Are Male Cats Better.

[Elphaba09]

It really depends on the individual cat, not its sex. We currently have nine: Six girls, two boys. Previously, my other cats have been predominantly male, but it was out of happenstance, not choice. (All of our cats have been rescues found one place or other.) Our sweetest cat is one of our girls, Evangeline. She does not want attention all the time, but she wants to love all the other cats, has never hissed, and has never behaved in a way that is aggressive even in the smallest amount. Our friendliest cat is one of our males, Fennimore. He is aggressively friendly in that if we are petting another cat, he will come over and push them out of the way because he wants to be pet.

I have to disagree with Basscat about intelligence. Our cat Estella is the smartest cat I have ever encountered. She plays fetch, seems to recognize certain toys when you tell her to get it, opens cabinets and doors, shuts doors, comes when called (or runs and hides if I am the one calling her and have nail clippers or medicine in my hand), knows what time to expect my son to get off of work and will wait for him, and pretends to get stuck behind a chair if she wants my son's attention and is not getting it. About the chair, if someone else "saves" her, she goes right back and pretends to get stuck until my son gets her. I keep valerian in a bag inside a metal tea jar. I had to start putting the jar in the freezer because she had somehow gotten it out of the cabinet and dropped it on the floor to get the lid to pop off. I took it as a fluke at first, but it happened several times.

 

[jcat]

We've had mainly males, but working at the shelter, I don't find much of a difference in affection or intelligence. Males are a bit more easygoing, IME. It's a little harder to find homes for males, since a lot of people have this idea that they're going to spray or that their urine stinks more even after they've been castrated.

 

[kittyluv387]

We've had mainly males, but working at the shelter, I don't find much of a difference in affection or intelligence. Males are a bit more easygoing, IME. It's a little harder to find homes for males, since a lot of people have this idea that they're going to spray or that their urine stinks more even after they've been castrated.

I was surprised when i heard people say that about male cats. It was the only reason they had females. I was just like, uh no not true if theyre neutered!

 

[sabian]

In my experience males seem to be less stand offish and temperamental than female cats. I'm sure that's not always the case but I prefer males over females. Just had better luck with males.

 

[sabian]

We've had mainly males, but working at the shelter, I don't find much of a difference in affection or intelligence. Males are a bit more easygoing, IME. It's a little harder to find homes for males, since a lot of people have this idea that they're going to spray or that their urine stinks more even after they've been castrated.

That's funny you say that because it seems for breeders it's just the opposite. I'm researching MC breeders and males are more expensive and more in demand. Not disputing what your saying. Just find in interesting that that would be the case.

 

[jcat]

That is interesting.

I'm always tempted to have people sniff used litter boxes to show them that a castrated male's urine isn't stinkier than a female's, but I doubt that would go over very well.

We also have at least as many female "problem pee-ers" surrendered as male. When cats are surrendered because they're fighting, it's likely to be a pair of females or a male and female, too, rather than two castrated males, though our own last two "hates-other-cats" pets have been males.

 

[Moonlight_wolf]

From my experience I’ve had better luck with Female cats. My female Mia is the sweetest thing, she adores me and always is asking for attention and love. She sleeps next to my head (though she tries to sleep between my legs but then migrated when she remembers that I shift around a lot in my sleep.) She greets me every time I come home and is a purring monster. She doesn’t mind being picked up at all and there is a 50% chance she will lay with you if you physically place her there. And Mia will cry if I close the bathroom door while I shower, so I have to get out of the shower to open the door for her, then she happily sits on the bathroom counter watching intently as her human braves the shower. I’ve also taught her tricks, meanwhile my male cat was very very difficult to teach tricks. I only managed to teach him to sit.

My male cat I loved too. But he was a bit more aloof. He hated being held and attention was much more on his terms. He would never lay with you if you placed him on your lap, you had to wait for him to come to you. He would always meow when I coughed though, which was the most hilarious thing. He would greet us when we came home though and be waiting outside the bathroom after we showered.

Both I loved deeply, but in my experience the females have been friendlier.

Also my friend who I owned the male cat with, before him she had a female calico cat who was super friendly, because she always commented on how aloof our male cat was, seeing as she was used to her more friendly female.

 

[Benjamin Franklin (Benji)]

Now, don’t take this the wrong way, but... I admit that I prefer males. Take Benji for example! He’s super cuddly and lazy in the good way. I’ve known many other male cats and their personalities are also wonderful. I’m sure that some females can be just as good, so I suppose it’s a preference thing and depends on how the cat was raised/what personalities (as a person) you like.

 

[calico man]

I've lived with 4 cats, first was my roommate's white cat Leia. She was definitely a little temperamental but she also showed me a lot of affection and after about 6 months would sleep on me at night.

Then I moved in with my BF and his two boys - one was a tabby that was affectionate on his terms (meaning won't accept pets when he is not ready, and also LOVE ME NOW bites) and Gohan of whom you need to earn his trust for a long time before he is comfortable with you. He will only go in my BF lap, and allows about 2 seconds of holding.

And then there is our new tortie Olive. She definitely has tortitude, which means if she wants your lap and love nothing will stop her. All she wanted was a human to love and she will sleep under my chin for hours and crawl unbidden into my lap.

So I guess affection by gender determination for me is inconclusive.

You have the "tortitude" and I have the "calitude"!!!

 

[thefiresidecat]

males and females are dependent on the situation they are placed in. in my experience, male and female cats are just as sweet and loveable as the other. but you can end up with social situations with too many queens together. Most of the bully cats I've had have been male (but they're super loving to their humans) if you have a stressful situation for the cats. lots of yelling fighting and what not. you're going to have uptight anxious cats with behavior problems. if they are spayed or neutered also makes a difference. right now we have three males and one female and they're all super sweet loving cats. one female and one male are bonded to me and two males are bonded to my husband.

 

[abyeb]

I’ve never had a female cat (Charlie is my first cat, and he’s a boy). I think that a lot depends on the individual cat. Charlie is very friendly and relaxed, but I know other male cats who are very shy and skittish, around strangers especially. I have friends who have female cats that are very outgoing, as well as some whose female cats prefer to hide when visitors come over.

 

[lutece]

That's funny you say that because it seems for breeders it's just the opposite. I'm researching MC breeders and males are more expensive and more in demand. Not disputing what your saying. Just find in interesting that that would be the case.

With breeds like Maine Coons or Savannahs that are famous for being big, a lot of pet buyers have a preference for males simply because males are bigger than females. I am sure you have noticed how some Maine Coon owners love to brag about how big their cats are!

 

[sabian]

With breeds like Maine Coons or Savannahs that are famous for being big, a lot of pet buyers have a preference for males simply because males are bigger than females. I am sure you have noticed how some Maine Coon owners love to brag about how big their cats are!

That may be true in some cases but, I've also researched other breeds such as Turkish Van's, Angora's, Ragdolls, Siberian's and NFC's. It seems to be the case with them as well.

 

[tarasgirl06]

I always had male cats. It is not like I am about gender but whenever I got a cat first from a litter of three they were all male. Adopting Tiger and Socks from a shelter who passed away years ago were all male. Now getting two new kittens from the ASPCA who are grown up now both Sandy and Gray are males.

I am just wondering because picking out these cats because the males always came to me saying pick me but female cats just ignored me.

Growing up, our two cats were male. Since then, there have been many of both genders in my life. Currently there are two females and one male.
"Better"? I don't understand the question. It's like asking which is better, boys or girls (in human terms). IMHO, ALL cats are "better" cats.

 

[tarasgirl06]

The most laid cat cat I've ever known is my recently passed kitty, Jeta, a female.

*Just posting to say I love your sig and the disclaimer!*

 

[Diana Faye]

Felt the need to share my 2 cents, because I feel the need to defend the female sex of animals despite personally tending to favor males for some unknown reason. Mostly, this conversation for me comes up concerning horses, as mares get a bad rap for being "hormonal" and "moody." Hormones may play a part (and for horses they certainly do, as mares can't be safely sterilized yet) but I still say it really depends on an individual basis.

I've mostly had male pets in my life, however I work in a barn and they had 4 female cats (now 3, the first barn cat died at age 18). They are some of the nicest and sweetest cats I have ever known. Peanut (tuxedo) is the barn's ambassador, super duper friendly, and actually loves her tummy rubbed. Rommal (torbie) is independent but still affectionate, and has lots of moments where she just really needs a good snuggle and makes it impossible to get any work done. She'd probably prefer being a house cat but she's happy having the office has her domain. Precious (grey tabby) was a feral that decided this barn was pretty sweet, and decided to stay. She is very sweet but prefers when it's less busy, and will excuse herself until the excitement is over. And Spirit (torbie, RIP) was the original barn cat, super sweet, and loved to steal your food. She got me trained to bring in tuna sandwiches so she could have a little, and was my lunch buddy.

My first cat (family cat, black longhair) was a male cat, skiddish, and only friendly on his terms. Looking back and with more knowledge, my family seemed to have the "set and forget" mindset when it came to cats. Nothing enriching for him, and quite honestly probably just not the best match personality wise. He liked my mom and became her cat. My previous cat (tux, pictured in profile) I'm just convinced he was the best cat ever. I know lots of people say that, and like lots of people I'm 100% convinced he absolutely was. He was definitely perfect for me. I like independence without being aloof, and affectionate without being needy. We just meshed really, really well and I don't ever expect I'll ever find another like him. And I have 2 male kittens who so far seem to have a decent balance of independence and friendliness as well, but they are still growing.

Now, I've never bred so maybe other breeders could chime in here, but what I've gathered from other people who have bred various animals is that it seems to be believe that the personality of any offspring is dependent on the mother. Perhaps a mixture of nature and nurture. I imagine when it comes to cats, there are so many whose ancestry is unknown that this may be harder to determine.

 

[lutece]

Now, I've never bred so maybe other breeders could chime in here, but what I've gathered from other people who have bred various animals is that it seems to be believe that the personality of any offspring is dependent on the mother. Perhaps a mixture of nature and nurture. I imagine when it comes to cats, there are so many whose ancestry is unknown that this may be harder to determine.

In my experience with many generations of cats over the years, temperament traits (such as being affectionate, active, calm, shy, bitey, etc.) can be inherited from either parent. So if you want to breed for good temperament, it's best if both parents have the good temperament that you want. It's not primarily dependent on the mother.

 

[Royalty]

I have never had a male. Of my 3 female cats,one is very affectionate so it varies. I have read threads on here of people having trouble with male and/Or female cats. Just be sure their fixed.

Personally I think it's how the kittens are socialised from the very beginning I've only had three female cats they were fine. Two domestic shorthairs n one birman she was very cuddly used to lie on my husband and myself giving us the legendary birman nip. I prefer to call it the love bite, lol if we stopped stroking her she would occasionally give a little nip on the arm so we carried on lol any birman owners will know what I mean. So sweet. Luther n Zeus are male and so affectionate so I would say how they are socialised.

 

[jeannecarol]

I've had both sexes over my lifetime and they seem to have an equal chance of being affectionate, but the females seem to be feistier. Kitchy, the cat I grew up with, would drive other animals out of the yard. She and Mici, the cat I had in single adulthood, were terrors if you tried to groom them; try to brush their bellies at your own risk, and don't even think about clipping their claws. Oreo and Mackie, the males my husband and I have had together, were/are a couple of marshmallows. If they didn't like what we were doing to them, they'd merely struggle. And what a delight to blow into their soft bellies and not have your face ripped off! Of course, all four I mentioned had/have individual personalities; Oreo was more like Kitchy and Mackie is more like Mici in a lot of ways, so gender is not the issue there. It may be true that the mother/protective instinct in females, even spayed, is responsible for their feistiness.

 

[Ladewyn]

I've heard that males are supposed to be more cuddly but I'm not convinced. My boy is a brat and while he has his sweet moments he can also be a little monster!