread with no pics!? What is the world coming too! Anyway, it is not easy. Check the link below for details on how to check (complete with pictures of cat butts): > **[All Natural Pet Products | Only Natural Pet | Free Shipping | B-CORP](https://www.onlynaturalpet.com)** > > Only Natural Pet offers natural pet supplies for dogs and cats. Natural Pet Food, Flea and Tick, Dog Supplements, Cat Supplements and Homeopathic Remedies for Dogs and Cats, Expert articles and information on holistic pet care. Save on Auto Delivery... ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066/3 "2008-11-10T18:45:11Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Ack! A cat thread with no pics!? What is the world coming too! > > Anyway, it is not easy. Check the link below for details on how to check (complete with pictures of cat butts): > > [All Natural Pet Products | Only Natural Pet | Free Shipping | B-CORP](http://www.thepetcenter.com/exa/kitx.html) Shit! It’s a male! I cant keep it. I have three fems and I can only imagine the havoc that will ensue when he gets mature. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066/4 "2008-11-10T18:48:56Z")
> [@Omegaman](#): > > Shit! It’s a male! I cant keep it. I have three fems and I can only imagine the havoc that will ensue when he gets mature. There’s a way of fixing that. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066/5 "2008-11-10T18:49:32Z")
Educated people have been wrong on this before, you should know. ETA - why aren’t your females fixed, then? Plenty of people have mixed households of fixed cats with no problem whatsoever; in fact, the problems I’ve heard of are mostly with multiple females. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066/6 "2008-11-10T19:20:05Z")
> [@Omegaman](#): > > Shit! It’s a male! I cant keep it. I have three fems and I can only imagine the havoc that will ensue when he gets mature. It shouldn’t be a problem if all the cats are spayed or neutered. A lot of vets and shelters are neutering kittens earlier these days than they did 20 years ago. If you get him snipped before he is sexually mature, you are even less likely to have problems. Your vet or local Humane Society could tell you more. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066/7 "2008-11-10T21:03:34Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > It shouldn’t be a problem if all the cats are spayed or neutered. > > A lot of vets and shelters are neutering kittens earlier these days than they did 20 years ago. If you get him snipped before he is sexually mature, you are even less likely to have problems. Your vet or local Humane Society could tell you more. I would like to keep him because I can tell he’s a good cat. But with 3 other females in the house I think it would lead to mayhem. I’ve tried to keep males in my home before and it just leads to spraying. All the the females are fixed but the competition between them is already more than I can deal with. I won’t let cats roam outside. It breaks my heart to leave him to the elements but I can only do what I can do for the best of all of the animals involved. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066/8 "2008-11-10T21:21:35Z")
If the females are spayed, and you get the male neutered, there shouldn’t be any problem. I have a friend with six cats - two female, four male, all of them fixed. The two female cats fought for status _all_ the time, but the males are mellow and friendly. In fact, having the males around settles down the females. So, I recommend you keep him and get him neutered. If you can’t, at least take him to a shelter so he has a chance of being adopted by someone else. ---
**Author:** ![spoike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@spoike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spoike)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066/9 "2008-11-10T21:25:08Z")
> [@Omegaman](#): > > …It breaks my heart to leave him to the elements but I can only do what I can do for the best of all of the animals involved. There are two no-kill shelters in Las Vegas, one being the [Nevada SPCA](http://www.nevadaspca.org/), and the other being the [Heaven Can Wait Sanctuary](http://www.hcws.org/). According to the [nokillnetwork.com](http://www.nokillnetwork.org/d/Nevada), there are four other no-kill shelters in Nevada. Surely one of these shelters can take the kitten so you don’t have to ‘leave him to the elements’. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066/10 "2008-11-10T21:47:40Z")
> [@Omegaman](#): > > I’ve tried to keep males in my home before and it just leads to spraying. Neutering can help with that. Early-age neutering would be especially helpful, as he would never get that hormonal urge to spray. If you really can’t keep him, take him to a shelter. Being euthanized is better than starving, freezing, or being run over by a car. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066/11 "2008-11-10T22:13:32Z")
I’ve had many neutered males, and there’s never been a spraying problem. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066/12 "2008-11-10T22:15:36Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I’ve had many neutered males, and there’s never been a spraying problem. Same here. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066/13 "2008-11-10T22:18:46Z")
We’re all still waiting on the obligatory pics. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066/14 "2008-11-10T22:27:30Z")
Thanks everybody for your input. I learned a valuable lesson from this. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066/15 "2008-11-10T22:30:45Z")
I have three neutered males and certainly no spraying. While two of them were almost certainly neutered young, Stokie was neutered after sexual maturity and wouldn’t dare spray. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066/16 "2008-11-10T23:00:26Z")
The unwritten Doper Rule is once you take in an animal, you are forever responsible for its care. If you cannot keep the cat, then turn it in to a no kill shelter, or offer it to another Doper. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066/17 "2008-11-10T23:39:05Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > The unwritten Doper Rule is once you take in an animal, you are forever responsible for its care. If you cannot keep the cat, then turn it in to a no kill shelter, or offer it to another Doper. Well Fuck man! If I did that I would be at the shelter 2 days of every week. This is why I said thanks everyone for your help. I dont have the freakin resources to do that. Be sure if I could take it in I would but that doesn’t seem to count for naught around here. I haven’t even seen it since I caught it the first time and it tore ass the hell away from me the first chance it got. IT’S FERAL!!! The fact he let me pick him him told me had a good nature but the second he missed mommy he was gone. If I caught him again it would be a miracle. SHIT!!! ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066/18 "2008-11-11T12:36:46Z")
I have three spayed females and added a neutered male last winter - no spraying. He’s rather a bully, but they all get along. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066/19 "2008-11-11T20:44:53Z")
My mom has always had 2-4 cats in the house for as long as I’ve been alive. The only time any of the males ever sprayed was when he was presented with something catnip-scented, and none of them ever fought for status (at worst, there was the occasional snarl when one of them surprised another unexpectedly). Nor were there ever any gender-relation issues (all of them were spayed or neutered). The only odd interfeline behaviour we observed at all was for good while, the youngest became convinced that the oldest was her kitten, but they both seemed to be cool with that arrangement. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066/20 "2008-11-11T21:05:04Z")
We have two toms, both neutered at very young ages and neither has ever sprayed. Now, the younger one, who has a bit of an attitude, will make spraying motions at my SO, complete with tail shaking when he’s feeling grumpy or has lost a play fight but he doesn’t have the stink to back up his motions. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-found-this-kitten/472066.md?page=2)