Gender bender

Today, I thought I'd tell a story of a mishap that had happened to me one year after qualifying. I know that numerous other vets have also made the same mistake and only last year, one of my colleagues in a branch clinic did exactly what I did several years ago.

A large proportion of a small animal practioner's surgery caseload involves neutering/desexing animals. These surgeries are routine and often are performed without incident. However, one fateful day, a lady, who had rehomed numerous cats, came to the clinic. She brought in her 6 cats for me to spay (ovariohysterectomy, where a female cat's uterus and ovaries are removed). I checked some of the cats and they were found to be normal but some were less friendly than others, resulting in just a quick check.

The clinic I was working in was very busy and often, surgery days could feel like a factory, with a conveyor belt of animals passing along. The system worked very efficiently, whereby, the animals were anaesthetized and then left with the nurses who were prepared them for the operation by shaving the fur and cleaning the skin with antiseptic.

As one patient was being prepared by the nurse, the surgeon (myself on this day) would be operating on another patient. This meant that as soon as the surgery was finished, I could rewash/clean (scrub) my hands and then walk to the other operating table and begin operating on the new animal. Most neutering procedures are straightforward and don't take very long at all, so the system worked relatively well.

The surgeries were going well that day with no problems. But then once I got to the final cat belonging to this particular lady, the problem arose. I had made my incision into the abdomen (through the side/flank of the body like a lot of British vets are taught) but then couldn't find the uterus. Occasionally, especially in obese cats, the uterus may not be easy to find within all the fat. Also there is the odd occasion (mainly in rehomed or stray cats), where the cat has been desexed before.

I was fishing around in this cat's abdomen for some time with no success. No uterus, no ovaries and not even any stumps from a previous surgery. At this point, I was getting annoyed and fed up and asked the nurse to double check that this cat was a female. As the nurse checked the back end of that cat; lo and behold, she found 2 big testicles sitting there!! I proceeded to close up the incision wound and then castrated the cat (after confirming with the owner by phone). The cat was fine and fortunately for me, the owner was very understanding.

Needless to say that ever since, I have always checked thoroughly the gender of the animals before surgery.

Tags: cat, spay, ovariohysterectomy, male, female, uterus, neuter, desex, ovary, testicle