Cats - male versus female

[wnylib]

?si=JAve7pQrmtB9QyCB

[wnylib]

1. Ember is the first female cat that I've had.

I have noticed some of the male/female differences mentioned in the video.

Of course, cats are individuals, with their own personalities, so some females might be very territorial. But one difference between Ember and my last cat, a ginger male named Leo, is that Ember is less territorial.

Leo was so territorial that he "fought" with me over a favorite seat on a dining chair. I often read at the table, or watch online videos there and always sit on the same chair. I've read that male indoor cats often develop rules of territory sharing with other cats in the home, e.g. a window seat for one in the morning and for the other cat in the afternoon.

Well, Leo decided that I should share my favorite chair with him. He refused to budge from it if I wanted to sit there. (The layout of my apt. makes it the choice seat for me.) He dug his claws into the upholstered cloth seat. I once turned the chair upside down to get him to move, but he still clung to it.

When I was seated in the chair and Leo wanted it, he launched into a contest of king of the mountain. He got on the chair behind me and pushed hard against my back with his whole body, trying to dislodge me.

OTOH, as soon as Ember sees me coming toward the chair when she is on it, she hops down without my even asking her. Same with the couch. When I approach it while Ember is on it, she moves to make room for me or gets down. Leo never did.

But, Leo was more demonstrably affectionate. A real lap cat. Even when lying on the couch next to me, he always stretched out a paw to make physical contact and left it there. Ember, OTOH, prefers to sit on an arm of the couch, nearby, but not in physical contact. She is affectionate, but always on her own terms, much more so than Leo, who ALWAYS wanted to cuddle.

[ShazzieB]

2. "These differences mostly concern cats that weren't spayed or neutred."

That bit ☝came up early in the video and confirmed something I was already suspecting. I haven't had a non spayed/neutered cat in my life in decades, and in my experience there are few if any sex-based behavioral characteristics between male and female cats that are spayed/neutered as kittens. I wouldn't be surprised if it's different with cats who are altered later in life; I can certainly see how a few years of living with the body chemistry of a mature male or female could make a difference.

I don't know at what age my little girl Willow was spayed because it happened before we met her, but she was 2 years old at most when we adopted her, so she might have been spayed fairly early on. All I know for sure is that she is THE cuddliest, snuggliest cat we've ever had.

Her mega affectionate personality was what attracted us to Willow. Mr. B and I, along with our daughter, had gone to a rescue to check out another cat (also female) that I was interested in. When that cat turned out to be so standoffish that we could hardly get near her, we started checking out the other cats there. And there was this one little tortie who kept running up to us begging for pets and scritches and purring up a storm whenever she got some. We ended up deciding she was the cat for us.

Willow's been with us for about 5 1/2 years now, and she's still a major love bug who doesn't seem to think there's any such thing as "enough" pets and scritches. I don't know if she would have been less cuddly if she'd never been spayed or spayed at a more advanced age, but it's hard to imagine her any other way.

[wnylib]

3. Leo, my very territorial ginger cat, was not neutered until He was

1 1/2 years old. I lived outside of town then, and he was an indoor/outdoor cat (mostly outdoor) until I moved into a city apartment. Then he became an indoor only cat. So that could explain his behavior.

Ember was spayed at 6 months old.