# Hermaphrodite cat?



## siwain (Mar 19, 2009)

My ten month old un-neutered male cat has suddenly started acting like a female in heat. He crouches down and pushes his tail aside and lifts his bottom slightly when I call his name. He's also started rolling around on floor mats and makes constant short purring noises when he does so.

He looks normal, his male genitalia is in place and he'll be neutered soon. I'm wondering though, is it possible that he is a hermaphrodite or is there possibly another reason for his recent girliness?


----------



## siwain (Mar 19, 2009)

On an extra note, he's also eating well, doing his business in the litter box and doesn't seem to be in pain, though he is a tiny bit more of a crybaby (begging for food, attention and to go outside).


----------



## jusjim (Jun 30, 2009)

He wouldn't be a hermaphrodite unless he has female as well a male organs, but he could be gay. For a couple of years I fed a stray, gay cat whose boy (girl) friend lived next door. A German Shepard killed him when he tried to rescue another cat being threatened by the Shepard.


----------



## siwain (Mar 19, 2009)

Would a gay male cat act like a female? I thought the behaviour of cats in heat were hormone provoked. Maybe he's got a high production of female hormones?

I just remembered though, he's been quite gassy lately so maybe he's got stomach/bowel issues... which means he could be in pain after all...


----------



## Mylita (Jan 23, 2013)

We had two cats, siblings but opposite sex, and both acted like that at times. They just wanted their lower backs scratched and the girl liked having her tummy scratched as well. But, it could be that he has gas as you suspect and it hurts. I know when I have gas, sometimes it hurts.

Mylita


----------



## Arianwen (Jun 3, 2012)

My one cat is a hermaphrodite - it isn't always that easy to spot. If that is the case with yours then I would say the female side is dominant. Some need either spaying or neutering, some need both and I know some vets tend to do neither unless one is presenting strongly.


----------



## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

That actually made me laugh out loud. Cats aren't gay... they're sort of equal opportunity, like a great deal of animals are, and even if they were gay they wouldn't act like they're in heat because of it.

Anyway, if sounds like your kitty may be a hermaphrodite since from your description they're going into heat. There's a few members on here that have hermaphrodite cats so it's not totally unheard of.

When they go to get neutered, make sure to alert the vet and have them get spayed as well.


----------



## siwain (Mar 19, 2009)

I noticed today that his apparent "girl in heat" behaviour becomes more proeminent when one of my friends comes over. The first time I saw him act like that was when she was visiting and today it happened again when she arrived. She's got two spayed females, but I don't know if her cat smell is a decisive factor to his behaviour, especially since we've got three more cats at home as well, two spayed females and one neutered male to which he's never acted like this.


----------



## jusjim (Jun 30, 2009)

Carmel said:


> That actually made me laugh out loud. *Cats aren't gay*... they're sort of equal opportunity, like a great deal of animals are, and even if they were gay they wouldn't act like they're in heat because of it.


Not so. The cat I fed would mount the neighbour's male cat at every opportunity. He wasn't interested in the little female. He did go sniffing around CatCat the other male I was feeding and got nothing but dirty looks.

It was quite funny, really. He'd come asking for food, eat and then go to the hole in the fence and call for his friend. Hungery work, you know.

Then they'd come up to my sundeck and ... Oops! Mustn't post porn, eh!

As for other animals, cattle are known have some homosexual steers who have to be cut out of the herds because they cause disruption.

There is now some thought that homosexuality is caused by exogenes, but as yet it's unproven. that being so, there could be a cyclical nature to it. Life is funny.


----------



## LaurulFeatherCat (Sep 16, 2011)

Tux Cat was originally thought to be a tom. Both myself and my vet were able to cause an inmature penis to extend upon examination for sexing. However, Tux never produced scrotal sacks or had testes decend to make scrotal sacs. When she was four months old, she came into full heat. When I had her neutered, the vet doing the surgery said Tux has two ovaries, but she also had a hemi-penis that never developed. He said it was one of the few kittens he has ever seen that was truely physically inter-sexed. He also said the cat's true gender is always determined by what the gonads develop into- ovaries for female, male for testes. It is much more unusual to have a true hemaphrodite that has one of each organ and is truely inter-sexed.

Tux is now a normal happy spayed female cat but is one of the more aggressive females in my pride of cats.


----------

