You’ve made your mind: you’ll have a little kitten at home. Everything’s ready, you’ve even chosen the breed. But there is one question left: will your perfect companion be a male or a female?
You sometimes hear that females are more friendly, or that males are more distant, or exactly the opposite. These differences of opinion according to people’s own experiences at least show that things are not as definite as they may seem. No cat is really more friendly according to its gender. Then one thing is certain: neutering makes the differences in behaviour far less visible between males and females.
More than the gender of the kittens, socialisation guarantees a good relationship between cats and men. However, the beginning of sexuality creates behavioural changes, which have major consequences on this relationship.
In males: excessive meowing that shows its urge to going out, along with urinary marking. The cat stands on its four limbs, turns its back to the surface it is going to wet, and then throw a jet of very odorant urine. If the cat can’t satisfy its sexual urge, it may become aggressive or restless. You may then feel like opening the door and let it out. But your cat’s wanderings will only result in abscesses caused by biting during fights for a female or a territory, or an encounter with a car. And you’ll be responsible for the birth of 10 kittens, which will be infested by fleas or ticks, will get coryza or typhus, waiting at the back of a junkyard to be thrown in the local lab’s truck or the fur dealers’ car. In this case, you’re not likely to pay more attention to your cat, which will not stand your indifference or even hostility.
In females: things are not more fun with non sterilised females. The first heats can happen at the age of 6 months, and then occur every three weeks. The weekly pill or the contraceptive injections can be effective in the short term, but in the medium or long term, there are risks of metritis or of mammal tumours. If it can go out freely, a female could bring you home a litter every four months. That’s a lot on ten years! The only case when keeping your cat entire can be justified, is for feline breeding. If your males have enough females to mate with, they will always be very close to you. And the females, if they can raise a litter per year, will find the perfect happiness in their role of mothers.
More than the gender, sterilisation is the important decision you should make. Once the sexual behaviours are put in the background, the differences between the males and the females are really less marked. Far from being diminished, a sterilised cat no longer suffers from possible lacks, while it can devote all its time to the pleasure of being a companion.
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