A male cat known as Piglet had his penis removed and now urinates like a female after a life-saving operation likened to a sex change.
Piglet’s urethra, the passage urine passes down from the bladder to the genitals, was blocked by a lump of minerals that stopped him from going to the toilet.
Surgeons removed his penis and the blocked urethra before creating a permanent opening so that urine would come out of his perineum, closer to his anus.
After vets performed the procedure, which they said was ‘a little bit like gender reassignment surgery’, the six-year-old cat made a swift recovery.
A male cat known as Piglet (pictured) had his penis removed and now urinates like a female after a life-saving operation likened to a sex change
Experts from Charter Vets, in Cheshire, removed Piglet’s urethra and ‘re-plumbed’ him in a rare procedure, called perineal urethrostomy, to combat the potentially fatal blockage.
The procedure reconnects the urethra to a new opening in the skin of the perineum closer to the anus, so that urine can excreted without passing through the blocked urethra.
The surgery does not necessarily include the removal of the penis or scrotum.
However, in this case, vets had to remove the penis – where the stone had become lodged – as they had been unable to flush it out using other methods.
Dr Sarah Bruce, who carried out the operation on Piglet, said: ‘In layman’s terms, it is a little bit like gender reassignment surgery.
‘The surgery involved making his anatomy more like a female so now he wees like a girl.
‘Overall this is an exceptional case with a positive outcome.
‘When Piglet came in, he had a bladder stone lodged at the end of his penis (the urethra)
‘We could either put him to sleep or perform radical surgery to remove the penis, where the stone was trapped, because we couldn’t flush it out.’
Piglet’s urethra, the passage urine passes down from the bladder to the genitals, was blocked by a lump of minerals that stopped him from going to the toilet. This X-ray shows the cat after the procedure
Surgeons removed Piglet’s penis and the blocked urethra before creating a permanent opening so that urine would come out of his perineum, closer to his anus. This X Ray shows another angle of Piglet taken after the surgery
Male and female cats adopt a similar posture while urinating, spreading their hind legs so that their paws are pointing in the opposite direction.
They then lift their tail, which is usually held still, and release the urine downwards.
A perineal urethrostomy diverts the stream of urine away from the urethra in the penis.
It creates an opening for urine to go through in skin of the perineum, the region between the genitals and the anus.
Ejaculated will also exits the body through the new opening instead of the end of the penis, following the
Human males usually have to sit and lift up the scrotum up to pass urine if the scrotum is not removed.
This is only the second time that Dr Bruce has performed such a surgery.
Dr Bruce said: ‘It is the second procedure I’ve done like this and it worked without any problems.
‘The procedure is not something you’d usually leap into unless absolutely necessary because in many cases, the stones can be removed.
‘But Piglet’s wasn’t going to come out unfortunately so we had little choice.’
After vets performed the procedure, which they said was ‘a little bit like gender reassignment surgery’, the six-year-old cat, shown here as a kitten, made a swift recovery
Piglet’s owner, mum-of-three Zoe Philpott, from Sandbach, Cheshire, 48 (pictured), said: ‘Piglet was so poorly and it was horrible seeing him suffering, he’d lost lots of weight too’
She added: ‘I think it’s worth raising awareness about the problems with passing stones because it’s quite common in male cats.
‘I’d urge owners to get them seen to straight away if they are having trouble urinating, as Mrs Philpott did in this case, because it can lead to more serious problems.
Piglet’s owner, mum-of-three Zoe Philpott, from Sandbach, Cheshire, 48, said: ‘Sarah said a stone was causing a blockage and they couldn’t remove it.
‘His penis was so swollen and Sarah asked me to consider whether to go ahead with a radical operation to remove it all together.
‘Piglet was so poorly and it was horrible seeing him suffering, he’d lost lots of weight too.
‘But it was reassuring to know that Sarah had done the operation once before and it had been successful so I agreed for Piglet to have the procedure and have never looked back.’
A perineal urethrostomy diverts the stream of urine away from the urethra in the penis. It creates an opening for urine to go through in skin of the perineum. It was the second time that Dr Sarah Bruce (pictured) had performed such a surgery