Truly Gender-Neutral: One Of Its Kind Cat Found With No Sex Organs

A biological wonder has been discovered in the U.K. in the form of a homeless cat called Hope. The cat is neither male nor female, something that has never been observed before, and has confounded veterinarians.

The 15-month-old tabby-and-white kitten was homeless before it was brought to the Cats Protection center in Gateshead. Initially thought to be a female, a closer examination of the cat left the vets dumbstruck. Hope, who was turned in by a family, had no sex organs whatsoever -- internal or external.

The vets said they had seen some rare cases of hermaphrodite cats, with both male and female sex organs, but Hope's case was unheard of.

"We carried out a procedure to look for sex organs but there's nothing apparent inside or out," Cats Protection's Senior Field Veterinary Officer Fiona Brockbank wrote on the Cats Protection Center website. "There's an outside possibility of some ectopic ovarian tissue hiding away internally but we think this is extremely unlikely.

Brockbank said, while this condition was so rare there was no commonly used term for it, it was in principle "sexual organ agenesis." Agenesis referred to the lack or failure of development in the case of body organs.

"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," Brockbank further wrote.

Termed a playful cat, Hope had the teams at both Warrington Adoption Centre and Tyneside Adoption Centre doting on it. The latter was where the cat had been put up for adoption.

"Discovering Hope's special status has been an exciting time as none of us have seen this before or are likely to again," Tyneside Adoption Centre Manager Beni Benstead said, as per the website.

"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 their new owner many years of fun and companionship. We also hope to hear updates on our Tyneside superstar," Benstead commented.

Yes, that is right. Hope has already found its forever home.

Speaking of pet cats, a new study has found these felines can understand when the owner is talking to them.

"These findings bring a new dimension to the consideration of human-cat relationship, as they imply the development of a particular communication into human–cat dyads, that relies upon experience," researchers wrote in their paper. "Our results highlight the importance of one-to-one relationships for cats, reinforcing recent literature regarding the ability for cats and humans to form strong bonds."