Kitten sexing guide.
How do I tell what sex my kittens are?
When your new kittens are born and mum and babies are settled down it is not unusual to want to know what sex the kittens are.........in fact I would say sometimes that some people find it vitally important to know just what sex their new kittens are! Your queen and the new babies could not care less though and as far as I know still do not come with little labels on so I thought it may be useful to put down my experiences on this page.
When comparing a male and female kitten together the differences are usually fairly obvious but imagine having a litter of boys or a full litter of girls!!!!
I find the best time to determine a kittens sex is either when they have just been born 'still wet' or when they are about 2 - 3 weeks old. I personally prefer to check them when they are born.
For the purposes of this article I have decided to use 3 week old kittens in the photographic examples in conjunction with diagrams to try and show the clear differences that can be seen in a small kittens genitals.
The easiest way to explain the difference is by saying that the distance between the anus and the urinary tract opening is much shorter in a female than in a male. Or to be blunt the holes are closer together in a girl than in a boy. It can be very difficult to determine if a young kitten has testicles as they are very small so I find it easier to just look at the distance between the anus and the urinary tract opening (vulva or penis). It is also noticeable that the opening for the female (vulva) is more elongated than the opening for the male. You could also say that the females openings resemble an upside down explanation mark (!) and the males openings resemble a colon (:).
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