07/05/2026
Meet Albie! 🐾
Albie has an important story to share — but please be aware this post contains graphic surgical images and discussion of body parts (testicles, to be precise).
Albie came to see us with his new owner after they had been told he had already been castrated. However, it quickly became clear that this might not be the case. Albie was showing a lot of interest in female dogs and scent marking at every opportunity. Despite this, neither his owner nor our team could see or feel any testicles, nor were there any obvious signs of previous castration.
To investigate further, we performed a blood test to check Albie’s testosterone levels. The results confirmed that Albie still had functioning testicular tissue — so the search was on!
We booked Albie in for exploratory surgery to locate the retained testicles. Once under general anaesthetic, we were fortunate that one testicle (the much larger one shown in the image) moved into the inguinal canal — a small passage running from the abdomen to the sc***um, where the testicles would normally descend (the surgical wound can be seen to the right side of his p***s).
The second testicle was located deep within the abdomen and was extremely underdeveloped (the smaller piece of tissue, with the testicle circled in the image).
This condition is known as cryptorchidism, or retained testicles. Dogs with retained testicles are around 13 times more likely to develop testicular cancer compared to dogs whose testicles descend normally. There is also a risk that retained testicles can twist within the abdomen, potentially trapping surrounding tissues or organs and causing a serious emergency.
We are very pleased to report that Albie recovered brilliantly from surgery and is now enjoying life with his sister ❤️
(Shared with the loving owner’s permission.)
