Can a cat be born without ovaries?

[calicomomma]

Hello to everybody,

Please excuse my English, it's not my native language.

A week ago, I adopted a tricolor kitten from a woman who had to move and couldn't take her cat with her. She originally wanted to leave her in a cowshed nearby, which I didn't like. She told me that the cat is vaccinated and dewormed but not neutered.

Four hours ago, I went to our local vet to have her spayed. When he started, he discovered that she had no ovaries and told me that she must have been spayed in the past. I was taken aback, and I didn't understand why the lady would tell me that she was not neutered. I was wondering if it was possible for a cat to be born without ovaries? Is it even possible?

The vet told me he couldn't find any scarring; he looked at the side and belly, so it's very strange. The cat is now recovering from anesthesia and is already starting to walk. I have five more cats (they will be a year old in a week, I have raised them since their first day of life). I have been having cats for many years, and I love them more than anything. I've just never heard of them being born without ovaries.

So, is it possible, or did the woman lie to me? Unfortunately, I am not sure if she had the cat from a kitten or if she got it from someone, but she told me that she was not 100% neutered.

 

[di and bob]

I suppose it could happen, but very unlikely. My bet would be the cat was spayed when she got it. What did she mean not 100% neutered? Maybe she meant the ovaries were taken out but not the uterus. Nowadays, most vets tatoo a thin green line on the abdomen so this doesn't happen. Did your vet go ahead and remove the uterus? You'd be surprised how many cats were opened up and already spayed!

 

[calicomomma]

I suppose it could happen, but very unlikely. My bet would be the cat was spayed when she got it. What did she mean not 100% neutered? Maybe she meant the ovaries were taken out but not the uterus. Nowadays, most vets tatoo a thin green line on the abdomen so this doesn't happen. Did your vet go ahead and remove the uterus? You'd be surprised how many cats were opened up and already spayed!

My apologies, I meant "spayed" and not "neutered." So it's very unlikely that she was born without ovaries..the vet said she had to be spayed, and that's what it looked like inside (she had fat in that area, which the vet said spayed cats have.) Unfortunately, she doesn't have a tattoo or any other mark to tell that she is spayed, but I'm starting to believe she is. It should be mandatory to mark cats as spayed by tattooing to avoid unnecessary surgeries. I feel so guilty now that she had to go through this.

 

[di and bob]

LOL, I knew what you meant. i agree, it SHOULD be mandatory, so many cats are lost or surrendered and the shelters have no idea if they are neutered/spayed or not. Do not feel guilty, (I would feel the same....) the vet is very experienced in these types of things and didn't catch it either. You had no way of knowing.

 

[fionasmom]

I only have ever dealt with strays and ferals, and have had a couple of cases where I trapped and took a seemingly feral cat to the vet to be spayed or neutered...depending on what they turned out to be. In the case of two females, the vet called to tell me that they had previously been fixed. One did have a visible scar, so he asked me (since she was going to be rescued) to keep an eye on her to see if she went into heat; however, he did not feel that the scar could be anything other than spaying. This was certainly not a cat where someone had paid for some expensive intestinal surgery. The other cat was operated on and they found no female organs...so yes, she did have two surgeries unfortunately, but recovered just fine.

My guess is that the cat was previously spayed and the actual history of the cat is lost someplace in the telling or in what the woman thinks was done. You did the right thing to follow up on this and to make sure that she will not have kittens. You had no way of knowing and should not feel guilty. If you had allowed her to breed repeatedly and have unwanted litters, then you could have felt guilty.

 

[calicomomma]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to add an update on our new kitty, Minnie. When I wrote my first-ever message here, I came back from the vet who opened and closed our kitty because he suspected she was spayed. SHE WAS NOT.

Next month, I started to notice that our kitty had a big belly. It was hard and seemed to stick out at the sides. Her nipples were also getting bigger. I took her to the vet, but he said it was some kind of hormonal change. I felt deep inside that something was happening..she was eating, drinking, and peeing more. I initially thought she might be diabetic. So, I planned to take her to another, larger clinic that week.

Three weeks ago, I woke up, and when I walked into the kitchen, I found three kitten embryos on the kitchen counter. At first, I thought they were brought in by one of our other cats who go outside, but I just knew inside that it was from our newest cat, Minnie.

I took her to the clinic, they did an ultrasound and found out that she already had three bigger kittens inside her - all of them were dead. The doctor said that I came at the best possible time because it could be too late the next day. So, our kitty was opened again, her uterus was removed, she was spayed (according to the doctors, her ovaries were miniature,) and now, hopefully, everything will be fine. We will continue to go for medical check-ups until her mammary glands are back to normal. It was quite difficult for her and for us, but now everything will hopefully be alright

I know it wasn't the doctor's fault because they say sometimes it's very hard to find the ovaries, especially when they're so small..however, as everyone here on the forum has said and doctors have confirmed, the chances of a cat being born without them are very low indeed.
Thanks again for your kind words, and here are the pictures of Minnie I uploaded them on my website because I could not attach files for some reason.

For the first two days, she wanted to be with me non-stop.

Minnie and her swollen mammary glands.

With her friend Fifi (black and white.) I took care of Fifi and her other four siblings since their first day because their mom died after giving birth. I had zero experience with raising such small kittens, but I got used to it..and sometimes I miss those precious times. Minnie is now without the medical collar, her stitches have been taken out, she is eating, drinking, her stools look nice, and she seems like she has been born again

 

[fionasmom]

This is quite a story...for both of you. Thank you for letting us know the outcome and for taking care of Minnie through all of this. Thankfully you were very vigilant with her and did not figure that everything was resolved when you found the first three stillborn kittens.

 

[calicomomma]

This is quite a story...for both of you. Thank you for letting us know the outcome and for taking care of Minnie through all of this. Thankfully you were very vigilant with her and did not figure that everything was resolved when you found the first three stillborn kittens.

Thank you This was a big big lesson. If someone is told that their cat does not have ovaries or is already spayed, it would certainly be a good idea not to rely on it completely and to monitor the cat's behavior and body changes.