'This absolutely should not have happened': Pawrent takes their cute kitten to standard spay appointment, only to find out the vet messed up their cat's gender and purrformed the wrong surgery entirely

Author image for Blake Seidel
Blake Seidel • Managing Editor & Brand Manager
Nov 25, 2025 1:00 PM EST

Of all the people in the world, we should trust vets the most. They study for the same amount of time as doctors, yet make significantly less money, and deal with patients who can't tell them what's wrong. Every vet we've ever met shows up every day because they really love animals. However, that unfortunately doesn't mean that every vet is good at their job. There will always be people who are less careful than others, and we, the pet pawrents, are the ones who pay the price for it.

The pawrent below took her newly adopted kitten in for a routine spay appointment. They even had a 1.5-hour meeting with the vet beforehand, who signed "her" up for this standard procedure. Well, when the momma came back, she got news she certainly never expected. It turns out her "she" was a "he", and they only found that out after they started the spay process and didn't find what they were looking for! The vet didn't even bother to check if she was a boy or a girl, and caused the cat to have to go through two surgeries instead of one easy one. 

She decided not to sue them (they're lucky, we would not have been so kind), but she did leave some scathing reviews about her honest expurrience, and we hope that they learned a very impurrtant lesson for the future: having a vet you trust is worth more than gold.

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  • 01

    Vet seriously messed up and I don’t know what to do!

    Cheezburger Image 10579572736
    via lildirtfoot
  • 02
    I brought my little girl in to get spayed. I have never owned a cat before and I told that to the vet when i first brought her in. The vet did a 1.5 hour exam and told me she was a girl and ran test and did the whole nine yards. I take her in for the spay appointment and leave her there for the 8 hours it takes them to get to her and when I came back they had "some news"
    via lildirtfoot
  • 03
    They never properly sexed my cat. They cut into him for a spay only to not find ovaries. Only at this point did the surgeon tell the vet tech to check for balls and they found them and then neutered my cat. I get told I should be happy because it's a cheaper surgery, but now my cat is all chopped up and very swollen and HE won't do anything but sleep and snuggle which is cute but I'm scared he is hurting very bad.
    via lildirtfoot

  • Our cat took a few days to come back to their normal selves after their spay surgery, so we want to tell her that she shouldn't be too worried. It's a lot for their tiny bodies to heal from, plus with the medication, they might be a bit loopy for a while.

  • 04
    I want to know what to do in this situation, the vet did something terribly wrong and their excuse was that his butt was too fluffy and that they are just humans who make mistakes.
    via lildirtfoot
  • 05
    tl;dr: they cut open my cat to spay her only to realize he was a boy because the vets never confirmed gender.
    via lildirtfoot
  • 06
    Update! thank you for all of the supportive comments. I removed the cat suit for some supervised grooming time and he got much more spunky. He is quite swollen on his spay scar, but it isn't warm or seeping. I am not going to sue them for this,
    via lildirtfoot
  • 07
    but I appreciate your support. I did however report them to the proper agencies. I know it seems extreme to some people for me to have anxiety about my cat, but I just want to give him the best care possible because I
    via lildirtfoot
  • 08
    did take him in from the wild. To displace something and then cause it unnecessary harm was very hard for me to come to grips with. I do find it soothing that so many vets and cat owners have let me know that they do not experience the same level of grief that we do when going through something like this.
    via lildirtfoot
  • 09
    Adventurous_Ad7442 17h ago Good grief. Your kitty won't have to heal as much inside as he would have if he had the other surgery. You're going to need a different vet now because this one is incompetent.
    via Adventurous_Ad7442
  • 10
    • yekomz 17h ago I work at a spay/nueter clinic and this absolutely should not have happened. Definitely leave some sort of review or report, and find a new vet. Hope your kitty heals well!
    via yekomz_

  • A bad review would be the least of their worries if this had happened to us. Especially if they still wanted us to pay after they made such an obvious mistake. We know that mistakes happen, but when it comes to surgery and our cats, no mistakes are allowed.

  • 11
    . Electronic-Bicycle35 16h ago Lots have already commented on the surgery debacle so I'll leave that. He might be just lying around because of the clothes you have him in. Cats have a tendency to flop over and not get up in clothes and harnesses. Try taking it off him for a bit and see how he is (with a cone instead so he doesn't nibble at stitches)
    via Electronic-Bicycle35
  • 12
    ManfredTheCat 16h ago . Leave a Google review "Didn't bother verifying cat's sex before surgery resulting in unnecessary pain and suffering. Is this a place you'd trust with the life of your beloved pet? A place that tries to spay a male?" And get a new vet.
    via ManfredTheCat
  • 13
    TorieSikes 17h ago Poor baby!! You should definitely report the vet to the proper authorities and maybe find another vet to check on your baby to make sure he is ok.
    via TorieSikes
  • 14
    scoobysnack64 • 16h ago Idk how much you can trust a vet that can't tell if your cat is a boy or girl. Wouldn't ever go back there again.
    via scoobysnack64
  • 15
    whystar • 17h ago . Pleaseeeee don't just let this slide and make a report/bad review at the very least!!!! This could happen to another poor kitty
    via whystar
  • 16
    kinare • 16h ago So they still made you pay for it?
    via kinare
  • 17
    FL . yOuthatswhy 15h ago We got ozzy fixed last week. He was sluggish and tired for about two days until he stopped the pain medicine. After that, he's back to his usual self. I was definitely a little worried the first couple days. I hope your baby girl is okay
    via F***yOuthatswhy
  • 18
    Happi Pat
    via F***yOuthatswhy
  • 19
    RadSidewinder 16h ago Your little one is going to need some time to heal, he's been cut into in two places now. Cuddling, sleeping, and being lethargic are going to be perfectly normal signs of this. As best you can monitor the incision sites for signs of infection and if you
    via RadSidewinder
  • 20
    really want to cover your bases you can take him to a different vet to get him examined. However barring anything complications his energy and personality will return as he heals. This is different for every cat, I've seen some get neutered
    via RadSidewinder
  • 21
    and lay down for days and I've seen some who don't seem to give a crap that they have been neutered and you almost have to make them lay down and rest lol. The spaying surgery typically has a bit longer of a recovery time but luckily for him he's just
    via RadSidewinder
  • 22
    got an incision there and is not actually missing any organs so it might be a bit easier. Give him lots of love, he deserves to be pampered right now, poor little thing had an ordeal but he'll likely be just fine.
    via RadSidewinder
  • 23
    As far as the vet themselves holy shit. That's crazy. My mother was a cat hoarder when I was growing up so I've been around a lot of cats and it takes like 2.5 seconds to properly identify most cats genders. It's a little harder when they're younger but by spay/neuter age
    via RadSidewinder
  • 24
    it should be extremely fucking obvious. I am appalled that in a professional exam they had an error of that magnitude. There's probably a veterinary board somewhere in your area they can reported to, if not nasty. reviews are the way to go and definitely never to back.
    via RadSidewinder

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gender FAIL vet Cats mistake cute kittens animals surgery
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