Split P?

[siddsaysgimmie]

I have a buck that is almost 6 months old and I suspect that he may be split "down there"... normally you would expect to mis-sex them at a younger age if that's the case, right? I always knew that this guy was a buck. He breeds fine but I haven't had babies out of him yet. I have heard that young bucks can sometimes have a large line down there, but I haven't really kept many young bucks, I usually buy mine as adults so I'm not sure. I do have another buck at 4 months old, heavily related to the buck in question (same father, the mother is daughter of the first buck's mom) who looks normal. The father of the buck produced a lot of babies for me, the mother of the buck has had normal babies up until now but I haven't kept any bucks other than this one from her. When I checked the buck in question about a month or two ago, I didn't notice any abnormalities but now he has a line down there and so far no does have taken when I bred them to him.

I use both the father's and mother's lines of this buck a lot and if I culled them out, I would have 0 breeding rabbits right now. Anyone know what I should do? I can upload a picture but I'm not sure if that's appropriate.. :lol:

 

[Demamma]

They have some pictures of a split penis on here somewhere.

 

[skysthelimit]

It's one of my threads. I will try to find it.

 

[TheLittleBunny10]

is it this?
buck-anatomy-problem-split-penis-t7454-15.html

 

[Demamma]

Sorry OAF I saw it here before and did not know it was a problem.

 

[siddsaysgimmie]

Thanks. I read that all ready but pictures aren't clear enough for me to see.. of course it could just be my eyes. I can get a picture of him after seeing a doe if that's okay. I'm pretty sure that he is split, I wanted to know what I should do about my other bunnies.. as I have his mom, his half sister, his nephew.. ect and his Gdam is in the pedigree of all of my bunnies except 1 I believe......

Could it be an isolated case?

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

Hypospadias might be hereditary in some lines but most of the time it is simply a development issue with the affected rabbit. I wouldn't worry about it being a problem in other rabbits. Though the affected bun may have a hard time breeding and may not be able to sire offspring.

Just an FYI it can happen to any species, humans included. Most cases of hypospadias in humans are surgically corrected when the affected is just a baby or toddler.

 

[skysthelimit]

I would have to disagree, it can be hereditary, and as such, I would cull. I culled that buck, another litter mate that had a split penis, and pretty much the entire litter. But I do those kind of things. I've been told buck will show if he carries the defect, he will manifest it, but a doe could carry it and you would never know.

Of course culling a whole herd is not realistic, do the breeding again and keep careful notes. Some close breeding will flush it out quickly if it is hereditary.

 

[siddsaysgimmie]

I will be selling the split guy as a pet. He is way too sweet.

Good thing that the father's new home doesn't seem to be working out.. I think they're going to be bringing him back. If they do, I'll try to get his mom bred to him; she is extremely difficult.

I'll just continue breeding and if it pops up again then I know it's hereditary.. does that sound okay or should I be more strict? So there is a chance that it's just a random thing popping up? I think it's kind of weird that it popped up out of no where, he looked normal until recently and I never thought he was a doe.

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

Uhm..........well my plan was to link you to the Wikipedia article on hypospadias but.......there's a LOT of pictures of it in humans that would probably be very inappropriate for a family-friendly forum, so...I'm copying and pasting the "causes" section:

In most cases, the cause of this birth defect is not fully understood. Treatment with hormones such as progesterone during pregnancy may increase the risk of hypospadias. Certain hormonal fluctuations, such as failure of the fetal testes to produce enough testosterone or the failure of the body to respond to testosterone, increase the risk of hypospadias and other genetic problems. Sometimes hypospadias is inherited.[citation needed]
There may also be an increased risk of hypospadias in infant males born to women of an advanced age or those who used in vitro fertilization (IVF) to conceive. The connection to IVF may be due to the mother's exposure to progesterone, a natural hormone, or to progestin, a synthetic form of progesterone, administered during the IVF process.[citation needed]
Prenatal testosterone, converted in the genital skin to dihydrotestosterone, causes migration of skin fibroblasts to fully enclose the urethral groove in fetal males, normally resulting in an enclosed penile urethra by the second trimester of pregnancy. Failure of adequate prenatal androgen effect is therefore thought to be involved in many cases, making severe hypospadias a very mild form of intersex (under-virilization of a genetic male). Since postnatal androgen deficiency can only be demonstrated in a minority of cases, it has been proposed that transient deficiency of testosterone can occur during critical periods of fetal genital development, due to elevation of anti-müllerian hormone or more subtle degrees of pituitary-gonadal dysfunction. More recently, abnormalities of transcription factors have been proposed.[citation needed]
In animals, several teratogenic drugs or chemicals can cause hypospadias by interfering with androgen action in the embryo. Speculation that environmental agents—endocrine disruptors—might be interfering with human hormone systems has not been proven. The agents that have caused hypospadias in a small number of boys have been maternal use of synthetic progestins and finasteride in the first two trimesters of pregnancy. In 2008, it was suggested that maternal use of diethylstilbestrol, a synthetic estrogen, resulted in a 20-fold increase in prevalence of hypospadias[3] although a follow-up study showed the risk, though present, to be much lesser.[4]
In a minority of cases a postnatal deficiency of, or reduced sensitivity to, androgens (testosterone and dihydrotestosterone) can be demonstrated. These are often associated with a chordee, and in severe cases a residual perineal urogenital opening and small phallus. This combination of birth defects is referred to as pseudovaginal perineoscrotal hypospadias and is part of the spectrum of ambiguous genitalia. Treatment with testosterone postnatally does not close the urethra.[citation needed]
Genetic factors are likely involved in at least some cases, as there is about a 7% familial recurrence risk. A 2010 Article[5][6] found a 2.5 times increase in the condition for boys with a specific genetic defect that was carried on the X (maternally contributed sex) chromosome.
Rare iatrogenic urethral injuries similar to hypospadias after procedures such as surgery, catheterization, or circumcision have been reported.[citation needed]

So it may have been genetic, or it may have been a random pop-up of a problem, I would not use that particular buck but I'd hesitate to cull an entire bloodline for it unless it becomes really, really prevalent in your herd.

But that's just my opinion, you need to choose what is right for you and your rabbits.

 

[siddsaysgimmie]

Thank you! I'll do a couple close line breedings and keep bucks longer so I can keep a better eye on them. I'm thinking that it was random but I'll definitely be wary and paranoid.. just in case.