14 DAY TRIAL // Veterinarians in Canada are now making the final preparations for an odd surgical intervention that, when finally performed sometime in the days to come, will surely draw a whole lot of media attention.
Long story short, they are getting ready to operate on a hermaphrodite cat named Mittens and turn the feline into a strapping and adorably furry young man.
The feline, featured in the photos accompanying this article, will undergo the gender reassignment surgery at a local veterinary clinic in the town of Heart's Desire in Newfoundland, Canada, where it now lives with its owner.
Mittens is a rescue cat
The hermaphrodite feline was adopted by Colleen Clarke-Murphy and her family last year, after the woman's daughter found her wandering the streets of Heart's Desire and thought it a good idea to offer it a loving home.
Despite having one other cat, Colleen Clarke-Murphy agreed to let Mittens live with her and her family. Little did she know that this stray cat that her daughter rescued from the streets was unlike any other.
Back in last year's October, the woman took the feline to a local veterinary clinic for what was supposed to be a perfectly customary consult. Much to her surprise, vets told her that the latest addition to her family was a hermaphrodite.
“Did I just hear you right?” Colleen Clarke-Murphy remembers asking the veterinarian who performed this consult when told that Mittens had both male and female reproductive organs.
The feline will soon be a boy
The cat's adoptive mom says that, when first asked whether she wanted to have Mittens become a boy or a girl, she opted for the latter, simply because the family's other pet feline is a male. Apparently, Colleen Clarke-Murphy cares deeply about diversity.
However, when doctors told her that Mittens would have an easier time getting adjusted to being a male, the woman changed her mind and agreed to have veterinarians remove the cat's female reproductive organs.
The gender reassignment surgery this hermaphrodite feline will soon be subjected to is to cost Colleen Clarke-Murphy and her family about $1,500 (nearly €1,300). The reason the family is ready and willing to pay for it is that its being a hermaphrodite is causing Mittens health trouble.
Thus, the upcoming surgical intervention has little to do with cosmetic reasons and everything to do with the fact that the cat's adoptive family want it to live a long and happy life.
