A playful homeless kitten has been found to be neither male nor female because it has no sex organs, in a first seen by vets at an animal charity.

Tabby-and-white Hope was originally thought to be a female cat when it was admitted to Cats Protection's rescue centre in Warrington, but vets found no external sex organs.

Vets said they have seen hermaphrodite cats — with male and female sex organs — even though they are very rare, but Hope has no sex organs, externally or internally.

Cats Protection's senior field veterinary officer Fiona Brockbank said it appears to be a case of agenesis — the failure of an organ to develop — which she and her colleagues have never seen before.

The charity said examinations have shown Hope will not be otherwise affected by the condition and is waiting to be rehomed at Cats Protection's Tyneside Adoption Centre.

Ms Brockbank said: 'We carried out a procedure to look for sex organs but there's nothing apparent inside or out.

'There's an outside possibility of some ectopic ovarian tissue hiding away internally but we think this is extremely unlikely.

'This is so rare that there isn't really a commonly used term for this condition, but it is effectively sexual organ agenesis — where agenesis is the lack or failure of development in relation to body organs.'