April 28, 2006
Feline Friday: Boy or Girl?
After her dad died in 2001, Heidi wanted a kitty of her own so we went to the animal shelter on Long Island to adopt an adult kitty. Heidi and Mouse hit it off right away and it seemed meant to be because Mouse had just been dropped off by a widower too grief stricken to care for his late spouse's kitty anymore. The paperwork said she was a neutered female, about 1-2 years old. We've always thought of Mouse as a "she" and a "her".
The other day, TB and I saw Mouse grooming herself and what caught our attention was a very unfeminine looking part of the anatomy. We were both totally stunned. The girls were hysterical with laughter. "This is so messed up," Heidi says.
Our Mouse is ... a boy?
We need verification from a vet...wait a minute! Shouldn't a vet have said something to us about this already, like: hmmm, this is not a girl kitty, this is a boy kitty. Or do they just assume (like cats do) that all humans are stupid?
More Cat Friday stuff? Try these:
The next Carnival of the Cats will be hosted at Furry Paws
I think that we have the same problem with our
new rescue cat called Sarah
So funny! It must be strange to start thinking of him as a HIM,...
Posted by: Jenn at May 1, 2006 02:38 PMMom,
That is too funny. You have had mouse for all these years and no one ever knew! Sometimes it is hard to tell with cats. 
This happened twice to me. First time was with my cat Baby. I named "her" Baby. "She came to me as a kitten. A white ball of fluff with her sister which Jim called "Guy"... over the first year we saw that Guy was really a..Guy. But still thought my Baby was my she. Until she blocked and had F.U.S. She couldn't go to the bathroom and I brought her to the vet. They immediately called my Baby a he. And I argued with them that she was a she. The vet took my cat, grabbed his male parts and said "see these? he's a he..and what he's got only affects male cats!". My poor cat looked at him as if to say "hey! let go my family jewels!" it was tough regarding him as a he after that.
The second time is with my cat Cocoa now. We brought him and his sister (yes his sister really is a female) to the vet. For 4 months he had a pink sheet like Shadow did. They do pink for females and blue for males in their files. Until one day the vet was giving him his shots and came out and said "I'm sorry, I've made a mistake..this is a male cat..see when they are kittens, their genitalia dosen't distend (sp?) until they get a little older so it's hard to tell right away."
Thats funny you discovered Mouse's secret!
Posted by: Dawn at April 28, 2006 09:42 PM