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 Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 12:23 pm
If you have cats of both genders, how do they relate to each other? And how do they relate to cats of the same gender? Did you specifically choose your cats gender for a reason, or was the gender not an issue for you?
In my case, the first cats gender didn't matter. I picked the cutest kitten, and it just happened to be female. Unfortunately, she's very territorial and a completely snob. Because of this, we didn't think that bringing home another female kitten would go over well. She was a year old and fixed, so we wouldn't have to worry about her having a litter if we brought home a male kitten. Because of her attitude, the other two kittens we brought home were both male.
After a few days, she warmed up to them and started acting maternal to them. She'd clean them and cuddle with them, occasionally playing with them. The two boys were always rough-housing and you'd never see them cuddle up with one another. Oddly enough, when we brought Walter(who is very gender confused but is male and not our cat) home, none of the cats really warmed up to him. He likes to play with them when they let him, but they don't really let him cuddle with them, even the female cat. Although granted, this might be because he suckles on them all and they don't want him near them. xD
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 12:46 pm
Growing up, all our cats sort of just found us, so we had no say in gender and didn't really care. We had three males and five females. I've noticed that the males tended to be more affectionate with humans than the females were, but as far as socializing with other cats, they're a mixed bag.
Kitty (f) didn't really like anyone - human or cat, that I can recall.
Calico (f) was very gregarious and outgoing and I think she did fine with other cats, though was only particularly close to her brother, Tiger.
Tiger (m) is extremely territorial with strange cats, but once he realizes they are part of the family, is very sweet and tolerates a lot of harassment. He really seems like he's making an effort to get along with everyone. He's pretty good with Macray and Lili and tries to be nice to Bart, who just doesn't care.
Macray (f) is close to Tiger and they groom each other some times. She gets bullied by the other cats though and doesn't care for them.
Rosette (f) was very protective of her kitten when he was young, so she kept all the other cats at a distance, though I don't recall her getting into too many scraps once everyone settled in.
Bart (m) loves people but would be best as the only cat in the house. He was the only kitten in his litter and I think missed out on important socializing as a baby. He's very sweet with humans but antagonizes the other cats badly and basically is just very unpleasant with them. When he was the only cat at my dad's house for a while, he was like a completely different person.
Lili (f) is a bully. She gets along with Tiger but goes out of her way to harass Bart and Macray.
Rowan (m) only socialized with the other cats when he was a stray - when I took him home he was an only-cat. He seemed to be quite pleasant and not too territorial.
Violet (f) has only been around my mum's cats for a week - other than that and being with her litter I don't know how she does with other cats. She was very defencive and puffy during the week she was at my mum's but it was the smoothest new-cat introduction we'd ever had, so I think the potential to get along with other cats is there.
Violet was the first cat that was actually picked out. The hubby and I decided on a female cat, since they're less likely to spray, and keeping things clean was part of the agreement with getting a cat (and well, cat pee is the most foul substance on earth.) When we get another cat it will also be a female.
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 12:54 pm
The apartment we live in has a rule where all cats (male or female) have to be fixed by the time they're 6 months old. So, whether they'd spray or not wasn't a big issue for us. Unfortunately, Esper started spraying at 4 months old, so we had to get him and Mercury (who wasn't spraying yet and was 4.5 months old) fixed a little early.
We did find though, that after Mercury was fixed, he became a lot more cuddly towards people then he was before hand. Both our males weren't very people-cuddly.
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 1:22 pm
That's a pretty smart rule. We got all our boys fixed around 6 months (maybe slightly later, it's hard to remember) but Bart and Tiger still spray. >_o So gross.
I feel really bad for all the poor un-neutered adult male cats at the Humane Society. Being un-neutered is just going to make it that much harder to get adopted, but there's no budget for getting all the cats fixed before they are adopted out.
Plus it must be so hard for all the cats that have reached sexual maturity. It seems like there's frequently females in heat and it must just be agonizing for the males and females to be able to see and smell each other but not be able to do anything about it cause they're all in cages. (Not that more homeless kittens would be better.)
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 9:26 pm
Gender didn't matter to me, I just wanted a cat. I ended up picking out Pepper, who was a really frigid female. She eventually warmed up to people, especially after we got Timmy, who is the total male attention-slut cat.
Apparently male cats are more friendly and cuddly than females, at least according to my husband, who's had multiple cats.
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:58 am
Avy Apparently male cats are more friendly and cuddly than females, at least according to my husband, who's had multiple cats. That would be my assessment too, though we haven't had as many male cats as female cats. All the cats at my mum's have gotten more cuddly as they've gotten older too. Macray used to be right stand-offish, but she's mellowed out into a rather affectionate cat (though being lost for two years may have also heightened her appreciation of a loving home, since Winnipeg winters are not at all cat-friendly.)
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 12:37 pm
One of my male cats is definately more cuddly then my female one. The other male isn't so much. He's more of a little hunter who doesn't like being held, although he doesn't mind being pet as long as you're down at his level. The third male, the one we're cat-sitting, is the most cuddly of them all. He follows you around and is super content to just sit on your lap and purr.
I think it depends on where the cats come from and what they inherit from their parents. The home bred male cats are more affectionate then the male cat who's mother was a stray and father, we think, was a barn cat.
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 12:43 pm
Mmm, that totally makes sense. Early socialization makes a huge difference, and if the kitten's mother is good with people the kittens will probably pick that up from her.
I'm very surprised that Tiger ended up being such a big, cuddly suck - he was part of a litter of strays, and was the most terrified, timid kitten I've ever met.
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Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 1:17 pm
My cats, are total hell around each other at times. Like Blue's Oreo, our first and oldest female is a territorial snob. She didn't mind the second cat we got, but completely hated the third and fourth who are sisters. She very very much so did not like the three kittens coming in, to the point that either her or one of the first sets of sisters often pees or sprays around the house. They don't mind one of them, Bailey, but the other two are targets at times. Thing is, the male...Mikey, is the least territorial of all. He doesn't spray, he's exremely people friendly, and loves to cuddle with me. neutral
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 5:03 pm
When I chose my cat, we had to wait until our dog was out of heat, and we couldn't get a kitten b/c my brother would've hurt her. (he's big)
And my mom said we couldn't get a boy b/c boys spray.
Later on we ended up getting a boy Siamese/Japanese bobtail mix on our front step.
We took care of him for a few months. One day we let him out to do his business, and he never came back.
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Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 11:26 am
Well, my first cat I adopted was a male, Jack. Then, a friend of mine found an abandoned kitten and I decided I would take care of the little one. Later, I found out that the kitty was a female, Betty. Even though I have a male and a female they can't produce kittens because they've been fixed ... but that doesn't stop the horny male from being active. Whenever he feels like it he humps the stuffed cat in my parent's room ... he doesn't bother with Betty. She's ... big, now. dramallama
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Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 11:31 am
aka_kalee Well, my first cat I adopted was a male, Jack. Then, a friend of mine found an abandoned kitten and I decided I would take care of the little one. Later, I found out that the kitty was a female, Betty. Even though I have a male and a female they can't produce kittens because they've been fixed ... but that doesn't stop the horny male from being active. Whenever he feels like it he humps the stuffed toy cat in my parent's room ... he doesn't bother with Betty. She's ... big, now. dramallama Oh, I forgot what the topic was ... well, I didn't get to choose a cat in the beginning 'cause the owner had only one kitten left and it was a male, the oldest of the 4 bunch, but I'm glad I adopted Jack biggrin
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