A mother was in ‘total disbelief’ after discovering her Golden Retriever, purchased as female, possessed both male and female reproductive organs. The dog now requires a ‘sex-change’ operation for health reasons.

Emma Priest, 36, from Stratford Upon Avon, brought home fluffy Penny last September as a therapy dog for her two disabled children.

But when the eight-week-old pup explored her new home, Emma’s husband Matt saw something ‘not quite right’.

Days later, a vet broke the news that the ‘female’ pup they’d bought had a fully functioning testicle.

Penny was born intersex – traditionally called ‘hermaphrodite’ – a rare condition in which she has one testicle and one ovary.

The Retriever has half a womb and a single fallopian tube, with some reproductive parts located externally on her abdomen instead of between her back legs.

The unusual case has sparked intense interest among vets, who say they still can’t state Penny’s sex with full certainty.

Mrs. Priest has started a GoFundMe campaign to gather £1,000 for Penny’s surgery. She expressed her shock to the Daily Mail upon learning about her dog’s rare condition, which she says occurs in only 1 in 100,000 dogs.

She said: ‘We were in total shock because even now the vets are not really able to confirm what sex she is.

‘We went to the vet, thinking we bought a female puppy, but they couldn’t confirm the gender,’ Mrs. Priest shared, describing her surprise.

While Penny’s uniqueness has made her even more beloved by Mrs. Priest’s family, it presents significant health risks that need to be addressed through surgery.

Due to the location of her undescended testicle, which vets believe to be wrapped around her lymph nodes, Penny is at risk of cancer.

The poorly pup has also suffered with complications from Giardia, a parasite which invokes sickness, and the bacterial infection Campylobacter, since Mrs Priest first took her home.

The mother-of-two said it is unclear whether Penny’s sickness  – which also saw her hooked to an IV drip at just 12 weeks old – have descended from poor breeding, or if it is related to her hermaphroditism.

With vets unable to clarify such questions and the original breeder not claiming responsibility, Mrs Priest says her focus is now on getting Penny happy and healthy.

Mrs Priest said: ‘The only way that is going to happen is for her to have this huge surgery, because they’ve said it could be catastrophic if we leave her any longer. 

‘The vets are quite confident that, because the external part is female, although it’s in the wrong place, then she will lead a female life once her insides have been taken out.

‘But they still don’t know, which I guess these days is cool to be non-binary. But from a medical point of view, we just want her to be healthy and to be able to lead the most healthy life she can.’

As Penny’s condition is classed as a ‘birth defect’ by vets, funding surgeries does not come under Mrs Priest’s pet insurance, meaning she has forked out ‘thousands of pounds’ over the last year.

Despite the financial burden, Mrs Priest says she just wants the invasive spay, scheduled for October 16, to pass without problems – marking the end of what has been a ‘horrible year’ for Penny.

Her worries have not been alleviated by vets’ warning that they may have to ‘rip her open’ if they are unable to remove the testicle laparoscopically – but the mother-of-two is desperate for a positive outcome.

She said: ‘We’re dreading it. We really are dreading her having to go, but from a health point of view, she has to have this done.  

‘She’s so incredibly special and she’s our world. We absolutely adore her’.