How Victoria Became Victor

Our clinic, Sarasota Animal Hospital, has a sister clinic in Lakeland, FL named My Pets Animal Hospital. I had the pleasure of working there is weekend for the first time. They are a small animal clinic as well, serving mostly dogs and cats. They have a wonderful staff who made my work easy and enjoyable! Their clients also made me feel welcome to be serving them. One appointment I saw there on Friday really stands out in my memory. It was a cat that was dropped off at the clinic in the morning as a spayed female cat named Victoria, and left that afternoon as a neutered male named Victor. Oops!

Trying to determine the sex of a cat can often be difficult and sometimes it isn't accurately determined until it is first seen by a veterinarian. It's pretty common to have a 12 week old kitten come to the vet for the first time and discover that it is really a girl and not a boy as the owner's had assumed. However, Victoria's story is a little more unique and brought a lot more shock to the owner when she came to pick "her" up. You see, Victoria is an adult cat and had even already had a surgery to be spayed!

Victoria came to her new home as an older kitten and the details of her previous life were unknown. Her owners had taken her to a facility (NOT My Pets) to get spayed. Somehow, that facility prepared Victoria for surgery as though she were a female and attempted to spay her. After searching and not finding any ovaries or uterus, they finished the surgery and declared her to have already been spayed. Again, it's not uncommon to attempt to spay a cat with an unknown background to find that she had already been spayed. The owner took Victoria home from the surgery and lived life as normal with her newly acquired "girl" kitty.

Well, during "her" physical exam, I noted an "appendage" that any female should not have! I could also feel a scar on the abdomen from an attempted spay. Fortunately for Victoria, "she" did not have any testicles, for "he" had already been neutered! Now, Victoria's name has been changed to "Victor" and he can final live the life appropriate for him! Do you realize that this could have a very significant implication to his health? Male cats are prone to different issues than female cats and because of that, need to be observed differently and possibly even fed a special food. His owners were completely shocked! I'm sure it will take a while before they get used to the fact that their "Victoria" is a boy! Could you imagine?
 

Sarasota Animal Hospital