An 18-year-old Maltese dog had circum-anal and testicular tumours survived the anaesthesia and electro-surgical excision of the tumours

The circum-anal tumour is more common in male, non-neutered dogs. Neutering your male dog at a young age will have reduced the chances of the dog developing circum-anal tumours and testicular tumours.

2. Labrador Retriever, Male Dog, 6 years.
Retained or undescended left testicle grew explosively to half the size of a tennis ball while the right testicle was shrunken (atrophied). Sent both for histopathology. The dog goes home tomorrow (5th day after neutering). Blood tests and histopathology in progress.
 

From the appearance, the testicular tumour is a Sertoli cell tumour.  Sertoli cell tumours tend to grow very large. They are firm, white or greyish and multinodular. The rate of metastasis is reported to be less than 10%.  Early removal will give the dog good chances of survival. I believe that this 6-year-old dog's testicular tumour had been detected at an early stage* by the father or family member. If the histopathology results show a diffuse subtype as contrasted to the intratubular subtype. We have to wait and see. A young lady owner is concerned.

* Around 1/3 of dogs with Sertoli cell tumours show signs of hyperestrogenism (feminization, gynecomastia, atrophy of the contralateral testicle, squamous metaplasia of the prostate and prostatitis, symmetrical alopecia from genital area to cranio-dorsally and bone marrow atrophy.  In bone marrow atrophy - initial transient increase in granulocytes and neutrophils followed by leucopenia, thrombocytopenia and non-regenerative anaemia and granulocytopenia.  Death is from overwhelming bacterial infections and bleeding.  Vet undergraduates in the 4th year may be interested to review the blood test results of this case at: Follow up: Sertoli cell testicular tumour in a dog

This Labrador Retriever had atrophy of the contralateral testicle, prostatitis (ping-pong ball sized prostate and pain on digital rectal examination, takes a long time to pee). An excellent report on canine testicular tumours is at: www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/clerk_anat/sabatino/index.php

3. Miniature Schnauzer, Male Dog, 11 years.
Bad breath complaint in Jun 2010. I had excised large cheek tumour in Jun 2010. Extracted 15 teeth and dental scaling done. The case is recorded at:
toapayohvets.com/surgery/20100618cheek_tumour_old_dog_electrosurgery
_ToaPayohVets.htm
Some pictures are shown as follows:

Gigantic cheek tumour excised using  electro-surgery in June 2010
I checked the anaesthetic records for the excision of the cheek tumour (4.5 cm x 4.5 cm x 0.8cm) in June 2010. It was excised by electro-surgery for reference. Blood test results were normal. Dog's bodyweight was 12.3 kg. Anaesthetic was domitor 0.2 ml IV. Zoletil 100 0.1 ml IV. Body tremors started. Gave Atropine 0.5 ml IV. Tremors stopped. Surgery done. Antisedan 0.2 ml IV. Dog woke up fast.

"There is a white lump in the same area of his previous tumour," the young lady said today. "He would not allow me to open his mouth. I saw it when he yawned." The dog would not permit me and my assistant Mr Saw to open his mouth too. He jerked away suddenly when I gripped his upper jaw. No point fighting and getting bitten. I will sedate and check mouth and teeth. Recurrence of oral tumour likely. Did not send the previous tumour for histopathology to reduce the veterinary costs for the owner.

The dog had no fever but vomited and had diarrhoea 4 X yesterday. The dog will be treated for gastroenteritis first before any exploration of the mouth.

"Oral tumours are associated with the many years of poor dental hygiene," I said to the young and slim lady who does sales. "My advice to neuter him is not to prevent recurrence as this oral tumour. I have not heard of any scientific studies regarding neutering and oral tumours. However, any dog over 6 years of age is likely to develop tumours. Since your dog has a large cheek tumour, I advised neutering to prevent testicular tumours.

"it is well known that neutering of the male dogs do prevent or lower the incidence of circum-anal tumours and the development of testicular tumours in testicle that have not come down from the body into the scrotal bag."

I doubt that this young lady know what I am talking about. I elaborated: "Since this dog has developed such a large oral tumour, it is best to remove his testicles in case he develops testicular tumour. I am not guaranteeing that castration will prevent recurrence of the oral gum tumour and mouth ulcers."

The dog was warded, given the IV drip and medication for diarrhoea and vomiting. The oral tumour was excised by electro-excision. It was smaller replicate of the earlier tumour.  A picture will be posted later.

CONCLUSION
3 male dogs had tumours. Would they have developed such tumours in old age if they had been sterilised?

Case 1 - Maltese not neutered. Malignant Seminoma and Circum-Anal tumour. During his old age, he developed testicular tumour (malignant) seminoma and circum-anal tumour. Both were removed and the dog had no anaesthetic problems although he was 18 years old.  I used isoflurane gas only.  Neutering would have prevented such tumours from developing. 

Case 2 - Labrador Retriever not neutered. Testicular Tumour - Sertoli Cell Tumour probably with Interstitial Cell Tumour present.  Surprisingly, at 6 years of age, he developed the testicular tumour so rapidly. Testicular tumours occurs in older dogs and the median age is said to be 10 years. Studies have associated testicular tumours to develop in undescended testicles (cryptorchidism) in man and male dogs.

Case 3 - Miniature Schnauzer not neutered. Oral tumour was large like the S$1.00-coin, measuring like a disc 3 cm x 3 cm x 0.5cm. Oral tumours develop due to poor oral hygiene in dogs and man, according to several medical reports. There is no association with neutering or no neutering. Teeth cleaning every alternate daily and yearly dental check up most important for your dog if you want to prevent oral tumours from developing in your dog. The tumour recurred like a disc 2 months later and was excised. I sent the tumour for histopathology. The report was not malignant. Will provide details later.

P.S.
Dog owners who do not want to neuter their male dogs for various reasons will need to spend time every week to examine he lower part and genitals of the dog to ensure that they don't develop testicular or circum-anal tumours. Get them removed by your vet early if they do occur. When tumours form, early neutering saves lives. In the 3 cases, neutering would be useful in Case 1 and Case 2. In Case 3, it is believed that poor oral hygiene over the life-span of the dog led to tumour formation but it is hard to substantiate this hypothesis.  

2010 Case. Spaying a Chow Chow.

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