I just trapped him (or her)

One of those cats where it's not easy to tell if it's a male or a female. And since the little enigma is getting fat, I figure it was high time to get her/him to the vet for a spay/neuter.

Trapping wasn't too difficult, since I gained some trust there. He/she wouldn't go into the trap, where the food was, so I just gave a gentle nudge in and shut the trap door behind them. Other than surprise, it wasn't very traumatic. I covered the trap, and will be taking them in as soon as the vet's open (in about 15 minutes). I really hope they give me a nice discount, or at least agree to take payment in January - we're a bit tight on funds this month.

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Originally Posted by zeety 

Please don't tell my cats I'm supposed to be referring to them with correct gender pronouns They get on the computer and read this stuff while I'm asleep, you know?

Your secret is safe with me I just left her(?) at the vet's. At a glance, the vet said she thinks it's a girl, but with this being a totally feral cat, she'll have to sedate her before she can take a better look. I guess by the time I pick her up tomorrow we'll know for sure - for the bill's sake, I hope it's a male...

Well, ours is a Larry! When we got back home from our long trip, that's when I first saw him and he was obviously a young one. I think he's probably 4-5 months old, so that's why no pronounced cheeks yet. Glad we caught it in time before he'd have started spraying around the house!

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Originally Posted by Feralvr 

YAY for it being a Larry . It crack's me up that "Larry" has become a staple name these last few day's here. You all know, my hubby's name is Larry too He will be honored that you are all using his name to specify a "male" cat!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL
And good news, he was so young. Will not be an issue then, any established marking behavior That is one lucky little guy!!! Pictures please, if you can

You know, I'm (very slowly) working on sorting through our trip pictures - about 10,000 of them, literally! Having taken so many pictures during these five and a half months, I am staying from the camera for a while. Probably should have taken some shots of the trapping process though. Tomorrow, I'll try and take pictures of our Larry (I think that's what we'll end up calling him ).

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Originally Posted by zeety 

In all seriousness (and my apologies for the apparent thread jack, Ann) but I'm going with MA's method of sexing over at Kitten-Rescue.com.

 

I'm no expert of course, but it seems fairly obvious and straight forward to identify my kitties' sex. Is there really so much controversy on this subject? Maybe I should just re-name them Darryl and Darryl?

These are good drawings over there and I know them well (I helped MA set up the site at the time). Problem is, what do you do when it's an absolute feral who doesn't really let you take a good look? I did have him down for a male at the very first, as his testicles weren't protruding (too young), but I thought I could see them well marked. Then he started getting fat, and I got worried it may be a pregnant female. I guess he's getting plenty of food at the neighbor's cat buffet (one of those "kind" families who share their table scraps but won't spay/neuter ).

You have no idea how many times I was tempted to properly hold him down and lift that tail and check - probably not a good idea when you have an untamed feral on your hands