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Hermaphrodite?


BlackJaq
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So my OH has just taken in a puppy from a pound...

When puppy arrived, we noticed she had a little pink bit of something sticking out of her privates but since she seemed in no pain and it was the weekend we got a vet appointment for today to have it looked at.

OH is on his way back from the vet now but he told me when I phoned to hear how they went that the vet thinks it might actually be a penis :confused: and she likely urinates out of it. She cannot retract it at all as far as we can tell and the vet says we pretty much need to wait and see how she goes and how it develops. The vet is unsure what her sex might be on the inside. There may or my not be testicles or ovaries.

OH is pretty concerned that the "penis" will be a grass seed magnet and also a hotspot for infection as it is continuously being exposed (an sat on). There has not been any internal imaging or anything yet, as we are still waiting to be sure she will not come down with parvo or anything before spending any large sums of money. She has been here since Saturday.

So has anybody ever had anything like this? How did it end? Any issues? When did you de-sex?

I have no photos at the moment....

ETA: Vet guesstimates she is about 6 months old

Edited by BlackJaq
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I have known 2. One was a Lhasa Apso which presented as a bitch in every way. She got a lot of UTI and always had a sticky messy vulva. eventually they knocked her out & looked at her under a microscope only to find a tiny penis! You couldn't see it with the naked eye. They left it alone and managed her hygeine and she lived a healthy 15 yrs.She was desexed as a puppy so must have presented as a bitch internally.

The other was a Cocker Sp that had what could only be described as an incomplete penis assembly. It was obviously not right just from a quick look. It was always a hygiene issues, an absolute messy nightmare actually. They had a friend who was a vet who attempted surgery but it was not possible to bring the dog through surgery with any normal future & it wasn't woken up. It was about 9 months old when I met it.

Interesting subject but not always positive :/

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There was a young cocker spaniel who was training in class. He only had one ball so they had him desexed and when they went in to find the other ball - next they found ovaries.... so he had pretty well both sexes. So he ended up having all removed.....

Lived very well and no health problems.

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Thanks for all the replies, feeling a bit more optimistic now. I will take a photo after dinner for those who are interested

I guess all we can do for now is wait and see how it develops as she gets older. Apparently the vet said there is bone in it, so it's reasonably well developed penis.... OH is slightly disturbed about it still but getting used to the idea. He was pretty freaked out when he got home from the vet and I got I nice earful on pound dogs because I was the one who showed him her photo and I also got a dog from the same pound previously lol :p

Edited by BlackJaq
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I have seen two, one in a purebred Pug, one in a Heinz mutt, and have heard of several others in varying breeds. In both the cases I saw, the dogs presented as female and then in adolescence very small penises began to be glimpsed and both went to the vet, who confirmed hermaphroditism.

In two other cases of which I have heard, it was only discovered during routine desexing surgery - bit of a surprise for the vet! laugh.gif

I have owned a rabbit that presented as female for several years and then suddenly became male and sired litters - most annoying when you thought you had all females so were safe from conception!

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Wow thats really interesting, thanks for the photo. Have the vets recommended any preventative measures for infection?

No, they recommend to wait and see if she will come on heat as this usually makes the genitals swell up a little and they stay bigger after the first heat than when they are babies, so the vet hopes that this may help cover it up a little. They are very reluctant to operate atm as she is not having any issues and it would be a pretty fiddly reconstructive job which may not really be necessary. If she has no female sex organs internally then this will obviously not work....

I guess checking it daily to make sure there are no grass seeds or injuries will be necessary. Not sure what age the vet will want to de-sex but personally I would still like to leave it until 18 months or so as she will be a large-ish dog and I am not a fan of early de-sexing in large breeds, unless she is going to have an issue with this. But even if she has internal testes, I don't think they will become a problem in that time frame....

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wow that is very interesting.

PS. If anyone sees this I can't post in the breeders forum but I want to suggest 'Karat' as a golden name for SSM !!

I was also reading SSM's Breeders forum topic Skyfool, and was thinking of a beautiful golden glaze we sometime use at our pottery group...it is called 'Crackle Goldene'

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