Dudley- The Mystery of The Missing Testicle
Name: Dudley
Age: 1yr old
Weight: 6kg
Breed: Miniature Daschund
Sex: Male, desexed
History: Dudley is a much loved little guy who presented to Wilston Vet back in November 2012 when he was booked in for a routine desexing procedure. Turns out it wasn’t going to be so routine after all…….
Examination: Upon examination prior to surgery, Dr Nichola noticed that only one of his testicles had dropped into the scrotum. The right testicle was undescended, meaning that he was a unilateral crytporchid (only one testicle in the scrotum). When puppies first develop in utero, the testicles form in their abdomen. As the puppy continues to grow in utero, the testicles slowly migrate downwards and out of the body into the scrotum. Sometimes, this goes wrong and one or both do not migrate downwards. Undescended testicles can be found in either the groin or the abdomen. Performing a desexing on a cryptorchid animal is much more involved and invasive than normal (the surgical procedure is more similar to that of a female dog as the surgery is undertaken via the abdominal wall).
It is very important to remove any undescended testicles to prevent testicular torsion and testicular cancer. The normal testicle should also be removed to prevent cryptorchid offspring as it is an inherited trait.
It was decided by both vet and owner that the surgery should be delayed a couple more months to see if the testicle would drop down by itself in order to avoid a more complicated procedure for Dudley. Often puppies who are diagnosed as crytporchids will have their testicle migrate to its normal position with a little more time (i.e. couple of months at most).
August came and Dudley’s testicle still had not dropped into the scrotum. Dr Kate was however able to feel it just in front of the scrotum meaning that it was no longer in the abdomen and fortunately for Dudley, would be much easier to remove.
Treatment: Dudley was booked in for a cryptorchid surgery. A premedication was given to him which had both a sedative and pain relief in it. This injection relaxes the patient before putting them under a general anaesthetic, making the procedure much smoother and safer.
An IV catheter was placed in Dudley’s right cephalic (leg) vein to allow the veterinarian to administer the anaesthetic and the intravenous fluids. Dudley’s hair was clipped away from the surgical site and his skin prepped for the procedure.
Dr Kate located the right undescended testicle in the inguinal area. An incision was made in the groin to excise that testicle. This testicle was significantly smaller than the other one and this made it a little bit harder for Dr Kate to not only find it, but to remove it (often undescended testicles are smaller and malformed). The other incision was made between the base of the penis and the scrotum (as per a normal castration) to remove the normal testicle.
Following surgery, Dr Kate phoned Dudley’s owners to let them know that the procedure went really well and a two week recuperation (reduced activity) was advised.
10 days later, Dudley came back to the clinic to have his sutures removed. Nurse Donna removed the skin sutures. They had healed up very well and Dudley was given the all clear!
