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December pet of the month - Dudley

Dudley was one of those unlucky pets who had a testicle that failed to descend in its usual location (cryptorchidism). This descent should occur before 3 months of age and failure results in permanent entrapment and an increased risk of cancers in later life.  Castration is therefore necessary.  The problems with traditional surgical removal are mostly associated with attempts to locate the wayward testicle as it may be found anywhere from the kidney to outside the body wall.  Statistically vets have a proven accuracy of correctly identifying the location of a cryptorchid testicle, by examination, of 49% [oops!].  Surgical exploration can therefore become time consuming, very invasive, painful and expensive.

So Dudley became one of those lucky pets that was presented for his operation to be performed laparoscopically.  Introducing a 2.7mm diameter camera and a 5mm forceps through two tiny holes in his body wall, immediately enables identification and handling of the spermatic cord on both sides and localises the testicle.  In Dudley's case it was in the most awkward spot possible, trapped between the deep layers of the body wall.  Applying traction to the spermatic cord, we simply dissect down on to the area where we feel the movement of the tissue attachement and then pull out and remove the testicle in the normal way.  Importantly we don't need to make an incision into the body wall cavity larger than 5mm.

This was a very cost effective procedure.  It was less than half of the price of a similar but non laparoscopic case that we recently heard of.

Almost painless, minimally invasive and home for lunch.

Dudley posed for this picture only 20 minutes after the procedure.

 Dudley Gill 2