castration

orange_1

Hi my 5 month puppy has only one testicle and my vet has advice me to have him castrated, as i also look after his sister and she is being spayed he thinks get them both done at the same time so they will both be able to have a restfull time as they are quite manic sometimes and only having one done at a time will make it very hard for me to keep them seperated while she rests but someone has told me he is to young and i should wait so now i am confused
anyone got any advice
thanks

Fire_Fox

He won't have only one testicle, he will have two but the other is still internal, this is a higher risk for cancer I think. If the vet says he is ready to be neutered he is ready to be neutered, what are the qualifications of the person who said he is too young?

Frugalista

Hi orange 1,

When you say your pup only has one testicle do you mean only one has decended and the other is retained (and can be felt), or can the vet not find the other one at all? If it is retained (usually in the groin or abdomen) then the vet would want to remove that at the same time - so the operation is not as straightforward as a normal castration.

The second testicle can descend any time up to a year so I would be inclined to wait a bit longer. 5 months does seem very premature and, if he were mine, I wouldn't even contemplate it until he was 12 months at the earliest. I know of at least two dogs whose second testicle didn't appear until they were around 18 months - though this is very unusual.

Can I ask what breed he is? Some toy breeds can be difficult to locate the testicles at a young age. Have you discussed this with his breeder? Maybe she could examine him? [In my experience (and that of many friends) vets can sometimes be a little too hasty in diagnosing unilateral cryptorchidism in young males]. He also may be from a line that is known for being a little "slow" to develop.

I assume you were intending to have him neutered anyway? My advice (based on 30 years experience with dogs) would be to give him a little more time for the missing testicle to appear and then have him castrated as normal thus avoiding the need for more invasive surgery. HTH

PS: Many vets will say that the retained testicle is a cancer risk - my own vet is of the opinion that this risk is fairly low and "if it ain't broke don't try to fix it".

Frugalista

Fire_Fox wrote: »

He won't have only one testicle, he will have two but the other is still internal,

It is possible (but admittedly, somewhat rare) for a dog to be a true monorchid (only 1 testicle) though it can and does happen. What is usually the case is (as you say) one is retained - unilateral cryptorchid - or both are retained - bilateral cryptorchid.

However, just to confuse things, most people in the dog world refer to a male thus affected as a monorchid regardless. HTH


ETA: http://www.petplace.com/dogs/monorchidism-in-dogs/page1.aspx

Kimberley

Dogs can be neutured/spayed from 6 months of age. 5 months is not too early.

From my Vets website

Dogs may be castrated from 6 months of age onwards. Neutering reduces roaming and fighting and may be helpful for dominance and aggression problems. It also reduces the risk of some diseases later in life, such as prostate gland problems, testicular tumours, and anal adenomas (another form of cancer).
In some dogs, one or both testicles fail to descend properly into the scrotum at birth, giving rise to conditions known as monorchidism and cryptorchidism respectively. These are thought to be largely hereditary conditions, and therefore affected animals should not be bred from (and cannot be shown). Retained testicles have a high risk of becoming cancerous, and because the testicles are not visible when they are retained in the abdomen, this is often not noticed until the condition is well advanced and may have spread to other organs. We therefore strongly recommend that all monorchid and cryptorchid animals should be castrated.

Frugalista

Kimberley wrote: »

Dogs can be neutured/spayed from 6 months of age.

Indeed they can, but I understood that the vet was recommending it because the pup only has one testicle? I was just pointing out that the missing testicle could still make an appearance given a little more time .

snowman2_2

Frugalista wrote: »

I assume you were intending to have him neutered anyway? My advice (based on 30 years experience with dogs) would be to give him a little more time for the missing testicle to appear and then have him castrated as normal thus avoiding the need for more invasive surgery.

It would be very unusual for the testicle to arrive after 5 - 6 months but it may also just be in the groin, which is a fairy simple bit of surgery.

Frugalista wrote: »

PS: Many vets will say that the retained testicle is a cancer risk - my own vet is of the opinion that this risk is fairly low and "if it ain't broke don't try to fix it".

It is 13 - 17 times more likely to be cancerous depending on which study you believe. Just before Christmas I had a dog with a retained testicle that the original vet had left. It was now 15cm across, cancerous and secreting so much oestrogen that the dog was very anaemic, with a suppressed immune system and extremely poor blood clotting. He was extremely ill for about 4 weeks, required a blood transfusion and 3 surgeries. He is absolutely fine now but £1000 lighter. I would always get them removed. Retained testicles are also a potentially hereditary problem and you should not breed from a dog with a retained testicle

Kimberley

Frugalista wrote: »

Indeed they can, but I understood that the vet was recommending it because the pup only has one testicle? I was just pointing out that the missing testicle could still make an appearance given a little more time .

I see that now i've re read it

Frugalista

snowman2 wrote: »

It would be very unusual for the testicle to arrive after 5 - 6 months but it may also just be in the groin, which is a fairy simple bit of surgery.

It may be unusual but I personally know of 3 males (in my own breed) in the past 12 months who didn't become entire until 7-8 months old.

snowman2 wrote: »

Retained testicles are also a potentially hereditary problem and you should not breed from a dog with a retained testicle

Absolutely agree . People should also be aware that the gene can be carried through the female line - so should be cautious when breeding from any littermates of an affected male.

foreign_correspondent

The clear advantage of having your lad and his sister done at the same time is that you will not have to be seperating a recouperating pup (with stitches etc!) from a boingy, manic pup, twice, for perhaps ten days at a time... they can both recouperate at the same time - personally, I would get them done at the same time, if the vet is happy to facilitate this. As he has seen the pup, I would tend to trust his judgement on whether it is the right time or not.

Cissi

I don't know anything about undescended testicles, but I've been advised that it's best to wait until a male puppy is confidently cocking his leg before having him neutered, or risk behavioural problems later. For most dogs this would be not much before a year of age; our JR started cocking his leg at around 4 months(!) and we're thinking of having him done around 8 months. Oh and he most definitely isn't any kind of "orchid", mon- or crypt- or otherwise