Testicular Tumors Associated with Mammary, Prostatic, and Other Changes in Cryptorchid Dogs

Abstract

Cases of unilateral or bilateral cryptorchidism in dogs are only occasionally seen by breeders and are apparently quite infrequent. Vennerholm (1897), a veterinarian of wide experience, reported having encountered six such cases in his extensive practice, three of which were inguinal and three intra-abdominal. The same author stated that one specimen of unilateral and one of bilateral cryptorchidism in the dog are preserved in the anatomical museum of the Institute for Veterinary Medicine in Stockholm. It may be assumed that the undescended testes in Vennerholm9s cases showed no externally discernible pathological change, since it seems reasonable to suppose that he would have mentioned them had any such been present. So far as the present writers have been able to determine, there is no published report of testicular tumors in cryptorchid dogs in which the condition was associated with the abnormal enlargement of the mammary papillae, prostatic metaplasia, and the other remarkable features present in the two animals about to be described. Dog No. I: The first animal studied was a four-year-old male Boston terrier which had been given by its owner to Professor C. H. Danforth, of Stanford University, to whose kindness we are indebted for the opportunity to describe it. The dog had been disposed of by its original owner because it seemed to attract other male dogs in much the same way as a bitch in heat. That peculiarity, together with the fact that its mammary papillae were abnormally large, had given rise to the belief that the animal was an hermaphrodite. Its attraction for male dogs was verified after it was received at the laboratory. When an apparently normal male dog was brought into the room in which this animal was confined the former would, after a very brief olfactory reconnaissance, attempt to mount it. Two other males behaved similarly towards it in the same experimental situation. It seemed to the observer that this behavior was much too spontaneous to be confused with the somewhat similar homosexual activity which is frequently seen among male dogs. It appeared, rather, as if the males found something especially compelling about the odor or the appearance of this abnormal animal, for their overt sexual advances began almost as soon as they entered the room in which it was kept. The latter appeared to resent their behavior and attempted to fight them off.