Has Anyone else's dog needed TWO abdominal exploratory surgeries???

[FlowersGSD]

Am feeling demoralized after our neuter/spay on Ben. The vet couldn't find the other testicle after an hour and an incision from stem to stern.
That was the week before thanksgiving. I called the breeder who recommended I get an opinion from another vet clinic with ultrasounds and an all around better reputation for state of the art services. One of the vets called me back and said an ultrasound is $600 and the chance of finding it may be small as the testicle itself may be as small as the tip of your little finger.(her words).
Another vet there is going to call me back about doing a testosterone assay first, but if it shows a retained testes then we have to do another abdominal surgery.
Has anyone else had to put their dog thru 2 surgeries like this? I hate for him to have to go thru it but I dont want to keep it in there either, of course.
I guess I just feel like his insides have been manhandled enough--if you know what I mean. Can they (the dogs) bounce back ok?
I feel like I need a pep talk to go through all of this again.

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

Where are you at? Not specifically but perhaps people can recommend a place for you to go to. At those prices I am wondering California or Canada!

[FlowersGSD]

I am in Maryland

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

Oh, gosh, yeah, very expensive there too! I could change the title of your post if you want to include the word MD.

I think if you find the vet who can find it first without opening him up, it will be a much easier, faster surgery for him.

I like to try to wait if possible for a while between surgeries if I can, however, we had a dog in rescue who had a telescoping intestine - had surgery (I am guessing 2-4 hours) for that (can't spell intucusseption!) and then 10-14 days later (can't remember) had to go in for a 4 hour surgery to remove/repair adhesions caused by the first surgery. She had 18 inches of intestine removed in the first one, I think, and then some more in the second one and a little bit of her bladder too! I was her foster for the second surgery and sat in that waiting room (on a Sunday) thinking she was not going to be able to handle this again.

Definitely not what we wanted to do in any way, but just shows what they CAN go through. She was also quite unhealthy - at the time of her discharge she was 37# I believe, and is a 62-66# dog now. Nothing in life is without risk, but...we animals are pretty resilient when we can be.

[FlowersGSD]

I spoke to the vet with reproductive specialty experience who said to do a testosterone assay first (administration of HCg after one blood sample and then see if the testosterone rises in rsponse to the HCg hormone with a second blood sample--indication of a retained testes). She said that if the first vet couldnt find it it could be tiny and very hard to find with ultrasound so that is why another surgery might have to be done.

[FlowersGSD]

wow-adhesions--i hadnt thought of that. that is weird that the adhesions were so pronounced so shortly after the surgery. I think Ben probably has some cause his repair is quite lumpy with hard knots in some areas.

[RebelGSD]

I have a human doctor friend who advises me in dog health issues. She was shocked that the retained testicle is removed routinely in dogs. According to her the increased probability of testicular cancer is minimal. Testicular cancer in dogs is not that common, and most forms are not particularly aggressive. She also told me that in people the retained testicle can get absorbed by the body. I could not find hard evidence in the literature about increased incidence of testicular cancer, since the temperature is slightly higher in the abdomen than the normal location, there may be a slightly increased risk.

I had a case of a foster where the vet was unable to find the testicle after I huge incision. I left it alone.

IMO butchering the dog because of a slightly increased risk is not justified. Such major sugary also carries risks. It is up to the owner to weigh the risks of the different options.

People do not routinely remove their own testicles to reduce risk of testicular cancer and the hymen forms are more aggressive.

[FlowersGSD]

I appreciate your feedback RebelGSD. I will ask the doc.

[FlowersGSD]

does anyone know what the incidence of increased cancer there is if the testicle stays in there?

[stealthq]

Only study I could find. Study of stray dogs in tropical conditions.

Reprod Domest Anim. 2006 Oct;41(5):429-37.
Pathological conditions of the reproductive organs of male stray dogs in the tropics: prevalence, risk factors, morphological findings and testosterone concentrations.

Ortega-Pacheco A, Rodríguez-Buenfil JC, Segura-Correa JC, Bolio-Gonzalez ME, Jiménez-Coello M, Linde Forsberg C.
Source

Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, Autonomous University of Yucatan, Yucatan, Mexico. opach-eco@tunku.uady.mx

Abstract

The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of and risk factors for pathological conditions of the reproductive organs in stray dogs under tropical conditions. Three hundred and eighteen dogs were examined post-mortem in the period from 1 July 2002 to 30 June 2003. Before killing, a blood sample (from the cephalic vein) for testosterone assay was taken. Pathological conditions of the reproductive organs were found in 135 of the dogs (42.5%) and in 175 of the testes (64.8%). The most frequent pathologies found were testicular degeneration, cryptorchidism, testicular hypoplasia and testicular tumours (in 15.1%, 6.6%, 6.6% and 5.4% of the dogs and 15.1, 4.6, 6.0 and 3.5 of the testes, respectively). Transmissible venereal tumour (TVT) was seen in 5.4% of the dogs. Testicular degeneration was more common in old dogs and underweight dogs (p < 0.05). Testicular tumours were 14.3 times more common in cryptorchid dogs. Age was another important factor for the development of testicular tumours (p < 0.05). Lower levels of testosterone concentration (p < 0.05) were observed in dogs with advanced testicular degeneration (0.7 +/- 0.8 nM), dogs with hypoplastic testicles (0.8 +/- 0.9 nM) and dogs with one degenerated and one retained testis or with bilateral cryptorchidism (1.2 +/- 0.9 nM) compared to dogs with one or two normal testes (7.0 +/- 5.5 nM). Testicular volume and weight were significantly lower in degenerated, hypoplastic and retained testes compared with the contralateral normal testis. Some spermatogenic activity was found in three of the retained testes, producing oligozoospermic smears with a high percentage of sperm abnormalities. No comparable epidemiological data about male pathological conditions of the reproductive organs in the dog is available. The prevalence found in this study, yet, appears high.