A dog’s life was saved after her owner found out her pet was intersex.

Jackie Thompson, from Mildenhall in Suffolk, England, had planned to go to the vet to get her pet spayed to stop her from getting pregnant.

When Susie, a long-haired dachshund, went under the knife the vet could find no uterus. The vet found ovaries but saw they were the exact color of testicles, which tests found that’s exactly what they were.

Speaking to the Bury Free Press, Thompson said she had read on the internet she should spay her pet if she didn’t want to have puppies in the future.

Since she bought Susie four years ago, she thought it was odd her dog had never been in season but vets said it was not unusual.

While Susie did not need to be stopped from getting pregnant, the vet said removing her testicles has saved the dog’s life.

Alex Wylie, from Eastgate Vets, said: ‘If they had been left in, the testicles would have turned cancerous.’

Out of the hundreds of dog breeds in the world, experts say only 20 or so have been reported to be intersex.

‘I always knew she was special but didn’t know how special,’ Thompson said.