Foster Diary: The Mystery of Sprinkle’s Hormones

When I picked up Sprinkle, I thought I was just getting a moody cat with a raccoon tail that needed socialization. She had been through a lot over the past few months. After her family was evicted, someone brought her to ACCT Philly. Then, she vanished – living in the ceiling for an ENTIRE month (she somehow found food and water). She returned to a kennel fighting an upper respiratory infection (URI). Then, she was displaying signs that she was in heat and her hormones were raging. The clincher? During exploratory surgery, a vet discovered that she had already undergone a spay. So what was her problem? What could cause these symptoms? The answer turned out to be a simple, but not common.

WARNING: There are graphic pics from Sprinkle’s 2nd surgery in this post. Please do not read if you are squeamish.

In Heat

It sounds odd, but I really haven’t been around cats in heat since I was little. I usually foster cats that have already had a spay or little kittens. Fortunately, I’d had an unspayed, in-heat Himalayan right before Sprinkle, so I knew the signs:

• Chirping
• Back feel flipping
• Positioning of the butt in the air
• Rolling around all the time
• Rubbing against everything
• Gross liquid stuff back “there”

At first, Sprinkle was just grouchy, but after about a week, I started seeing the above signs. It was clear, this girl was in heat, and her hormones were crazy. But her surgery notes said she was spayed. So what the heck was going on?

Test Hormones

I knew Sprinkle was in heat, but I couldn’t figure out why. A quick Google search answered my question: Ovarian Remnant Syndrome. After a spay, a small piece of ovarian tissue can get left behind. But what could a small piece of tissue do? Create heat-like symptoms. That seemed like the most likely culprit.

The next step would be to get a blood test to check Sprinikle’s hormones. The results would tell us if there was ovarian tissue remaining. The results came a week later: Positive for ovarian tissue in Sprinkle.

This is more complicated than it seems because the vet who did her first surgery searched for ovarian tissue and didn’t find any. This means the tissue could be literally ANYWHERE in the abdomen – even a layer of fat. We needed to wait for Sprinkle to be at the peak of her heat cycle to perform the surgery. It’s easier to spot inflamed ovarian tissue that occurs during heat.

Surgery Surprise

Once I saw she was trying to get one of my residents to mate with her, I arranged her surgery. Her hormones were undoubtedly at a high level. I was so nervous the day of Sprinkle’s surgery. What if they couldn’t locate the rando ovarian tissue? Fortunately, I knew the vet who was performing the 2nd surgery, Dr. Morgan Shafer, and I was confident in her abilities.

Good news arrived around 4:30 that day. Sprinkle shocked the vet during the surgery: She needed a spay – but the procedure turned out to be more complicated.

Sprinkle had a congenial defect with one of her ovaries. A horn (long tube egg passes through) attaches an ovary to the cervix. On the left side, Sprinkle had an ovary with a horn. However, the vet found Sprinkle’s right ovary lacked a horn and didn’t attach to the cervix. A massive fluid-filled sac had formed where the horn should have been … like REALLY big. Without removal, the sac would have eventually caused an infection in the uterus and it would have been life threatening. Just reason 8,731 to spay your pet.

How It Was Missed

The congenial defect contributed to the vet missing the ovaries during surgery the first time. The spay tool is inserted and pushed to the right side to grab the horn. Because of Sprinkle’s defect, there was no horn on the right side and the tool didn’t grab anything. The tool is gently inserted on the left side because the spleen is there, so there isn’t a lot of digging around. That’s how it was missed.

Good Prognosis

It’s possible the sac was causing some cramping and discomfort. I look forward to seeing what Sprinkle’s real, non-hormonal personality is after she fully recovers from surgery. Hormones will go down over the next few weeks.

Sprinkle will make a full recovery, and life a full life. Glad we could help her out and avoid a potentially life-threatening infection. Special thanks to Dr. Shafer for saving Sprinkle!

Check out all of my current fosters here.