Solo's testicle..

[wolfsoul]

This may be a bit gross for some people..

For the past week I have been running around my house bleaching everything because there has been this smell I couldn't seem to locate. I noticed that it was more prominent when Solo was running around but I would smell his hair and while he smelled a little of it, so does everything else in the house so I shrugged it off and continued on my cleaning rampage to find whatever is dead and rotting in my house.

Solo is a monorchid (one testicle -- never naming a dog 'Solo' again lol -- he had two testicles at one point but one just randomly dissapeared one day and the vet says it is high up in his abdomen where you can't even feel it). As such every night when I feed him I always check his testicle just to see if the other one by miracle popped out beside it (I can dream, right?).

So I HAVE been checking him every night this week, but tonight was different. I felt down there and noticed he had alot of extra skin...I have noticed his one testicle getting bigger so I just thought at first that the skin is just making room for when it is full sized, and that there would be skin to fit two testicles of course. But it felt very thick and scaly. So I made him stand there under the light so I could look at it, and got close enough to smell...and it was horrible. The skin is not cut open or anything, but it has big black scabs on it that do not appear to be from blood -- it's like some sort of skin-crust that is building up. Just black. So I picked it all off and cleaned off his area with hydrogen peroxide and witch hazel, and then I rubbed on some aloe vera/comfrey/callandula gel. His testicle smells like rotten parmesan cheese (sorry).

I will make an appointment with the vet tomorrow but I'd like to know if anyone has seen anything like this. I work around intact males all the time and have never seen this. Is this some common thing with monorchidism? Thanks in advance for any help..

[husky 1]

my sibe kavik only has 1 testicle at present , hes 6 months old , not sure what the problem could be with your boys 1 testicle but iof it smells like you say it possibly may be a fungal type thing :confus best to see vet though i think

[Crazy-Cat-Lover]

I was searching the internet and couldn't find anything. I have attached a link to a very informative site about skin conditions. I hope all goes well at the vets tomorrow! Also, do you mean cryptorchidsm?

Monorchidism is a rare developmental condition in which a male dog only develops one testicle. This condition is often confused with unilateral cryptorchidism. In the case of unilateral cryptorchidism, the dog has two testicles, however, only one testicle descends into the scrotum, while the other is permanently retained in the abdomen. Monorchidism is usually confirmed by plasma testosterone analysis. The plasma testosterone level is significantly lower in a dog which lacks a testicle than it would be in a dog with a retained testicle. Monorchidism is a genetic fault. Dogs exhibiting this condition should never be used for breeding and should be neutered.

[dragondawg]

If you picked off a scab, that means there was a skin wound there before. If there is swelling that could be a sign of infection, possibly leading to a epidermal cyst. Antibiotics should clear it up. Or just as simple neutering would take care of the problem.

Undescended testicles can frequently become cancerous. Apparent cause is the higher temperature of the body cavity. At least in humans if surgery can not correct the problem, then they are removed- due to the higher incidence of cancer. Ask the Vet about it.

[Iilo]

Rien mysteriously sucked up a testicle (and watching your threads when Solo was just a baby and you were naming him, I was a little wary for you -- I'm super superstitious when it comes to naming dogs >.>.
We didn't get him neutered until his first birthday, to give him some chance to develop a little more. Definitely did not have that issue. Hope it's nothing serious.

[wolfsoul]

Thanks everyone.

If you picked off a scab, that means there was a skin wound there before.

It was one big dead layer of skin that covered the entire testicle -- so I don't know how he would have a wound like that unless it was a huge burn that only covered his testicle. I don't neuter my dogs until they are physically mature, it is very unlikely he would develop cancer before neutering him at 1.5 years.

The skin I picked off lastnight came back again so I did the same thing -- peeled it all off and applied the ge. It's very red and sore underneath, he was not very happy with me. It is better than it was lastnight though. I made an appointment for Monday but I'm hoping it will be cleared up by then. It's only his testicle, nowhere else. Funny thing is, when I went to check it today -- I SWEAR I felt two testicles. I feel every day just to make sure and never before (since he sucked his other one up) have I thought I felt two...I wonder if maybe his other one dropped and he was nervous and sucked it up. Maybe this isn't a huge coincedence and has something to do with his other one dropping. The smell is gone anyways since I peeled the scab off, THANK GOD.

[luvofallhorses]

How old is Solo? his testicles may have not dropped properly and they could be in his abdomen but you should neuter him right away if that's the case because he cannot be bred if you were planning on breeding him.

http://dogs.about.com/library/glossary/bldefcrypt.htm

[wolfsoul]

He is 9 months old and I don't plan on breeding him, I would never breed a dog with only one testicle and I don't like his sire's lines anyways. One testicle dropped fine, the other is in his abdomen. He won't be neutered until he is phyiscally mature at 1-1.5 years.

[crow_noir]

We had to have King 1/2 neutered when he was 14 because of a cancerous or infected testicle. The sac had swollen and it too was crusty/scabbed. There was never any smell though.

I say be prepared of the possibility of having to have a/the testicle(s) on Solo removed.

I do hope everything will turn out OK though. Hugs and scritchies for Solo.

Before anyone gets in on me about putting a 14 yr. old dog through surgery, we had all the bloodwork and stuff done to make sure he was healthy enough for it. We also researched anesthetics and checked which kind our vet uses.)