My Dog Is A Hermaphrodite

[W Sibs]

My brother and my FSIL told me that their second beagle beagle is a hermaphrodite... the recently moved back to Canberra and is going to specialist there to sort out the issue.

[Flye]

At one point we were looking at adopting a mastiff mix, who turned out to be a hermaphrodite. They only found out when they went in to repair a hernia, and found he had female bits inside; he also had normal-looking male genitalia. (Castrated during the hernia operation)

[Danielle]

Wow I have never heard of this in an animal, except for Hyenas....but I guess it can happen. I can't answer your post as I have no idea. I just wanted to say sorry that you are now stuck with medical bills, that if you had of known about her condition, you could have had a choice or at least been prepared.

I am still about it.

At least she has a loving home, I could imagine she might have been PTS if someone with no money to afford the vet bills had of picked her.

BF

Hyenas aren't hermaphrodites. They have an enlarged clitoris shaped like a penis and capable of erection. They have two sacs behind the clitoris shaped like testes but are in fact just sacs of fat. They mate thru the clitoris and deliver litters thru it too, it's also their urinary tract as well. It's not uncommon for this organ to rip during delivery of puppies and become quite damaged. Their testosterone levels are in fact higher than the males of the species and the males are the omegas of the group and are fiercely dominated by the females. People believed hyena were hermaphrodites until recently when we were able to study them closer.

Sorry for the gross details, lol, just wanted to clear that up as a lot of ppl still believe hyenas are hermaphrodites. :D

As for this puppy, I'm sorry that this has happened but I'm sure she will still be a special member of your family and you won't love her any less, she sounds like a cheeky little monkey. Enjoy her!

I don't think the breeder is to blame as she probably didn't know, but I do think some kind of monetary reimbursement is in order to help pay for the up coming vet bills. Let us know how you go with contacting her. Best of luck.

[deefraser]

Yeah as stated before, I have not been able to contact the breeder unfortunately, I'm very new to buying puppies so mistakes were made and looking back on it I don't think it was a registered breeder. I started by adopting a mature beagle, then another mature beagle.. you see where this is going. Then when my little girl beagle passed on leaving me with just my male Vegas I started fostering, when I found out my youngest was a special needs child we bought Aurora our hermaphrodite Japanese Spitz, then we fell in love with one of our foster dogs, a purebred boxer. I knew not to buy from a pet shop as most of those are supplied by puppy farmers so I went online and due to the small amount of breeders selling spitz puppies at that stage I figured they would all be registered as the breed seems to be adeqautely controlled. If anyone could possibly offer any advice on how to avoid this in future, my husband is very keen on getting another boxer at some stage and I really would like to do the right thing when purchasing a puppy next time.

As for Aurora, at the moment she is the centre of attention at the vets at the moment and she loves the fuss they make over her, they also offer a grooming service there which gives her an excuse to go and get pampered and fussed over every 2 weeks which is great as there is no stress on her for visits to the vet!

[Lady Flying Furball]

I'm glad your girl is getting some benefits from her uniqueness at the vets and good luck with the op and sorting out her urinary system.

I'm sure others who know where you check for a breeder's registration will come along, but for sure this site is one way to source pups or adult dogs.

[Sheilaheel02]

Glad your little dog is now doing well.

I rescued an ACD (x?) years ago who was a hermaphrodite. Apparently, other people who had met her didn't notice anything odd, but I certainly did. The 'normal' sized penis was clearly visible protruding from her Vagina. At the time I wasn't sure what, if anything, could be done for her, but the treating vet was amazingly generous and as the clinic was used as a teaching hospital at the time they did a reconstruction at very reduced rates because a lot of the younger vets had never seen the condition. The senior vet performed the operation and did an amazing job.

She ended up being rehomed with another ACDR dog to a family on acreage (with full disclosure of her medical history of course).

S

[sas]

If anyone could possibly offer any advice on how to avoid this in future, my husband is very keen on getting another boxer at some stage and I really would like to do the right thing when purchasing a puppy next time.

At the top left hand side of the screen you will see the DOL Logo, under that it says Dogz Online Home Page, click on that and it will take you here: http://www.dogzonline.com.au/

Select Breed Pages

You will then be presented with a listed of Registered Dogs in Australia, select the Breed of your choice and then you can Browse through 'Registered Breeder' listings.

Being 'Registered' doesn't mean everything will still be ok, but it's a good starting peg and then you can do your research from there. Good Luck.

[Leema]

Interesting story online about a hermaphrodite french bulldog (only posted yesterday):

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/...10323140245.htm

[Miss B]

I went online and due to the small amount of breeders selling spitz puppies at that stage I figured they would all be registered as the breed seems to be adeqautely controlled.

Unfortunately, Japanese Spitz are very popular with backyard breeders and puppy farmers.

[deefraser]

Glad your little dog is now doing well.

I rescued an ACD (x?) years ago who was a hermaphrodite. Apparently, other people who had met her didn't notice anything odd, but I certainly did. The 'normal' sized penis was clearly visible protruding from her Vagina. At the time I wasn't sure what, if anything, could be done for her, but the treating vet was amazingly generous and as the clinic was used as a teaching hospital at the time they did a reconstruction at very reduced rates because a lot of the younger vets had never seen the condition. The senior vet performed the operation and did an amazing job.

She ended up being rehomed with another ACDR dog to a family on acreage (with full disclosure of her medical history of course).

S

I thought this was a wonderful idea for both the dog and the training vets Sheila so I contacted a clinic that is also a teaching hospital for final year vetinary students, unfortunately they informed me that they would probably be a little bit more expensive than my vet. I have been putting money aside though so within a couple of weeks my little ball of fluff will have her much needed operation and my other two dogs will be insured!