Both testicles in one sac? [WARNING: Pics in thread]

[Kipcha]

So my Mom's Belgian Hare has had what we thought was only one testicle for a long time, but it is extremely large. However, we had begun to wonder if perhaps both had gone into the same sac and someone at rabbit hopping practice last night was looking. It almost looked like if you pushed (Lightly, or course) in one spot, it almost looked like it was two. So is it possible that maybe he sucked one up and dropped it into the wrong side?

I haven't been able to find any information on this happening, so has anyone heard of it before?

We just took some photos...

 

[mistyjr]

holy, wow.. never seen that before or heard of it.. I hope you can get some other answers on this...

 

[pamnock]

I would have it checked out at the vet - it may be a scrotal (inguinal) hernia. Although I've never heard a case of both testicles descending down the same side, I would suppose it is possible.

 

[woahlookitsme]

I would really get that looked at. I have never heard of two testicles in one sac. Pictures really cant give us an idea of this other than its abnormally enlarged.

Ive experience cryptorchids before and usually the testicle outside of the body is larger than the one inside. But not this large.

 

[Blaze_Amita]

I think it could happen, as one of mu dutch's bucks is like that, he sucked them both up at a show(between shows I might add) and it looks like he only dropped one back down- or both together as the single was larger than before, and was DQ'd off the table, but it was never that big. I would have him looked at.

 

[Heartlandrabbitry]

Wow! I have never seen anything like that before! Hope it's nothing serious!

 

[tamsin]

I would be worried about a hernia or even a growth.. testicular cancer isn't that common in rabbits but does happen.

 

[pamnock]

I consulted a rabbit vet who said that 2 testicles on one side would be "incredibly rare", but that it would be easy to palpate 2 distinct testicles. He said more likely some type of mass.

 

[Kipcha]

Thank you very much for all the information. We are planning to drop by the vet and seeing what exactly they will say.
Again, thanks very much!

 

[tonyshuman]

I too would worry more about a hernia. I helped on a cryptorchid cat neuter last weekend and the vet was able to move the testicles around, so much so that he could push the one that was cryptorchid into the sac, but that caused the one in the sac to come back up into the body. Cats and dogs have a different male reproductive anatomy in that the testicles are very close to each other. For that reason, when they neuter a dog, they only make one incision at the top of the scrotal sac, instead of cutting each scrotal sac separately. Because the two scrotal sacs on a rabbit are so far apart, you don't normally do a neuter like that on a rabbit, and that is also a reason why I think it would be rare to have both testicles in one sac.

However, rabbits are notorious for having strange reproductive parts--things like hermaphrodism, cryptorchid, strange uterine horn configurations, and cancers of the reproductive system seem more common in rabbits. The fact that he is a rare breed may also mean that he has a bit of inbreeding in his background, which could lead to more abnormalities.

If he's older, I think the incidence of testicular cancer in unaltered middle age males is probably higher than you would think (of course nowhere near as common as uterine tumors in females of the same age), and that should be a real concern.

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

tonyshuman wrote:

If he's older, I think the incidence of testicular cancer in unaltered middle age males is probably higher than you would think (of course nowhere near as common as uterine tumors in females of the same age), and that should be a real concern.

He was born in April of 2010, so it about 9 months old now (I think).