Choosing your cat's gender

Choosing a gender may seem trivial to new cat owners, but any cat owner can tell you that male cats and female cats each have their pros and cons.

• Males are much larger than females.  

This might not be a problem for owners that never move, but for students, or yet-to-be-settled people, size can be an issue.  The cat carrier needs to be larger for larger cats (duh).  Simple fact, but a lot of factors come into account.  I, myself, am a broke, car-less, international student that moves every single year.  Without a car, even taking my two cats to the vet,  especially Kiki (~13lb) is such an effort.  It would really help if Kiki were smaller, but he isn't, so think about the pros and cons beforehand.  Another thing to keep in mind is that plane traveling costs for animals and the cost of buying a cat carrier gets more expensive relative to the size of your animal.  Considering the amount of ads on craigslist that says "I need to find a new owner for my cat because I'm moving," you might want to think about additional costs of taking your cat with you to your new home before you bring home a gigantic cat.  And personally, I think parting with your pet just because you're moving is complete bullshit (no offense). 

Kiki, weighing 13lb, can hardly fit on the cat tower seat.

• Males are generally more friendly.  

If you are new to cats and do not know how to launch the new relationship with the kitty, a friendlier male cat could make the bonding process easier than a female cat.

• It is more expensive to get a female cat spayed than to get a male cat spayed.  

For someone with a smaller budget, this might be an issue.  To the unexperienced cat owners: THIS IS A MUST.  Heat cycles not only stress out the owner, but also stresses out the cat.  Not to mention the number of cats in homeless shelters that may not have ended up there if cats were more spayed/neutered.

• Females yowl and show lordosis (sticking their butt up in the air and stomping their backlegs at the same time) behavior, while males spray the furniture.  

If you have never seen either of this happen, you might think that the female behavior is less stressful.  YOU ARE WRONG!! Some female cats produce this horrible!! horrible!! screeching yowl which would make you wish for urine on the couch instead.  If you're curious, search for "female cat in heat" on youtube.  It's just better for everyone--for the greater good-- to get your new pet spayed/neutered.

So now all you have to do is weigh your odds and choose.