Undescended Testicles

[littleman]

Join our free community today.

Connect with other like-minded dog lovers!

Login or Register

Hi just wondering (as only had one male whippet and we got him as a rescue at 12 weeks and he had both testicles descended at that age) when both testicles should be visibly present? Got a new pup who is 10 weeks and one testicle is visible in the scrotum, at what age should they both be there, vet checked at 8 weeks and could feel one and possibly the tip of the other. Can it take a while to come down? any experiences please in whippets?

Thanks

 

[TillynPip]

Am no expert but my boy's testicles had descended when I got him at 10 weeks. Have just had a look in my whippet book and a general dog book, but neither mention this.

 

[shamrock lady]

Hi,

My boy has only one decended testicle to date. He will be 2 next april and will definatly not have dropped

other testicle by then. The undecended one is usually smaller and can be felt on the surface. Most vets wont

take just one away because of the code of ethics. If you intent racing then let him get over the hormonal/testostarone

stage around 16/18 months in my boys case. This lets his body and mind develope into the adult stage. Most likely if

if they are taken away before this he will be more laid back so to speak. If you do not intend to race have them away

if the one does not drop. i AM SURE YOUR VET WILL ADVISE YOU ON THIS. My vet wanted to have them away regardless.

I will be booking my boy into a vet that will only have one away when i find one. I do not intend breeding but think he at

least deserves to keep one one show.

Gud luck with your boy

william

 

[TillynPip]

Meant to say, I think vets are fairly keen to castrate dogs with undescended testicles because of the increased risk of testicular cancer and testicular torsion.

 

[Seraphina]

Testicles should come down soon after birth; I can certainly see them on my pups by the time they are few weeks old. If they are not there by 6 weeks, there is a slight chance they will come down in the following few weeks, but longer it takes smaller the chance. Occassionally, people will tell you they had a dog and he had only one until he was 2, but I always wonder ..... At 10 weeks there is a chance, depends on where it is. If vet can feel it he might be able to bring it down.

The reason why hormons do not work is because if the testicle is stuck somewhere, it is not likely to dislodge by hormons that only make it bigger. That is what my vet said.

 

[June Jonigk]

Post came out twice, so removed this one :thumbsup:

 

[June Jonigk]

Quite often at this early stage you can ease the other testicle down if it is in the groin. If you stand your puppy up, and then feel between his leg and his tummy - go from the front of the leg pressing gently and feeling along the canal, you might come across it, and be able to ease it down, by chasing it along gently. If you do manage to do this, keep an eye on it and do it once or twice every day, and always at night before he goes to sleep. Then hopefully it will stay down. There's a time around 5 months when you can see the testicles and scrotum hang differently, and if both are down then, they tend to stay there. Your puppy might just be short corded. I should say also, sometimes it is easier when they lay on their backs with legs in the air, and you can see the little blighter and chase it along with your finger. Good luck :luck:

 

[moonlake]

I think you saw my response to this on twf - my greyhound vet says getting them off early is a "nice little earner" and you should really wait until the dog is at least a year old. He has two well known greyhounds in his practice neither of whom were entire until past 12 months. If he still isn't entire then, try to find a vet who will only take the undescended one away - neutered dogs are a target for entire ones and they need those hormones for other processes than reproduction. You may take away the risk of testicular cancer but you increase the risk of other cancers and diseases.

Gay

www.moonlake.co.uk

 

[Seraphina]

they need those hormones for other processes than reproduction. You may take away the risk of testicular cancer but you increase the risk of other cancers and diseases.
Gay

www.moonlake.co.uk

Absolutely agree; but in any case while there is higher danger that the retained testicle will become cancerous, that will not happen the moment the resticle does not come down. There is plenty of time to wait untl the dog is fully mature and then get it out if it has not come down.

The problem I have with treating undescendent testicle as if it is was no problem, is that some people then use these dogs at stud. It definitely is hereditery problem.

 

[JAX]

I know of a whippet breeder of many years ( must be 40 +) who has had many dogs with the odd undecended testicle and never had one die from testicular cancer !

 

[littleman]

Good news I have noticed the stray testicle and when he is relaxed upside down I can persuade it down to join the other one. However it doesn't stay for long- hopefully given time it will join it's friend! Strange topic I know but as his mummy it's going to be a relief when it's there.

Hope everyone had a good Christmas

 

[Macha]

I know of a whippet breeder of many years ( must be 40 +) who has had many dogs with the odd undecended testicle and never had one die from testicular cancer !

nevertheless, I hope the dogs were not bred from

 

[Trish]

I have a dog that only as one decended and i too use to push the other down into place but shot up when he moved , as he got older the cord got shorter and then the inguinal canal closed and that was that .

Ive talked in lengths to my vets about retained testicles and he as never come across any cancerous testicles due to them been retained and was told to leave well alone .

 

[June Jonigk]

Good news I have noticed the stray testicle and when he is relaxed upside down I can persuade it down to join the other one. However it doesn't stay for long- hopefully given time it will join it's friend! Strange topic I know but as his mummy it's going to be a relief when it's there.Hope everyone had a good Christmas

Excellent! Just keep moving it down and especially at night when he goes to bed, or if he goes to sleep during the day. The more it's down, the more likely it will stay down. Good luck x

 

[Derekrfc]

So glad to read that you have found your dogs retained testicle a friend of ours had a pup and it worked for him just working it down when hs was sitting relaxed at night.

I have a dog which had a retained testicle and at the age of 4 we were at Glos racing when he pulled up in his 2nd race ( very unlike him ) anyway June Jonigk ( who has replied to this topic ) checked him out for us about an hour after racing and lo and behold there it was in his groin area on the way back to Scotland the next day we took him to a vet ( highly recommended to us )just outside Manchester called Paul Evans.

When hateley was sedated i told him how we were told that it was caused by a short cord etc and to my utter amazement he pushed it under his skin almost down to his knee he then turned to me and said " does this look short to you "and then he pushed the one which was in the scrotum up past where the other was blocked and back down again. When he removed the testicle it was large and had a very good blood supply to it so i asked why he could not push it back down into the scrotum and he said that at sometime in his youth the passage in which they can travel up and down into the abdomen had become infected and closed tight and therefore trapping this one but because the testicles are seperate and there tubes also then the other was unaffected.

Now i know that people can also suffer from this and i am sure that all the people who say " NEVER " breed from a dog like this would never walk up to a man and his wife and say you cannot breed as he had a retained testicle as a punch in the mouth can hurt,

And would however breed from a bitch out of the same litter which will be the same the only reason you see it in dogs is that their scrotum is on the outside but if you scan a bitches ovarie's and they are not aligned then that will tell you that she also has the same problem. But who is going to do that???

What i am trying to say ( long winded ) is that there are more than one reason for things and the last person who i recall tried to breed the perfect master race ended up killing 6 million innocent ones just because he thought he was right.

I hope your little puppy turns out alright but if he doesnt then i am sure that you will love him just as much and more importantly he will love you. :thumbsup:

 

[shamrock lady]

Good call :thumbsup:

 

[JAX]

sorry my mistake , cant delete post :wacko:

 

[whippetfan]

Google "cryptorchidism" and "canine" and you will find a wealth of information on this subject.

The summary of my research is:

Pups should generally have two descended testicles between the ages of 5 and 7 weeks. Some descend earlier but the general rule of thumb is that a pup that doesn't have two in the bag by 10 weeks should be considered to have retained one. The inguinal canal generally closes shortly after that time and the chances of a testicle descending into the scrotum after that age decrease. I'd certainly never take on a dog as a show or breeding prospect that didnt' have two in the bag before he left the breeder. That way lies heartbreak.

Stories abound of dogs that have the second one descend later (latest I've heard of is 18 months) BUT (and this is a big but), there would appear to be evidence that links later descent of testicles with increased risk of the dog throwing cryptoridism in any male offspring.

Cryptorchidism appears to be a simple recessive trait with both male and female parents needing to carry the gene.

In a pet or a race dog, it may be no big deal but IMO breeding from dogs with retained testes does Whippets no favours, particularly as this trait seems more common in Whippets than many other breeds. Some research suggests breeding from the litter sisters of a male with retained testes will also increase the prevelence of the condition.

I can tell you from bitter experience with another breed that the fact that you can massage a testicle into the scrotum in a pup does not mean it will fully descend - sometimes the cord simply isn't long enough for the testicle to hold that position.

What any of these has to do with Hitler and the master sure race beats me. :unsure: Hitler, after all, was widely reported to have had only one testicle himself.

 

[Macha]

whippets (and any other breed of dog) wouldn't exist if people hadn't bred dogs selectively -- better to select for health than for some of the strange things like the extreme pushed in faces of pekingnese and pugs for instance

I wouldn't think the genetics of cryptochidism was simple. I expect there is more than one gene involved and that environment plays some role as well as inheritance. There is more than one reason testicles don't descend, although short cords seem to be the most common problem. I'd be interested in links to info on research into crytochidism. There was an item on k9 a few years ago about ongoing research at Cornell Uni in the US into genetics of cryptochidism in dogs. I haven't heard whether the researchers have reached any conclusion.

 

[whippetfan]

whippets (and any other breed of dog) wouldn't exist if people hadn't bred dogs selectively -- better to select for health than for some of the strange things like the extreme pushed in faces of pekingnese and pugs for instance
I wouldn't think the genetics of cryptochidism was simple. I expect there is more than one gene involved and that environment plays some role as well as inheritance. There is more than one reason testicles don't descend, although short cords seem to be the most common problem. I'd be interested in links to info on research into crytochidism. There was an item on k9 a few years ago about ongoing research at Cornell Uni in the US into genetics of cryptochidism in dogs. I haven't heard whether the researchers have reached any conclusion.

Its not only genes that cause this issue either.

Macha theres some interesting research about a link between zinc deficiency and retained testicles. Zinc supplements are sometimes given to young boys who have this issue (which is apparently more common than most folk think) with some success.