"What a load of rubbish," the 3rd
year Veterinary Student commented
when I described a case where the
male neutered cat had no penis
visible at all times. "Yet he
could pee but how did he do it?
Could this cat be suffering from a
case of "Kuru?".
What is "Kuru?" the young man
asked as his mum laughed when I
told her about this case. It is
funny when I described the case
during story telling. However,
the humour may be lost in writing
this report.
"Kuru is apparently a Malay word
for a human condition in which the
penis disappears inside the body
after eating pork in one of the
periods in the 1960s," I said.
"Suddenly the affected man loses
his manhood!"
The student rolled his eyes
upwards. It was preposterous. He
remembered his veterinary anatomy
and said: "The cat's penile
retractor muscles pulls the penis
inside the prepuce, just as in the
horse (and hence the penis is not
visible). When the retractor
muscles relax, the penis will be
visible."
"Can 'Kuru' occur in a man?" I
asked him. "Does the penile
retractor muscle exist in the
males of the homo sapiens?"
The young man in his early 20s did
not reply. His mum just found this
situation hilarious. The young man
just could not imagine a man
having his manhood disappeared
completely inside his body.
"It is hard to believe me," I
said. "But 'Kuru' was reported in
the Singapore newspapers when I
was around 15 years old. My mum
mentioned this report to me."
If only there was the internet at
that time so that I could check
the existence of this newspaper
report.
 Although
4 decades had passed, I could
vividly recall the name of "Kuru"
as it struck adversely affecting
manhood. At 15 years of age, I was
impressionable and I was male. I
could not remember whether I
stopped eating pork when "Kuru"
spread like wildfire in Singapore
around 1965.
Now, I encountered an equivalent
case of "Kuru" in the animal
kingdom and after nearly 4 decades
of practice. This cat fell four
storeys and had 3 wounds in his
backside. No penis was visible at
all. Maybe it was inside one of
the holes. However, I operated to
create a new hole as the urine was
diverted into one hole and then
into the thigh fascia and muscle
areas.
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 2461
- 2467. Cat fell 4 stories. Hit a
tree? Backside traumatised.
3 holes below the anus. Penis
"disappeared". Urine leaked out
from the 3 abnormal holes. Owner
complained about "white tissue" in
one hole. What to do? Can anything
be done? Owner quite happy
with re-directed urine to new
hole. "There is a one loose skin
piece" she phoned me recently.
"What is that?". I don't know
unless I see the cat. I asked her
to e-mail pictures to save on vet
costs. |
So, was this a case of "Kuru" or
not? I have some pictures to show
readers. The only time I could
barely see the penis was when the
cat suddenly peed during my review
before going home on the day of
surgery. He just shot out his full
bladder's urine, missing me by a
few cm as I swerved. I grabbed my
camera, switched it on and managed
to capture a photograph for
readers to see. Certainly, this
cat could pee normally but he
appeared to have "Kuru". In any
case, the owners were happy with
his newly created urinary hole and
he no longer urine-stained his
backside. |
