Basic reproduction of the cat

Lecture Notes

Here we see a picture of a portion of the reproductive tract of a female cat, or queen. You see the paired ovaries, which produce the oocytes, and the long uterine horns. This uterine structure is typical of animals who bear multiple young, or litters.

The uterus and ovaries in this picture had been removed from a cat during a spay surgery; you can see where the tissues were cut at the base of the uterus. Imagining for a moment that the uterus was still inside the cat, if we were to continue to follow the tract past the cut mark, we would encounter the cat's vagina and then the external opening, the vulva.