We think all our rescue animals are special, but we have to admit that some are more special than others, and Rex/Rexina is the most unusual animal we have seen for quite some time.

This stunning, three-year-old tabby cat was gifted in to us as a male, called Rex, because his previous owner couldn’t cope with his spraying and yowling.

When he went to the vets to be neutered, he caused quite a sensation because it became apparent that he had both male and female reproductive organs.

This means that he/she is a very rare hermaphrodite cat.

The condition is caused by a chromosomal abnormality, developed while the animal is still an embryo, but it does not affect overall physical health in any way.

Rex/Rexina would never have been able to reproduce, but he/she will still benefit from having been neutered - he/she will be less territorial, and therefore not need to mark out domains with scent; and he/she will not be seeking a mate and so aggressive behaviour will be less likely, as will yowling and calling.

Rex/Rexina is very friendly and affectionate towards humans, and loves being cuddled, and he/she is used to children. Now that his/her smelliness and feline anti-social behaviours have disappeared he/she will make the perfect addition to a family home.

The biggest challenge for his/her new owners will be what to call him/her, and whether to refer to him/her as a boy or a girl.

Maybe these are decisions that are best left for a few weeks after rehoming, so that Rex/Rexina’s true character and personality can be appreciated by his new family.

As with the hermaphrodite condition, dominant and recessive genes are thought to be the cause of snails that have shells that curl to the left (most sails have right-handed curves).

One such rare ’lefty’, Jeremy, has been featuring on Radio 4’s Today programme as part of an experiment to see if a ’lefty’ paired with another ’lefty’ will produce offspring with the same shells. To find out what happened watch www.bbc.co.uk/programmes.

The site has a charming two-minute video about Jeremy that will appeal to old and young alike. For those of you who do not have access to the internet, suffice to say that poor Jeremy is yet to find love.

Talking of love, Ruben, the dog we featured in our Valentine’s Day appeal, has been adopted by a young couple who have taken him into their hearts and their home, but it wasn’t a simple process.

Ruben had to have major surgery on one of his legs to remove a large growth, and then he had to have a skin graft, and so the adoption had to wait until Ruben was well enough.

Although the growth was cancerous it has not spread, and so Ruben has been given a good prognosis by the vet and hopefully he will have many happy years to come with his new family.

Ruben is a Staffie, and a great example of how loving and affectionate this breed can be even when they are not in the best of situations. We have just one Staffie in our kennels now, a lovely lady called Roxy. She came to us as a stray, but we have been able to track down her veterinary records and we know that she’s seven years old.

She has a shiny black coat with a white stripe down her face leading onto her chest - she really is very pretty.

She adores people but isn’t so good with other animals, and so she needs a new home similar to Ruben’s.

We can’t rescue and rehome our animals without the support of the Manx community, and we’re hoping that as many people as possible will show this by coming along to Ard Jerkyll on bank holiday Monday (May 29) to our ’barn sale’ of quality, second-hand animal goods.

Doors open at 1pm and admittance is free, and the Tearooms will be offering delicious, home-cooked meals from 10am to 4pm.