Today Rhett and Scarlett went to the vet. They tested negative for FeLV/FIV and giardia (yeah!), and got their vaccinations. However, we did have a surprise I had to share with the adopter:
"Hi. Hey, the kittens went to the vet and came through with flying colors. Everything was negative. We did however discover Scarlett has something we didn't expect..."
"What's that?"
"Testicles."
Scarlett is a boy.
I hate when that happens! It happens to the best of us, but usually when you get the kitten as a tiny kit...not at over 12 weeks when things are readily apparent. And not when the kitten is orange (the majority of orange cats are male) even if the mom (female, obviously) was orange herself. But the vet's office got a laugh, and I enjoy laughing at myself, too. I'm glad now that they had a good vet check, so I didn't embarrass myself more fully when I bring them to be neutered next week!
When kittens are little and their testicles have not descended, you have to judge by the distance between the orifices. Males have a greater distance than females. Males look like two dots, and females more like an exclamation point.
The fact is, I just didn't look closely enough.
2 comments:
When I was in high school, my paternal grandfather died. I was really worried about Nana being in the house alone so I went out and got her a cat. A 12 week orange and white long haired kitten, I specifically chose the girl because I thought a girl would make Nana more comfortable.
I brought the cat over to Nana's house and she screamed at me to get rid of it, she didn't want it. So back to my house it came with me. Then we argued about what to name it. My mother wanted to call it Lady, her husband Ginger (due to its color), and me, Chainsaw (cuz of how it purred). None of us won out, so Kitty became Kitty.
My mother took Kitty to the vet and when the receptionist asked what the cat's name was, my mother said "Lady" because she was embarrased the cat's name was Kitty. The vet came in and said "You need to change her name to Guy."
We never looked. We were told it was a girl and took it on faith.
So far any of my "sex changed" kittens have been noticed before adoption. Luckily! Looking under the tail is on my checklist for things to do when the kitten is delivered (just in case!). Now that all of our pets are neutered before adoption, except in rare cases, this happens less often. I think almost every large shelter has goofed on this, but with a smaller rescue like mine it really ought to be caught before the kitten has a hold put on it! Good lesson in humility.
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