Woman Takes Kitten on Routine Vet Visit, ‘Shocked’ by What They Tell Her

During a routine checkup at the vet, one owner was left speechless when the doctor revealed the truth about her young kitten.

A woman welcomed home a new kitten earlier this month as a furry sibling to the older cat, Dingo. She originally thought Dingo would be playing with a baby brother, which she named Donny, but she left the vet appointment with a task to rename her kitty.

TikTok user @dingoanddonny reintroduced her kitten in a June 3 video, sharing that she changed the name from Donny to Donnetella because she learned her cat was not male, but female. The tiny fluff ball looked confused in the video, wondering how her owner could’ve made such a mistake.

While the owner wrote in the caption that this news left her “shocked,” she didn’t mind. In the comment section, she wrote that they “didn’t mind” the name change, since the family had only adopted her two days earlier.

Newsweek reached out to @dingoanddonny via TikTok for additional information and comment.

Some might wonder how one could confuse a pet’s gender; however, determining if a cat is male or female can be difficult, especially when they’re young.

A WikiHow article stated the “surest” way to determine a cat’s gender is by examining the physical features below its tail. The male genital features are often easier to spot and can look like a colon (:), while a female’s might resemble a semicolon (;). A female’s features will be closer together.

Sometimes a cat’s fur color will indicate its gender. Calico and tortoiseshell cats are typically female. More orange cats are male than female, which is why using a cat’s color is not always reliable.

One could also look for gender-specific behaviors among intact cats. For example, male cats that have not been neutered tend to be more aggressive, with larger heads and thick skin. They’ll mark their territory by spraying it. Female cats will go into heat about every three to five weeks during warm weather, showing recognizable behaviors such as making vocal sounds, moving the tail to the side or rubbing up against inanimate objects.

Viewer Reactions

The TikTok video reached over 87,900 views and 8,599 likes as of Tuesday.

“That face is so girl cat coded and I cannot explain why,” wrote a viewer.

Another joked: “You caught it early and probably avoided the need for a shrink.”

Several viewers flooded the comment section with similar stories of how their cats’ names went from a Herbert to a “HERbert” or a Mabel to now an Abel, all thanks to the vet sharing the unexpected news of their felines’ gender.

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.