Owner horrified at castration of prized pedigree

Tauranga resident Michelle Curtis was horrified to have her bengal-siamese stud cat Buddy come home neutered. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

Call it the curious case of the castrated cat.

The mysterious and totally unauthorised neutering of pedigree cat Buddy has infuriated his Tauranga owner, who can no longer lease him out as a stud cat.

Michelle Curtis was horrified after her prized siamese-bengal cross returned home at the weekend, fixed and a little grumpy, after disappearing for two days.

"I couldn't believe someone took my cat and got him fixed. I don't know why they would do that," she said yesterday.

"It really was quite bizarre. I mean, who just takes someone's cat and gets them neutered?"

Thanks to the cat burglar in question, all that now remains of Buddy's previous manhood is a pair of small slits from the surgery.

Because Buddy was not plucked or shaven, Ms Curtis fears the unsanctioned snip was the work of a do-it-yourself surgeon.

Barkes Corner Vet Hospital veterinarian Martin Earles said if the job was done by a vet, there would have been at least some hair removed from around the cat's scrotum area.

But he believed it would have been difficult for someone to neuter an adult cat by themselves.

Although Buddy does not wear a collar, Ms Curtis believes his breed would have made it obvious why he wasn't neutered.

"It's not normal for him to go missing either, he's always here for his feeds, sleeps here for most of the day, and sometimes at night."

Ms Curtis, a former cat breeder, has had Buddy for almost two years and up until the weekend was considering using him as a stud cat - but now all he can offer is companionship.

"What am I supposed to do now? I can't exactly get someone to sew them back on."

It was because she wanted to keep Buddy that she sold Vixen, her former chocolate point siamese queen cat, who could produce litters worth $450 for each kitten.

Buddy's neutering has also ended the blood line she was breeding with, and Ms Curtis estimates it would cost at least $1000 to create another line.

Despite phone calls to the SPCA and vet clinics across the city, the caper remains unsolved.

Neighbours approached by the Bay of Plenty Times yesterday could also offer no leads.

But Ms Curtis hasn't given up her search yet - she plans to drop posters in mailboxes across the neighbourhood in the hope that someone might come forward.

"I don't think it's likely and they might freak out and think 'oh my God', but there still might be a chance.

"Why did they fix my cat? Why couldn't they have found out who it belonged to first?"

"It's still hard to deal with. I'm unimpressed with the whole thing, it just really, really sucks."