Anish Vij
A homeless kitten that is neither male or female has been discovered and is believed to be a veterinary first.
Vets initially thought that the tabby-and-white, named Hope, was female.
However, no sex organs were found after Hope was admitted into the Cats Protection’s rescue centre in Warrington, UK.
The vets say they're aware of hermaphrodite cats who posses both male and female sex organs - and are pretty rare too.
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But when it comes to Hope, the cat actually has no external or internal sex organs.
Cats Protection’s senior field veterinary officer Fiona Brockbank says that the condition could be a case of agenesis, the failure of an organ to develop.
She claims that her colleagues have never seen such a condition.
Hope has been described as a playful kitten who is just 15 weeks old.
Ms Brockbank said: “We carried out a procedure to look for sex organs but there’s nothing apparent inside or out.
“There’s an outside possibility of some ectopic ovarian tissue hiding away internally but we think this is extremely unlikely.
“This is so rare that there isn’t really a commonly used term for this condition, but it is effectively sexual organ agenesis – where agenesis is the lack or failure of development in relation to body organs.”
Hope is currently waiting to be rehomed at Cats Protection’s Tyneside Adoption Centre.
The veterinary officer added: “This is not something we’ve come across before at Cats Protection.
“While this means we don’t have any previous cases to base our knowledge of how this will affect Hope in the future, we spent time monitoring this cat to ensure they can urinate and defecate appropriately before they were considered ready for rehoming.”
A Cats Protection spokesperson said that Hope was originally brought in with her mother and three siblings by a busy family who did not think they would be able to give them the attention they needed.
Tyneside Adoption Centre manager Beni Benstead said: “Discovering Hope’s special status has been an exciting time as none of us have seen this before or are likely to again.
“Hope has been a delight to care for and it is fantastic that they are now ready to be adopted.
“We know they will bring someone many years of fun and companionship. We would also be extremely grateful to hear updates on our Tyneside superstar.”
The manager also said that Hope is vaccinated and microchipped.