An 11-year-old Sheltie has abdominal testicular cancer
Channel: Dr David Sing
Date: 05/05/2016

Not 16 years old, but 11 years old.  Dr Daniel palpated a golf-ball sized tumour mid abdomen. I palpated similarly a soft tumour of similar size and the dog had some abdominal discomfort on palpation. X-rays and ultrasound confirm an enlarged left abdominal testis, reported to be 3-5 cm across.
 
For young dogs with abdominal testicles, the vet needs to advise surgery to open up the abdomen to take out the testicles. These are located near the neck of the bladder. Some vets do not perform this operation and just remove the retained testicles seen under the inguinal skin. This is not good practice as the abdominal testicle may become cancerous in old age.   

The right testes is descended but of a much small size. X rays and ultrasound evidence showed an abdominal testicle of around 8-10 cm in diameter. The tumour looks like a Sertoli cell tumour. The male dog shows enlarged nipples due to feminisation effects from the Sertoli cells. 

Surgery was done today by Dr Daniel and the fatty abdominal testicle of uneven shape and around 8 cm x 8 cm was removed. The complaint was diarrhoea and the dog preferring to lay down on one side.

Early detection of the testicular tumour may give the dog more years to live. The testicle had lots of white fleshy lumps inside, probably a Sertoli cell tumour. 

Retained and undescended testicle in male dogs do become cancerous in old age. This Sheltie has signs of feminisation due to the presence of a solid Sertoli cell tumour from an abdominal cryptorchid testis (left). This is manifested in enlarged mammary glands, preputial swelling and shrinkage of the descended testis.  The dog is OK after neutering.