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Hermaphrodite puppy adopted after successful sex-assignment surgery

Charcoal, an 8-week-old chihuahua mix, was adopted after a successful operation to remove one of its sets of male and female genitalia.

By Fred Lambert
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CALDWELL, Idaho, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- A puppy born with female and male sex organs was adopted in Idaho after a successful operation to remove one of its sets of genitalia.

Charcoal, an 8-week old chihuahua mix, was born in a litter of five at the West Valley Humane Society (formerly known as the Canyon County Animal Shelter), but workers noticed something different about the puppy.

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"All of the other ones had normal external reproductive parts, except for Charcoal," Cherisse Faulkner, a worker at the West Valley Humane Society, told KIVI.

Charcoal, so named for her color, was born a hermaphrodite. Due to the puppy's difficulty urinating, shelter workers decided to perform a sex-assignment surgery to remedy the problem, removing one set of Charcoal's external reproductive organs.

"It was less intrusive to make it a female rather than go for a male," Faulkner told KIVI.

After a week, Charcoal had healed well and was energetic. Faulkner said after receiving several Facebook messages following the puppy's appearance on a local station, Charcoal was adopted Jan. 20.

Two days ago a hermaphrodite cat in Newfoundland was reportedly being prepared for a sex-assignment surgery due to similar digestive complications.

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