Tana, a French Bulldog believed to be female, has become the world’s first of its breed to be identified as intersex. Spanish veterinarians were “alerted by an enlarged clitoris” and decided to check on Tana’s undercarriage, where they discovered internal testes. Tests found that while Tana is chromosomally XX female, she developed male sex organs “due to the presence of other genes that determined the formation of testicles in the absence of the genes present on the Y chromosome.” Meanwhile the vets decided there could somehow be long-term problems by having intersex genitalia (can someone explain this?), so they removed her internal testes and sterilized her. To be sure Tana isn’t the first dog discovered to be intersex (some 18 breeds have been identified, including Beagles and Chinese Pugs), but she is the first French Bulldog. So bully to her! [Note: That is not Tana in the photo]
divkid
queerty asked: “Meanwhile the vets decided there could somehow be long-term problems by having intersex genitalia (can someone explain this?), so they removed her internal testes and sterilized her.”
presumably the problem being that the testes being internal they had a propensity towards developing cancer, or some other complication.
this being somewhat analogous to the higher incidence in testicular cancer among human males with undescended testicles.
btw i’m not a doctor. nor a vet.
and not nearly as qualified an authority on male genitalia as i’d like to be đ
humans, i mean; not dogs.
— that would be all sorts of wrong.
D Smith
annnnnnnd once again an inter sexed creature is mutilated and sterilized… is anyone surprised?
KJ
DIVKID is right. Non-descended testicles in male dogs are removed for the same reason.
Geoff B
Dogs are sterilized all the time. One of the biggest reasons besides controlling the animal population is that sterilization greatly reduces the chance of cancer. Let’s not make something more of this than it is. Unless I hear evidence to the otherwise I believe Tana’s owners are being responsible and acting in her best interest.
Mel
DIVKID & KJ are correct about the cancer risk. Additionally, there may have been structural anomalies that increased the risk of infection, though without knowing the specifics of the case, my suspicion is that the uterus would have been very underdeveloped.
hf2hvit
“[Note: That is not Tana in the photo]”
Thank you for preserving her right to privacy.