Do male and female cats have different characters?

They do have slightly different personalities in general in my opinion but I've asked the question because the American Animal Hospital Association Encyclopaedia of Cat Health and Care states that "There are no sex-linked character differences between male and female cats". They add that "both male and female cats are loving and companionable [and] altered cats may become an even more attentive and affectionate pet".

Difference between male and female cats in terms of distance travelled from home. Image: Admiral Insurance.

Home range

I think that they're slightly wrong to be fair. Even after being neutered, male cats are likely to want a bigger home range than female cats. They want a larger area that they call their own. This means that if they are allowed outside unsupervised - and many domestic cats still are nowadays - they will roam wider and further than female cats.

Risk

This exposes them to more risks than female cats. Another behavioural trait of male cats compared to female cats is that they can be more aggressive which means they are likely to get into more fights in defending their territory against invading cats. This will also expose them to more health risks.

Stand-offish?

And it is said that female cats can be little more standoffish and even less friendly than male cats. I can't find any hard scientific facts about that so will call it anecdotal. That means that cat owners report it.

RELATED: Are male cats more affectionate with humans and other cats than females?

Ginger tabby

Interestingly, it is said that the ginger tabby domestic cat is a friendly cat. It is said that their character is linked to their appearance which is unusual but there is evidence to suggest that this is true.

And 80% of ginger tabby cats are male. This would support what I have just stated above. But, then again, female cats are more gentle than male cats. 

Tortoiseshell

There is another interesting coat type which is sex-linked namely the tortoiseshell and tortoiseshell-and-white coat. These cats are nearly always female because of the way the genetics work. You can read about that if you like by clicking on this link.

1 in 3000 rare male calico cat in the hands of an Asian vet. Image: Twitter.

But the point is this: it is said, anecdotally again, that tortoiseshell cats have what cat lovers call "catitude". This, as you might expect, means a cat with attitude. A little bit feisty perhaps. Perhaps a little more independent and minded to do their own thing and be less obedient. So, this perhaps adds to the notion that female cats are slightly less friendly than male cats if you bring into the equation all of the tortoiseshell and tortoiseshell-and-white cats.

Confidence and timidity

Because they're less likely to roam far and wide I think we can say that female cats are more timid in general but one must observe the simple fact that each cat has their own personality. It is very difficult to generalise about the differences between male and female cats in terms of character or personality.

The more timid cat is not going to get into so much trouble. They're going to be more pliable and gentler with their owner; perhaps desiring more to be on their owner's lap. But once again, whether a domestic cat is a lap cat or not cuts across the gender of the cat. It is not sex-linked as they say.

90% the same

I think it's fair to say that male and female cat characters are 90% or more the same. There will be some slight differences, in general, in terms of aggression, self-confidence, outgoing behaviour perhaps, lack of timidity and so on.

Prefer females

Personally, although I currently live with a male former-feral cat, I prefer female cats because they are more gentle and less likely to get lost. There is another point worth mentioning. If I am correct in saying that male cats like to roam further than female cats then they are more likely to get lost I would argue. The female cat will stay nearer home and be less adventurous which, for me, is a great asset in terms of peace of mind if, as I do, you have a cat flap and let your cat go outside unsupervised.

Females/mothers

Image:MikeB

I hope this helps. I would love you to share your views on the difference between male and female character.

Woman adopts 20-year-old shelter cat to remove him from the shelter

Image: Quora.com

On Quora. com:

"My friends daughter went to adopt a cat from the local shelter... she chose this cat because he was 20 years old & didn't want him to spend the rest of his life in a shelter...

There aren't words for a moment like this... the picture says it all..."

~Copied and pasted from another page~

RELATED: 26-year-old Rescue Cat Quickly Adopted.

Comment: brilliant. It's the kind of attitude all us should have when it comes to cat adoption. 

I'll tell you this: I bet this was and probably still is a brilliant relationship with rewards on both sides.

Good example of sectoral heterochromia in a white domestic cat

This is a beautiful white cat with a not untypical eye colour. It looks unusual but it really isn't that unusual. It is a variation on or an extension of heterochromia iridis in domestic cats which in layman's terms means odd-eye colour. This is what happens.

Good example of sectoral heterochromia in a white domestic cat. Image: Pinterest.

The dominant white gene produces an all-white cat by removing melanin from the hair strands to leave them a sort of opaque-white. The gene affects the migration of melanin producing cells called melanocytes in the iris of the eye.

This can leave the eyes of an all-white cat with the colour blue. This is not because there is blue melanin pigmentation in the iris but because there is no pigmentation. The blueness comes from the refraction of white light through the eye. 

The colours of the rainbow e.g. red, are scattered less than the colour blue as they pass through the eye because they are longer wavelengths. Blue light has a shorter wavelength and is scattered more leaving the eye the colour blue. 

Kittens have blue eyes until about 6 moths after birth as the melanin producing cells create melanin for the kitten's iris.

And sometimes one eye is affected like this and the other isn't which leaves the odd-eyed appearance. This normally means one eye is blue and the other is yellow. And sometimes in the case of sectoral heterochromia that odd-eye colour takes place within a single eye which, means that half the eye is yellowy brown and the other half is blue. Once again this is about the migration of melanin producing cells affected by the dominant white gene.

The dominant white gene also affects hearing. It affects the functioning of the inner ear in the way the nervous impulses are transmitted from the cilia in the semicircular canals to the brain. The theory is the cilia (fine hairs) of the semi-circular canals are missing or partially missing because of the dominant white gene. 

The end result is that the cat becomes either deaf in both ears or deaf in one ear. And if they are deaf in one ear it is on the side where there is a blue eye.

RELATED: Sectoral heterochromia in cats.

Comments are welcome. Wrong? Please tell me.

How do I know what my cat likes?

The duty of the cat caregiver is twofold fundamentally, (a) to provide a secure home - safety comes first and (b) to make their cat happy!

Jackson Galaxy has some great advice on how to start the process of making your cat happy. And his advice is echoed in Dr. Desmond Morris's well-known book Cat Watching, the first and I would say best book on domestic cat behaviour on the market.

Image: MikeB

Jackson Galaxy says that cat owners should behave like a detective to find out what's going on; what's wrong and what's right, which means that the cat owner should be very observant.

I think that part of the duty of being a good cat caregiver is to be highly observant. Cat owners should watch their cat and take mental notes or even write it down.

If you want to find out what makes your cat happy observe their behaviour. Here are a couple of simple and easy examples.

Food preferences

Cat owners should provide their cat with best quality wet and a bit of dry food for night-time grazing together with some treats from time to time. Domestic cats have food preferences when it comes to wet cat food. To find out those preferences you have to go through a lot of different cat foods and observe the cat's response. Simple stuff. Once you found their favourite you provide it regularly.

RELATED: How do I know if I’m feeding my cat good quality dry cat food?

This will not only make your cat happier but it will also reduce the amount of wet cat food wastage. And it is always a nightmare to get rid of wet cat food which is going off as it so smelly, messy and horrible!

RELATED: What is complete cat food?

Sleeping arrangements

Another example would be to observe where your cat likes to sleep. If your cat is an indoor/outdoor cat they might spend quite a lot of time outside at night and sleep during the day when there is a lot of activity at least potentially in the home. 

An indoor/outdoor cat might have difficulty in finding a quiet place to sleep. Their caregiver should observe their cat and provide a quiet corner of the home, perhaps a room, where they can sleep and within that home use a customised discarded cardboard box which will provide a roof over the cat's head and walls on their sides. Domestic cats like to feel the pressure of the walls of a box against them as it gives them a sense of security. It's why they like boxes.

Quite a lot of cats are borderline anxious or actually anxious. They don't show this to their owner. Cats are undemonstrative which makes it difficult to find out what they like and therefore what makes them happy. This is where the owner's observational skills come into play.

Caregivers should be detectives and they should do this all the time throughout their period of cat ownership. It never stops. Cat owners can always learn more about their cat and what makes them tick.

Battersea Dogs & Cats Home need cat foster carers (Aug 2023)

Perhaps the most famous cat and dog shelter in the world, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home have put out a call for cat foster carers. It seems that they have a level of demand for their services which they can't quite keep up with and they need foster carers to take up some spillover from their shelter in Battersea.

Foster carers take cats from the shelter into their homes and they become like agencies for the shelter. They work in partnership. Sometimes foster carers do better than shelter workers because a cat and dog shelter is inherently quite stressful for cats and dogs because there's lots of noise and lots of other animals and people.

Cat at Battersea. Image supplied.

In contrast, cat fosters have perhaps one or two cats and the whole environment is much calmer which helps to reduce stress which in turn can help to improve health and welfare particularly if the stray cat was rescued when suffering from health problems.

Battersea are timing their request for cat foster carers with International Cat Day which is August 8, yesterday. They say that being a cat foster carer is a rewarding and heartwarming experience.

It is also a good way to be with cats without owning them. The shelter pays all the expenses so you can almost be a cat owner for a set period of time before the cat is adopted without the expense. The problem is that you can become very connected to a particular cat and it can be very painful to give him or her up to the adopter.

Battersea said that the cost-of-living crisis "is affecting the number of cats coming into us". They added that in June this year 25% of rescue cats coming into their centres were relinquished because the owner could no longer afford to keep them and pay veterinary bills.

The RSPCA are going through a similar experience. They said that the number of unwanted pets is growing. They also said by the way that the number of abuse cases is growing in the UK. That's a worrying trend.

An advantage for cats being cared for by foster carers is that they are likely to present to adopters a better side to their character because, as mentioned, they are less stressed and therefore they are more likely to come forward and be confident which is what people adopting cats want to see. If you can find more about foster caring for cats at Battersea by visiting their website.

"Can cats fake being nice in order to get adopted?" asks cat owner on social media

Image supplied by the cat's owner.

The cat owner explained what was happening:

After it settles into a comfortable environment, it may show a different side. I once adopted a stray cat, and when I met him, he came up to me and suddenly laid down. He obviously wanted to be with me, and so did I. I thought that a weak cat that likes to lie under people's feet must be very obedient, right? He was very obedient at first, and a year after I raised him, he started pooping all over the house...under my refrigerator and in some boxes. I took him to the vet who said he was fine; he was probably living in a safe environment. Anyway, I don't regret raising him, but my cat is really different than when I first met him.

My response on social media

This has nothing to do with being nice to get adopted. Sorry. It is to do with the environment in which he lives which has become stressful for him and he is marking his territory with feces to make it feel more friendly. Either that or he is incontinent and ill. Find out what is causing the stress.

Some more

I noticed that the person took their cat to a veterinarian who said that "he was probably living in a safe environment." That indicates that they discussed the environment in which the cat lived and it was probably described by the owner which may have misled the veterinarian.

I am convinced that this problem is caused by the cat perceiving the environment as unsafe which is making him anxious which is why he is defecating inappropriately.

It brings very much to mind my ex-wife (!) who lived with one of our two cats when we divorced. And she, after divorce, went slightly mad and started drinking a lot and smoking and going out in the evening. She was rarely at home and her cat became very anxious because she was never there. And he defecated on her bed in the middle of the duvet. This was clearly very upsetting to her. The reason is the same as this person is experiencing: stress.

In lieu of defecating, anxious cats can sometimes spray urine onto objects around the home for the same reason. They are depositing their scent around the home to make the place feel more friendly; to make it feel like their place, their home.

This is a very common problem by which I mean anxiety in domestic cats is a very common issue. And not infrequently it is caused by the owner being absent. It can sometimes cause cystitis which also results in inappropriate elimination with small drops of bloody urine around the home. The urine is not sprayed but the cat has an uncontrollable desire to pee because of a bladder infection caused by the stress.

Roswell Animal Services in New Mexico killed Giles, a 2-year-old dog, despite a rescue commitment

This is another disturbing story from Nathan Winograd, one of America's greatest animal advocates and the founder and campaigner for the No-Kill movement which has already saved countless thousands of lives in animal shelters.

Image supplied.

He reports that a two-year-old dog named Giles was killed by Roswell Animal Services, New Mexico despite a commitment to rescue the dog. In other words, there was somebody there to rescue this dog and to give them a good home. Despite that for some reason the dog was killed by the agency.

Nathan Winograd reports that, "The only excuse the City of Roswell could offer was that the staff had a busy day and accidentally killed Giles with a bunch of other dogs."

He provides a quote which I believe comes from the agency's administrators:

"Monday at the animal shelter, there was staff training taking place, rescue groups coming in to retrieve multiple animals, and a number of new animals coming in. As some of these things were occurring simultaneously, the busyness resulted in some confusion and a lack of the standard communication among staff and between staff and rescue groups. Unfortunately, that resulted in the dog in question mistakenly being taken to a veterinarian’s office as part of a group of several dogs to be euthanized."

As he says, the pound described the killing as a mistake but Nathan Winograd rejects this excuse. He rejects it because this kind of accident happens when the systems (MO) in place are poor. And they are poor because of bad attitudes leading to poor management, which leads to many mistakes occurring.

They happen every day across the US he says. And to highlight this he says that if you Google the search term "shelter mistakenly euthanized a pet" you will receive 177,000 search results. He makes the point cogently that far too many mistakes occur at animal shelters resulting in the unnecessary death of the animals in their care.

Nathan Winograd is a very particular and precise person. He is a former lawyer. He wants animal shelter administrators to be as precise as him and as caring as him to find ways to save lives. He believes that many shelters are simply too sloppy and don't employ enough systems and methods to save lives and rehome their animals. And he's correct. Nobody knows the American animal shelter system better than him.

He believes that this particular shelter and others should be held accountable to prevent these so-called "accidents" from happening again.

He believes that administrators of animal shelter should be high quality people and that the administrator of this shelter should be fired. And he wants legislation in place in America I presume at either the state or county or even federal level to "legislate away their power to kill" in order to achieve the goal of a No-Kill nation. And when that happens you will not get such a huge number of Google search results when searching for animals mistakenly killed at shelters.

Feeding domestic cats with raw chicken necks carries a small risk of transmitting bird flu to them

This is a cross post because I think the subject is important. You will see many websites on the Internet recommending that cat caregivers provide their cat with raw chicken necks in order that they can chew on a raw product which is good for their gums and teeth and their health generally. It is believed that the risk of eating raw chicken necks and wings because of the cartilage and bone content is far outweighed by the benefits to their oral health.

Image: MikeB. Testing for bird flu.

So, it is a balanced decision as to whether you feed your domestic cat companion raw chicken 'on the bone' so to speak. But that balance has been upset by the fact that bird flu is present in Europe. In Poland it appears to be at epidemic proportions and in that country around two dozen cats are believed to have died of bird flu, 13 of which were found to have been tested positive for H5N1 which has also proven, as I understand it, that they were fed raw chicken sometimes bought from local supermarkets.

I would advise, as I'm sure others would, that at this particular juncture, cat caregivers should not be feed their cat with raw chicken necks or wings unless they can be totally sure that the product is devoid of any contamination from bird flu. I don't know what checks are made. I suspect that in the UK and many other countries, all the poultry on supermarket shelves has been checked for diseases such as bird flu. But can we guarantee it? I think not.

But, as mentioned, in Poland, a European country and part of the European Union, 13 domestic cats contracted bird flu from raw poultry. This is just putting up a flag of caution in case people habitually feed their cat with raw chicken. It is not uncommon. And normally it is advisable. I don't do it but I think I might because reliable and respected experts on domestic cat caregiving such as Dr. Bruce Fogle DVM, recommend feeding bird wings to domestic cats to improve their gum health.

Poor oral health is very prevalent in domestic cats particularly elderly cats. It is almost impossible to clean their teeth unless they've been trained to accept it when kittens. The claims by dry food manufacturers that their pellets can help to clean teeth is dubious to say the least. They may help slightly. 

However, I think that you will find that most veterinarians would agree that chewing on chicken necks or wings will improve teeth and gum health despite the risks of a shard of bone being broken off. Necks are probably better because they contain cartilage primarily and skin and muscle which makes them safer.

UK government notice 6th July 2023:

The Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) for poultry and captive birds, introduced to help stop the spread of avian influenza (‘bird flu’), has been lifted.

The enhanced biosecurity measures were brought in across Great Britain in October when there was a medium risk for some poultry premises. The measures have been vital in protecting flocks across the country from the virus which is circulating in wild birds.

This is good news obviously and indicates a reduced risk.