You can usually tell whether a young Devon Rex is male or female by looking under the tail, but with this small, fine-boned breed the look needs to be brief, warm, and gentle. A Devon kitten chills quickly through that short wavy coat, and a wriggling kitten held upside down teaches you nothing. Work on a warm lap, lift the tail for a few seconds at a time, and judge by two features together: the shape of the lower opening and the distance between it and the anus.
Compare the spacing first, then the shape
In a young male Devon Rex, the anus and the round opening below it sit noticeably apart, with a small, slightly raised area between them where the scrotum will develop. In a young female Devon Rex, the two openings sit close together, and the lower one is a short vertical slit rather than a round hole. Owners often use the punctuation shorthand: the female arrangement looks like an inverted exclamation mark, the male's more like a colon. Judge a kitten against these two patterns together, because spacing alone can mislead in a kitten only a few weeks old whose body is still tiny.
Handle this small breed for seconds, not minutes
Support your Devon Rex kitten upright on your lap or a folded warm towel and lift the tail rather than flipping the kitten onto her or his back. Keep the room warm, keep sessions to a few seconds, and stop if the kitten cries or struggles, then try again after a feed and a nap. Cold, stressed kittens tense the whole area, which squeezes the openings together and makes a male look deceptively female. If littermates are available, compare them side by side at the same age — a male and female pair viewed together usually makes the spacing difference obvious at a glance.
Do not rely on coat, size, or behaviour in a Devon
Devon Rex kittens do not offer honest clues through colour, play style, or boldness, and both sexes in this breed are affectionate, mischievous, and people-focused from very young. A slightly larger kitten in the litter may simply be the first to the food bowl, not the male. Nipples are present in both sexes and tell you nothing at this age. If your look leaves you genuinely unsure, that is normal with a kitten this small; an uncertain guess recorded as certain causes real confusion later, so record it as unconfirmed until a professional checks.
Have the vet confirm it at the first visit
Ask the veterinarian to confirm your Devon Rex kitten's sex at the first health check, when the kitten is handled anyway for weighing, listening to the heart, and checking those large ears and fine coat. Vets sex kittens daily and can settle in seconds what owners puzzle over for days, and occasionally even a confident home check turns out wrong as anatomy becomes clearer with growth. If you are choosing a name or registering details before that visit, keep them flexible or clearly provisional. A second quick look a couple of weeks later, when the kitten is bigger, often confirms what the first look suggested.
Record the result where it will travel with her
Once sex is confirmed, write it into the same place as this Devon Rex kitten's birth details, first weights, and vet visit notes, so anyone caring for her later is not guessing from her name. That single travelling record is what KinsLe Pet Passport keeps for a kitten like this one, holding her identity and early health details together in one portable packet.