Dear Dr. Forsythe: Thanks for doing both a spay AND a neuter on my SINGLE pet last week. I know that most veterinarians would have cringed at the case, but I appreciate that you got the job done. We are very happy that our “she man” dog is doing so well, and living under her female identity. Please tell your readers about the case, and sign me the mother of—
A mighty hermaphrodite
Dear Mighty: Thanks for being such a mighty great client who is so patient and understanding considering this rare and complex case. Your sense of humor of your pet’s “uniqueness” and your appreciation of our effort to properly sterilize her make us so grateful and honored to have you among our clients.
To explain to our readers, your sweet and shapely bulldog came to the hospital to be spayed two weeks ago, and during the surgery I found some abnormal anatomy while looking for the uterus and ovaries: the uterine horns were facing the wrong direction and disappeared into the groin area under the bladder, and the ovaries were missing. This complicated the spay because removing a uterus positioned like this was very difficult. In addition, there were two very large male testicles hidden in the inguinal region that were “crypt orchid” (undescended). These testicles were attached to the uterine horns where the ovaries normally would have been, but were located in the groin. In a normally developed female, the ovaries would be attached to the uterus up near the kidneys inside the abdomen. So this was a case of “scrambled anatomy.” After I removed the reproductive structures from the abdomen, and then the testicles using external incisions into the upper groin area, I finally closed “Violet” up. (After capturing some interesting photos of the exposed uterus and testicles in the same photo).
It was also interesting to note that this frisky little girl possessed a fully developed penis which resides inside her vulva. We left this alone because this is a normally functioning method of urination for this pretty little hermaphrodite. Archie Bunker from “All in the Family” used to say that hermaphrodites had “too much of both, and not enough of neither!” While this may explain the case to many, I prefer to see Violet (rumor has it she is now lovingly called aMANda) as a flat-faced miracle with just the right amount of both, and we lovingly removed some of each.
Happily, our pet in the spotlight seems to be doing very well, and according to her mom, is doing less mounting of both male and female dogs in the area, and is suffering no identity crisis whatsoever. To this I say “you go girl.. I mean boy.. I mean girl….I mean…
Dr. F
Dear Dr. Forsythe: My cavalier has had congestive heart failure for about a year now. She is on two drugs for her condition, but I heard about pimobendan as another medication that is better. Do you recommend this too?
Thanks,
D.Y., Sonoma
Dear D.Y.: Pimobendan is an excellent drug that is frequently used to help cardiac patients because of its vasodilative properties. It does an excellent job helping manage cardiac patients because it has the ability to reduce something called “preload” AND “after load” in cardiac patients. (Preload refers to an overload of blood that is getting ready to enter the heart, after load refers to the blood that has left the heart) Pimobendan is unique in that it can help manage these loads on the heart in a balanced, sustained way.
Pimobendan is now considered to be part of the standard of care for patients in congestive heart failure. It is often used in concert with other drugs such as Enacard and Furosamide to stabilize heart patients and to slow the progression of cardiac disease. Even more important, it can ease the clinical signs associated with heart failure and make a pet feel much better. I suggest you talk to your veterinarian about this exciting drug which has been difficult to get in the United States until recently, but is very effective and may be useful in your pet.
Thanks for the question, and good luck with your pet.
Dr. F
