Kidney beans!!

The following story was one of the most shocking that I know of as a vet. Fortunately, incidents like the one I am about to recall are rare and not often encountered.

My veterinary clinic had been dealing with this geriatric male German Shepherd (13 year old) dog for several years (since the dog was around 6-7 years old). German Shepherd dogs (GSD) are often hosts to many different diseases and as a result don't often live much beyond 12 years of age. This dog had been in good health for many years but now in the twilight years of his life, he developed problems passing stools and urine.

He was finding it painful to go to the toilet normally and seemed in quite a lot of discomfort. As a result of his pain, he was becoming increasingly tired and inappetant. When the vet (Mark) dealing with the case, examined the dog, he found him to have a very painful prostate gland (male sexual organ sitting at end of the bladder). Tests were run on the dog including blood samples and diagnostics (xrays and ultrasound) to allow visualisation/examination of the prostate.

The blood tests showed the old dog's bodily organs to be functioning normally. However, the prostate gland looked quite abnormal and large. Mark the vet seemed quite surprised by the findings since the owner had insisted that the dog had been castrated (desexed) at another veterinary practice when he was a young puppy.

Our clinic had no record of the castration since he only became our client once he was middle-aged and the surgery had already been performed. The reason I mention castration - is that a lot of prostate problems develop as a result of the hormone testosterone. Therefore, it is unusual for castrated dogs to develop prostate problems later in life because the testicles (which produce the testosterone) have been removed.

So anyhow, this dog should not have had a prostate problem. The scrotum (testicular sack) was empty (no jewels in the purse as we say!). Mark confirmed with the owner that the dog had definitely been castrated as a puppy. The owner was absolutely certain - he even had the bill from many years ago for the castration at the other practice!

On the bill, the owner had certainly been charged for a castration. The owner was charged more than the normal cost of the surgery because one testicle was retained in the abdomen (cryptorchid). Cryptorchidism is when one or both testicles have not descended into the scrotum. They normally are either stuck in the abdomen or somewhere in the groin. These testicles can become problematic later in life, as they don't always develop properly. Surgery to remove a retained testicle takes longer than a routine castration and so naturally, justifies a higher fee.

So this dog had everything proving it had been castrated: an empty pouch and a bill charged for a castration. So Mark decided that this likely prostate problem needed sorting either way and recommended going surgically into the abdomen to examine the organ and to get a biopsy (sample) of it for analysis. Surgery for the abnormal prostate went well - it was examined and the organ biopsied.

When Mark was in the abdomen, he checked the other organs of the body at the same time to see that they all appeared to be normal. Everything seemed fine except that there was an additional resident in the abdomen.There seemed to be a testicle inside. Puzzled, Mark decided that this needed to be removed and sent away to be analysed. This wasn't the end of the story - full examination of the abdomen revealed only one kidney. The other kidney was absolutely nowhere to be seen - a Houdini organ!!

After completing the surgery, Mark confirmed with the owner that the dog had never had any other surgeries except castration at a young age. The client had owned the dog since he was a very young puppy and could confirm that castration was the only surgery. The biopsy result confirmed that the tissue Mark removed was a testicle!! The dog also unfortunately had prostate cancer, which resulted in a very poor prognosis. Incidently, prostate cancer (although rare) seems more common in castrated dogs.

So the only logical conclusion was that the vet performing the castration on this dog (when he was a puppy), accidently mistook a kidney for a testicle. This led to the dog living most his life with one kidney and still with one testicle. I have heard of people meeting strangers in bars and then drugging them to steal one of their kidneys to sell as a transplant. But I very much doubt this old dog got given a date-rape drug when looking for a date!!

Kidneys look quite different from testicles. For one, they are normally much bigger and secondly, they are a reddish-brown colour whereas a testicle looks pink! Fortunately, animals and humans can happily survive with one kidney providing the other kidney is healthy. This dog was luckily unaffected by being an involuntary organ donor!

The irony was that surgery to remove a kidney is actually far more technical than simply removing a testicle. The bill showed that they only charged for a castration, whereas really a nephrotomy (kidney removal) is far more expensive!!

Tags: kidney, testicle, prostate, castration, cryptorchid, cancer, german shepherd, geriatric, surgery