Cryptorchidism in cats

Wesker

(Sorry for the long post)

Has anyone any experience of this?

For those that dont know its when one or both testicles are undescended.
Well my story goes like this...
I have a cat who is 7 years old. When he was a kitten, around 6 months old i took him to the vets to be neutured. Only 1 of his testicles had dropped so they said to leave it a bit longer to see if the other one would appear. Well it didnt so they just removed the one that had and said to see how it goes. Well after a short while it was apparant that he was still an 'entire' cat so they operated again and opened him up but still couldnt find the missing bit.
I was concerned about his tom cat tendencies, having 4 other cats, all spayed/neutered, so they gave him an injection (cant remember what it was) and wanted to know how he reacted.
It calmed him down a lot so they put him on Ovarid tablets, some sort of hormone tablet mainly used to supress females in season, and he has been on it ever since (5/6 years)
It has helped a lot but it has made him very lethargic, he put on a lot of weight (he weighs over 8kg) and he is a very lazy cat but still has some tom cat tendencies and although he is usually ok with my other cats, he will still get in fights with outside cats resulting in a large vets bill a couple of months ago for an abcess on his neck, obviously from a fight, and another fight last night meaning a visit to the vets today for precautionary anti-biotics just in case .
While i was there i thought it was worth asking if there was any alternative to the Ovarid but there wasnt
The other concern i have is the smell of his urine. He is an awkward cat because he will use the litter tray when he feels like it but other times he will pee where he wants (on the carpet) and tom cat pee smell is hard to get rid off. He is not spraying as such but actually peeing. We try to make him go out as much as possible but as i said he is a lazy cat and doesnt want to go out a lot of the time, we have to force him, but then while he is out there is always the risk of a fight with another cat. We cant win lol.
The thing is our flat now stinks of cat pee, tried all sorts but nothing really gets rid of it. We seem to get immune to it after a while but if i go away for a few days when i come back i can smell it even more, so having friends round is a no no
He is a really loving cat most of the time and is spoilt rotten (i know, i know!!!)
Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this and how they coped. Or am i one in a million? lol

bagpuss_fan

Hi, I'm sorry, I've never heard of this before and have had a few tom cats.

Just wanted to give you a tip, apparently bicarbonate of soda rubbed into the stain will remove the odour (even cats pee!) Haven't needed to try it myself as my lovely old lady is possibly the cleanest cat I have ever had (bless her).

I hope you find someone else who's experienced it! x

Bromley86

I'd get a second opinion. Surely there are only so many places that a lost testicle can be?

pollyanna24

Seeing as you say he pees on the carpet and doesn't just spray, doesn't that sound like just a untrained cat rather than him being territorial?

I'd battle with him about the peeing where he's not supposed to.

Wooden floor would be better than carpet as easier to clean up, but I appreciate this wouldn't be the cheapest thing to change!

chrisyklx

my kitten had this problem. we took him over in january when he was about 8 months old. they also cut him open but couldn't find his other testicle. the vet said this was very rare not to find it. they removed his one testicle and so far he has been acting like a neutered cat. he was litter trained when we first got him and have never had any problem with any accidents in the house. most of the time he goes outside rather than use his litter tray. the vet did say to me that they would rather remove the missing testicle if they could have found it as it may grow cancerous in later life. the cost of the operation would have been about £150+ but because the operation was not successful in finding the missing testicle they just charged me for a normal neutering £39 plus injections and tablets

Wesker

Thanks for the replies. I think its just something i'm going to have to put up with :rolleyes:
I will try the bicarbonate of soda next time i catch him peeing. But he's very sneaky when he does it. I try to keep my eye on him all the time but i cant watch him 24/7. He does use the litter tray sometimes but i think a lot of it is down to lazyness. We live in a one bedroom flat with only 4 main rooms and several different litter trays scattered around with different types of litter so he's got no excuse really.
chrisy i wish you luck with your kitten and hopefully he doesnt turn out like mine. Sometimes they do only have the one testicle so maybe you will be lucky The vet also warned me about the risk of cancer as he gets older
I might try and track down the original vet who did the operation and ask his advise but the last i knew he was working at a vets about 30 miles away

LittleTinker

I dont understand why your cat is being given hormones.

Even after being neutured some Toms will still spray, will still fight with other Toms and will still try to hump a lady cat.

What was he doing that made you think he was still 'complete'?

snowman2_2

Most retained testicles in cats are in the groin area, just under the skin. Some are in the abdomen but are usually easy to find. Your vet should be able to do a blood test for testosterone to see if there is a stray testicle somewhere.

patchwork_cat

Hi
My advice is to join a yahoo group called fanciers health - if you post the problem they may well be able to help you and almost certainly will have come across it before. follow freecycle to find yahoo groups and then look for fanciers health.

victoriav

There's something on here which actually does work....
www.stinkypets.com

Wesker

victoriav wrote: »

There's something on here which actually does work....
www.stinkypets.com

Looks good but unfortunately they dont ship to UK