sexing and aging kittens

gussy14 · Feb 18, 2015

Hello all!

I had to take a long break from fostering (a new human baby takes a lot of time and energy

), but I have missed it so much, so I'm back to having a foster mama. I picked her up from the local humane society today. She has five babies!

Two things - I'm curious how old the babies are. They still have their umbilical cords attached. I weighed them today and they vary from 112g to 129g. The intake sheet says 4 days, (she was a stray and they were already born so it's a guess) but that seems old to me, though I don't really know. I searched online but didn't see anything reliable about umbilical cords and how they relate to age.

Also, any advice about sexing them? We do have a torbie and a ginger, (as well as a black and two buffs) but it is so hard to tell! And I don't want to handle them too much - mama is super-chill and sweet, but no need in tempting fate.

I will post some pics when I can, these guys are going to be adorable. Mama is a medium-hair, so I'm hoping for some fluffballs in the mix. Except they are dangerous because I want to keep fluffballs.

gmm80 · Feb 18, 2015

Well, this is very timely, I just got done taking rear view pics of my foster newborns. This is the second set I've fostered, and every time I think i have it figured out, I second guess myself. I believe I have from top to bottom, female, male, female, male, female, male. But I'd love some second opinions and hopefully this will help you as well gussy14!

IMG_20150218_182703638 (507x640).jpg

gmm80
Feb 18, 2015

female

IMG_20150218_182718177_HDR (466x640).jpg

gmm80
Feb 18, 2015

male

IMG_20150218_182742957 (499x640).jpg

gmm80
Feb 18, 2015

female

IMG_20150218_182800856 (424x640).jpg

gmm80
Feb 18, 2015

male

IMG_20150218_182924167 (543x640).jpg

gmm80
Feb 18, 2015

female

IMG_20150218_183007225 (581x640) (2).jpg

gmm80
Feb 18, 2015

male

Willowy · Feb 18, 2015

What color is the mama cat? Oh, silly question--- I suppose she must be a tortie/calico if she has a ginger and a black. Do you know when the shelter took her in?

Of course you know the torbie is a female so try to match the other kittens up with her, although sometimes that doesn't work as well as you'd think :lol3:. The ginger and buff babies have a 75% chance of being male but statistics don't always cooperate with reality :tongue2:.

gmm80, I think I agree with your guesses

.

gmm80 · Feb 18, 2015

[endif]

gussy14 said:
Hello all!

I had to take a long break from fostering (a new human baby takes a lot of time and energy

), but I have missed it so much, so I'm back to having a foster mama. I picked her up from the local humane society today. She has five babies!

Two things - I'm curious how old the babies are. They still have their umbilical cords attached. I weighed them today and they vary from 112g to 129g. The intake sheet says 4 days, (she was a stray and they were already born so it's a guess) but that seems old to me, though I don't really know. I searched online but didn't see anything reliable about umbilical cords and how they relate to age.

Also, any advice about sexing them? We do have a torbie and a ginger, (as well as a black and two buffs) but it is so hard to tell! And I don't want to handle them too much - mama is super-chill and sweet, but no need in tempting fate.

I will post some pics when I can, these guys are going to be adorable. Mama is a medium-hair, so I'm hoping for some fluffballs in the mix. Except they are dangerous because I want to keep fluffballs.

gussy14 - mine were born Monday, so if no one has a clear answer for you, I can let you know when their umbilical cords start to fall off. Mine range in weight from 144g to 166g, but they're probably a bit larger because they were born indoors and have been eating steadily for three days.

gussy14 · Feb 18, 2015

Willowy - mom is indeed a tortie. The genetics are baffling to me, but you've got it. The shelter got her yesterday. They really try to get kittens to foster homes fast because they are so much more likely to get sick if they stay in the shelter environment. So I'm glad they were in and out in less than 24 hours.

My Wednesday night just got a little wild and crazy looking at these cat rears! Thanks, gmm. How did you manage those? Did you have a helper?

All I could figure was that the black one's rear looked different than the torbie's, so I guess it's a male. Maybe I will post some cat butt pics in the next couple of days.

gmm - In addition to being born outside, mine might also be smaller because there were two more that died. I cannot imagine how one mama crammed 7 kittens in there. It was clearly too crowded. I'm glad that mama gets all the food she wants now.

I've been a pregnant/nursing mother myself, I know how hunger-inducing it is!!

gmm80 · Feb 18, 2015

gussy14 said:
Willowy - mom is indeed a tortie. The genetics are baffling to me, but you've got it. The shelter got her yesterday. They really try to get kittens to foster homes fast because they are so much more likely to get sick if they stay in the shelter environment. So I'm glad they were in and out in less than 24 hours.

My Wednesday night just got a little wild and crazy looking at these cat rears! Thanks, gmm. How did you manage those? Did you have a helper?

All I could figure was that the black one's rear looked different than the torbie's, so I guess it's a male. Maybe I will post some cat butt pics in the next couple of days.

gmm - In addition to being born outside, mine might also be smaller because there were two more that died. I cannot imagine how one mama crammed 7 kittens in there. It was clearly too crowded. I'm glad that mama gets all the food she wants now.

I've been a pregnant/nursing mother myself, I know how hunger-inducing it is!!

Initially I did have a helper, but I ended up redoing all of them because the first set weren't that clear. When I retook them they had just eaten, so they were all a little sleepy. I set a towel on the edge of a table and just rested them so their rear legs were hanging over the edge and snapped the pics with my phone when they looked clear enough to me. Only fellow cat lovers would understand having a bunch of pics of cat butts on your phone!

catwoman707 · Feb 18, 2015

The cords are an excellent indicator of age.

If the cords are still soft, 1-1 1/2 days.

dried, 2-3 days.

They will fall off at 3-4 days.

biancavd · Feb 19, 2015

The sexes you said are correct @gmm80

@gussy14 As for age, I think 4 days is possible looking at the weight and hearing about the cords. Kittens get born usually around 100 grams. This can be less, or more. They should grow around 10 grams a day, but it's not always like that. Let's say the lightest one (now 112g) was born at 80 grams. That means in the past 4 days he/she grew 32 grams. Which is really good. The first day after birth they can also lose some weight, so it seems really accurate to me. I also don't see why they would lie on the papers either, so I would just go with what they said.

I hope they'll grow into healthy and happy furball babies <3

gussy14 · Feb 19, 2015

Hi all!

Thanks for all the great info. I accidentally deleted the butt pic of the orange cat, but here are the rest of them - the torbie, black, and two buffs. To me, the torbie and bottom buff look female, the black and top buff look male. But I figure y'all know better than I do. Any thoughts?

And of course I had to take a pic of the fluffballs. Aren't they cute?

image1.JPG

gussy14
Feb 19, 2015

image2.JPG

gussy14
Feb 19, 2015

image3.JPG

gussy14
Feb 19, 2015

image4.JPG

gussy14
Feb 19, 2015

image5.JPG

gussy14
Feb 19, 2015

catwoman707 · Feb 19, 2015

Looks like girl boy boy and boy to me.

gussy14 · Feb 20, 2015

IMG_2593.JPG

gussy14
Feb 20, 2015

Thanks catwoman! How about this one? Ginger so I would guess boy, but it looks more girl to me.

catwoman707 · Feb 20, 2015

Funny thing is, looks like it could be either! Hmmm. If I were in person it would be easier to tell............shoot!

I'm gonna go with boy.

Ginger/orange cats are mostly boys, but there are actually plenty of girls too, I think it's somewhere around 80% male, 20% female.

This one doesn't have quite the space in between as the others, yet not quite close enough together to look like a girl.

AND those 2 tiny bumps in between

!

gmm80 · Feb 20, 2015

@gussy14 - don't know if you were still wondering, but my kittens are 4 days old today and sometime between last night and this morning, they lost their umbilical cords. I imagine yours probably have by now too.

gussy14 · Feb 20, 2015

Catwoman - Hah! Thanks! We are trying to name so eager to figure out sexes

I suppose this one will have to wait.

gmm - thanks! They started falling out yesterday morning and were gone by the evening. And boy do they keep growing! They all grew 14-29g between yesterday and today's weigh in. Glad I don't put on weight like that

catwoman707 · Feb 20, 2015

gussy14 said:
They all grew 14-29g between yesterday and today's weigh in. Glad I don't put on weight like that

I know right?!!

Willowy · Feb 20, 2015

Yeah, I think both buffs and the black one are boys too. I actually think the ginger might be a girl. The bumps are confusing but if you look at the torbie, you can kinda see how that area can look like bumps. It's hard to tell for sure, though.

If ginger is a girl, that means daddy cat was a ginger tom. Not important to know but a nice bit of trivia

.

biancavd · Feb 21, 2015

I'm gonna give my opinion on the pictures too!

First one is a girl

Second one is a boy

Third one is a boy

Fourth one is a boy

Fifth one is a boy

You have a nice mix of colors there!

I hope everything goes well and they'll grow up healthily <3

catwoman707 · Feb 21, 2015

I have looked at these pics several times now, the thing is, between the tortie who we KNOW is a girl, and the others clearly boys, see how the gincer baby is right in between the 2?!

Could be a girl, but could also be a boy! Haha, I know, no help right?!

I'm slightly leaning towards a girl.

biancavd · Feb 21, 2015

catwoman707 said:
I have looked at these pics several times now, the thing is, between the tortie who we KNOW is a girl, and the others clearly boys, see how the gincer baby is right in between the 2?!

Could be a girl, but could also be a boy! Haha, I know, no help right?!

I'm slightly leaning towards a girl.

It's a boy. You can see his balls, to state it bluntly. I was doubting a little because it seems to be a stripe instead of a dot (The lower part) but the balls make it quite clear. Then looking at the distance which is slightly more than a girl would have, I'm quite sure. It's pretty simular to number 4 =^^=

Willowy · Feb 22, 2015

I was tricked by a female kitten I bottle raised :tongue2:. And I always thought I was good at sexing kittens. She didn't look like her sisters. She looked like the ginger kitten. So I'm not going to call it yet. Maybe a clearer picture would help or maybe it'll just have to wait until he/she either gets balls or not

.

sexing and aging kittens

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member