Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Male cat with unusual genitalia diagnosed with pseudohermaphroditism
By Bredal, W P et al.·Published in The Journal of small animal practice·1997·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Male pseudohermaphroditism in a cat.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A seven-month-old male pedigree cat was taken to the vet for a routine neutering procedure, but the vet found unusual genitalia during the examination. The cat had a wide genital cleft and testicular pouches that were not fused, along with a large clitoris that resembled a penis. During surgery, the vet removed the normal-looking testicles, but tests showed very little sperm production. The cat was diagnosed with male pseudohermaphroditism, a condition where the external genitalia do not match the internal reproductive structures. The exact cause of this condition was not determined.
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Abstract
A seven-month-old male pedigree cat was brought to the Norwegian College of Veterinary Medicine for routine castration. Visual examination of the external genitalia revealed a wide genital cleft with non-fused bilaterally located testicular pouches. A large clitoris, which was penis-like with small penile spines, was seen protruding dorsally from the ventral commissure of the genital cleft. During an exploratory coeliotomy, no intra-abdominal genital structures of müllerian origin were found. The skin pouches on either side of the vulvar cleft were incised and grossly normal testicles were removed. Histology of the removed gonads showed no or very sparse spermatogenesis. The chromosomal sex was determined by karyotyping to be a normal male 38XY. Based on these findings, the diagnosis of male pseudohermaphroditism was made. The aetiology of the condition in this cat was not determined.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9121130/