We took the cats to the vet the this week.
"Guess what," the vet said, "George is a girl."
Well we kind of already had a clue, since she had gone into heat. She is only 5 months old, so the vet wanted to wait another 3 weeks until her operation.
So now her name is Georgia, but we're still calling her George for short.
The vet said that Ginger is definitely a male. Hubby kept trying to change his name to Bear or anything else more masculine. Finally I showed him a picture of Ginger Baker, who used to play in a band called Cream. So he was satisfied that a man can have that name, and Ginger gets to remain Ginger.
Dusty is a female, as we thought. So in kitten sexing, we did not do very well: one out of three correct.
The younger kittens were born right around tax day, so they are about three and a half months old.
Jasmine gets along with all of them, except at feeding time, when she thinks that all food is her food.
I've known several people with cats that have had the same problem.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I'm a dog person. It's hard to make this mistake with dogs, tee,hee..
That's such a cute pic. When I was a tenager, there was a local cat who had a number of litters in or around our house, and I learned to tell the difference fairly easily. But I have no idea how any longer. It's been a very long time since I was a teenager.
ReplyDeleteThat picture really is so cute. So, how many cats do you have now? I think I've lost count.
ReplyDeleteI checked out the link to Ginger Baker's site. He's gotten very old, and that gingery hair he had has long since turned grey. I was surprised to see that he's still alive!
My Jazz wants to herd the cats all the time. She feels it's her duty and responsibility to keep the cats away from me. They think otherwise and generally ignore her by walking underneath her...I guess she's never heard of the phrase "As useless as trying to herd cats"
ReplyDeleteah, cats. endless source of amazement and humor. the only animal that seems to take itself so seriously.
ReplyDeletei enjoyed this recent post on the blog from a boundary waters outfitter:
This is cat country
I love it when my neighbours cat sleeps along side my dog.
ReplyDeleteIts just picture perfect.
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ReplyDeleteYou named your femal cat Dusty? That's so cool! I don't run across many other females, pets or otherwise, named Dusty... Dusty Springfield is the only other one I can think of.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great pic, as usual! :)
We have a couple of friends with a male cat who's been known as Betty for 15 years. If nothing else it makes for great conversation.
ReplyDeleteThen there's my non-cat parents, to whom all cats are female.
How do the cats mind the dog?
ReplyDeleteYour animals are cuteness, personified.
ReplyDeleteLovely photo of a muddy dog and a silly cat. Do these shots just happen, or do you have to take dozens before you get one this good?
ReplyDeleteI'm with Wayne's folks, all cats are female to me. I just don't get it when it comes to cats...If you pet them incorrectly they bite, if you absent mindedly talk with your hands while holding a mullet they will unsheath their daggerlike claws and walk up your leg to get to the fish and then bite you as they take it...my dog would never do that.
ReplyDeleteThanks y'all.
ReplyDeleteH&B2 I wonder if they were really, really small dogs if it would be comparable to cats...?
Anvilcloud you're still young at heart. :)
RD it's just the three. Yes I was insane at the time.
Hick, George tried walking under Jasmine the other day and scared her to death! She jumped a mile high.
Thanks for the link DB, I'll check it out.
Izchan, ours haven't gotten that close yet. But they've been spotted a few feet apart. They're making progress.
Dusty, yep! She was really shy when we first got her, and hid behind the fridge all the time. So when she came out, she was always... dusty! :)
Wayne, I know exactly what you mean... LOTS of people say "she" for all cats. I wonder if that's a southern thing or if it's everywhere...?
Nio the little ones are scared of Jasmine, but I think George actually messes with her sometimes. But there was a little setback involving food the other day. Jasmine got a little mean.
Karen they can be aggravating at times, but yeah, mostly cute. :)
FC... our dog would! We never had cats growing up, but I can't imagine being without one for long nowdays.
Oops, Pablo, sorry I missed your comment. Well usually I do take dozens, but this one just happened.
ReplyDeleteOn determining gender of kittens and other small mammals:
ReplyDeleteLift up the tail, and the "questionable orifice" will appear to be a "slot." Careful examination will reveal that one end is slightly wider than the other. If the wider end is near the tail, it's a girl, while if it's near the umbilical cord, it's a boy. I've used this technique to reliably determine gender on kittens as young as 48 hours. And if you forget which direction means which gender, just take a look at any passing adult of the same species. Once you know the trick, it becomes obvious how they develop.
Thanks Anonymous! I guess the hard part is holding a wiggling kitten still enough to examine them. :)
ReplyDeleteI always go for the unisex pet names myself :)
ReplyDeleteyes. stick with george. a girl named george is 20 times cuter. I had a girl cat named pip who started out life (we thought) as a boy. we used to tell her how handsome she was and how all the girl cats would like her. then one day i called her name and she raised her butt up in the air. that was the start of our awakening. she lives in
ReplyDeletebrooklyn now with an ex girlfriend. I must visit.
L, well Dusty is fairly unisex so we did that one right. And I convinced hubby that Ginger was unisex too. With George we thought female first, then male. Should have stuck with our first impressions!
ReplyDeleteCharles if you were like me you wondered for just a minute why your boy cat was acting like he was in heat... :) But yeah there are definitely a few precedents for girls being called George, at least for a nickname.