Veterinarians in the United Kingdom are left baffled after an animal charity discovered that a homeless cat is neither male nor female. According to a report in The Guardian, Hope, a 15-week-old tabby-and-white kitten, was originally believed to be female when it was admitted by the Cats Protection rescue centre in Warrington. However, when veterinarians examined it, they were astonished to find that the kitty had no internal or external sex organs.
Cats Protection's senior field veterinary officer Fiona Brockbank attributed it to be a case of agenesis and remarked that she and her colleagues had never seen such a thing before. Agenesis is a condition which means the complete absence of an organ or lack of specific cells within an organ.
Explaining the condition further, Ms Brockbank told The Guardian, ''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."
"While this means we don't have any previous cases [on which] 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," she added.
Despite the condition, the kitten is healthy and now awaits to be rehomed at Cats Protection's Tyneside Adoption Centre. The centre's manager Beni Benstead said the kitten had been a "delight to care for" and added they would "bring someone many years of fun and companionship".
The Instagram page of Cats Protection also shared two delightful pictures of the cat along with a caption that read, "Playful kitten Hope came into our Cats Protection Tyneside Adoption Centre with their siblings and was found to be of neither sex, which is extremely rare! So rare in fact that there isn't even a common term for Hope's special status and the news has gone global."
See pictures here:
One user even described the cat as ''Non-Binary Icon'', in comments on Instagram. Another remarked, "Oh wow! Have never heard of this!'' Others showered love on the beautiful kitten, hoping that it soon finds a wonderful home.
