Transgender Kitty

By Dr. Susan Robb, Veterinarian

The following is a true story. Names have been changed to protect the embarrassed.

Bruce was in for a routine examination and vaccination. Bruce's care giver, Shirley was concerned that Bruce had been acting strangely for the last 2 months. He had been looking for more attention than usual, wanted to spend his time sitting on his food giver's lap, and wanted to smooch all day. While Shirley didn't mind that Bruce loved her so much more than usual, she did find it disconcerting that the change had been so sudden. Plus there were these "lumps" on his chest!

OK. Time for a good checkover.

Sure enough, Bruce did have "lumps" on his chest. In fact each of his nipples was swollen by breast tissue full of milk! Hmmm. Since Shirley thought the breast tissue was unusual, she obviously knew nothing about the cause. There aren't many reasons for growth of breast tissue in a male. The thought of adrenal tumours sprang to mind, but perhaps there could be an easier explanation. It was time for a subtle question or two.

"Has Bruce had any problems with the neighbours lately?"

"Oh, yes! He was caught spraying urine in their kitchen a few months ago. But he stopped that after an injection."

Phew, mystery solved. Progestagens used to be used for behaviour modification in cats, but have gone out of favour because of the side-effects - behaviour changes (depression, attention seeking), appetite problems (increased appetite, weight gain), metabolic changes (diabetes, mammary gland enlargement, milk production). Some older veterinarians still use the injectable hormones for convenience, even though the injection lasts for around three months.

"Was it a hormone injection?"

"I don't know. The veterinarian never said what it was. She just said that the injection would stop him spraying."

"Well, the 'lumps' are his breasts. He's producing milk because of the hormone injections. Between the milk, and his personality change, you could say that he's going through a sex change."

The client was horrified. The only thing that settled her down was the assurance that Bruce would be back in boy mode as soon as the hormone injecton wore off, approximately another month. She didn't appreciate the comment that Bruce wouldn't show any lifelong desire for pink frilly dresses.