determining gender based on noises

[Sean35]

Hopefully this isn't a dumb question, but I've had almost no experience with cats, other than starting to feed 2-3 ferals over the last six months.

The one I feed regularly (Stalker, a super skittish long haired Tuxedo) already had a clipped ear (THANK GOD), but there's another cat (Sidekick) that was around infrequently, but now visits every night.

(fast forward to 0:30)

Shared Clip | Nest (from about an hour ago)

I'm assuming that Sidekick is a female? Sidekick doesn't make those noises if I'm around, sometimes makes them when approaching while I'm not present, and almost always makes them if Stalker is there. There doesn't seem to be any signs of aggression (other than the tail swishing), but Stalker is afraid of everything from other cats to front porch mats. The reason I ask is because I found a vet that will do TNR, and will take a male like, the next day, but told me that they would have to schedule out a few weeks for a female.

 

[mani]

Is it just my imagination, or does Sidekick have a collar (second video)?

 

[DreamerRose]

I don't think you can determine gender by noises. Some cats are very vocal and others not. The only way to tell is to trap the cat.

 

[Sean35]

I don't think you can determine gender by noises. Some cats are very vocal and others not. The only way to tell is to trap the cat.

OK. I wasn't sure if the reason the cat is so vocal is because it was in heat.

 

[di and bob]

A neutered male is not a big threat to a tom, so he may be treating Sidekick as just a stranger as he even would a female. It could still be either sex. You might look for spraying, or the big, full cheeks typical of a tom. It takes a long time to get strange cats confident enough to raise their tails to figure out the sex. If you capture the new cat now, you most likely won't again, so if you do, do it when you can spay/neuter. Bless you for taking care of them!

 

[Sean35]

Is it just my imagination, or does Sidekick have a collar (second video)?

It looks like it, but no collar. Pic from a camera that I leave out overnight:

 

[Sean35]

A neutered male is not a big threat to a tom, so he may be treating Sidekick as just a stranger as he even would a female. It could still be either sex. You might look for spraying, or the big, full cheeks typical of a tom. It takes a long time to get strange cats confident enough to raise their tails to figure out the sex. If you capture the new cat now, you most likely won't again, so if you do, do it when you can spay/neuter. Bless you for taking care of them!

Got it. The first cat that I started feeding back in March (a black cat that randomly showed up the day the sports world shut down, Tom Hanks got coronavirus, and the financial markets crashed, ironically enough) was an un-neutered male, and even as someone that didn't know what a feral cat was, I was able to figure out his gender pretty quickly when he started spraying my storm door, the corner of my house, and on garbage day, every single garbage can on the street. That was also part of why I think Sidekick is female, because Sidekick and Stalker used to show up together sometimes (hence the name), but the tomcat (who I never caught, and either moved on or was picked up by animal control) was mean to *every* cat he saw. I think I would have had better luck catching him if I put another cat in the trap instead of food, since he seemed more interested in fighting than eating.