Undescended Testicle

[catcmartin]

Hi all my Hamish will be a year old next Wednesday 18th.  he still has an undescended  testicle least ways I can only feel one down as yet.  How much longer can I safely wait for it to come down or wont it come down now.  I am in no rush to have him neutered as TBH he at the moment isn't interested I just don't want to take any chances with his health but hate the thought  in allowing them to as the young vet said some months ago on our last visit "open him up to go in and find it"  I thought mentally "Over my dead body you will"

[Helen]

change vets!  Jago has an undescended which is very close to the groin so we're hoping it will naturally drop.  If it doesn't, my vet is happy to use keyhole surgery and take out the undescended leaving the descended one intact.  Has your vet had a really good feel??  Mine did and actually showed me where to feel for the testicle and find it.

He is giving him until he's 18 months to 2 years before taking action - the closer it is to the groin the less chance of cancer there is so again he's happy to wait.

[bizzylizzy]

humphrey has the same problem - he's 6 months old today. Vet suggests we should consider removing it at around 12 months, if  it still hasn't come down,( he thinks if its not down by now, it probably won't descend at all) but I read somewhere that  new eveidence suggests that the cancer risks are not as high as a lot of vets believe. I haven't decided what to do yet but apparently its quite common in cockers, so I'm not going to make any hasty decisions until I've researched a bit more. Would be interested to hear what you decide to do!

[tenaille]

Our French vet said that the cancer risks increase in older dogs and he wouldn't consider doing Beau until he was at least 2 years old.  The UK vet wanted to have them out at 6 months but we went with the French advice and waited until he was older.

[siam]

Alfie had an undescended testicle and we only knew that his second testicle had descended was when we took him for his 1 yr checkup when we also thought it was going to be confirmed that he would have an op at 14mths to remove the undescended one. To our surprise the vet told us it was there but the one that descended late is very very small and because he is a very hairy boy we usually only see that one unless we search for it  but the vet assures us it's there!!

[catcmartin]

Thanks for all replies.  Hamish is a hairy lad as well so it could be hiding and I cant feel it.  I did speak to one of the partners at our next visit and he told me there was no hurry and to wait and see if it came down.  Much different to what I got told by one of his younger vets who said it was practice policy to go and find it when Hamish was 6 or 7 months old.   At least thanks to all replies I know I dont need to rush into anything right away.

[GeoW]

We waited until William was 18 months old before having the undescended one removed, our Vet was in no immediate hurry to have the op done.

Here's a link to William's story, from the decision making process thro' to the operation and recovery.

http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/index.php?topic=107143.0

Regards,

M.

[Finvarra]

Milo was eleven months when his finally descended.

Lesley and Dylan

[catcmartin]

Thanks all I think I will book Hamish in to see the partner later this week for his one year checkup and get him to have a rummage so I know for sure if it is down or not in case it is and I just cant feel it.

Cathy and Hamish

[catcmartin]

Hamish went for his one year checkup on Monday.  I saw one of the practice partners who had a good rummage around looking for the offending undescended.  Nope couldn't feel it anywhere. He is in perfect health weight fine etc.  We have decided to reassess at his booster in February have another rummage and if still nothing plan for March for the op. by then he will be 16 months old.  Vet thinks it could be floating around in his abdomen somewhere.   

[bizzylizzy]

Thanks for the update, Humphrey's still hasn't appeared either so I'm still  interested  in how it all goes with Hamish. Please keep us posted. Thanks - and all the best for Hamish!

[Helen]

you don't have to have him castrated - your vet should just be able to remove the retained testicle, and leave the healthy descended one alone 

Jago has an undescended and my vet did not even contemplate neutering him - if it doesn't descend he will keyhole that one out 

[grracee]

Charlie had a retained testicle, when I took him for his puppy injections the vet said to have him castrated at 6 months old! I was quite shocked really! I left Charlie until he was 18 months, still no second testicle so he had the retained one removed and was castrated at the same time, this was 3/4 years ago now and wasn't told by my vets that you could keep the healthy descended one as if I had of been I would of chose that option! Toby's 'second' testicle however didn't make an appearance until he was at least 14 months old, was worried he would have to have the op too but thankfully it decided to appear so just shows that they can still come down at that late age so no rush!
I would just go with your gut instinct as every vet says a different thing! The vet at a different practice that I saw with Charlie the second time said it was best to leave until after 12 months anyway for neutering as it lets the body mature properly.

[bizzylizzy]

Must admit I was surprised that our vet said if it wasn't down at 6 months it probably wouldn't appear as this seems contrary to lots of other things I've read. He also warned that it would involve quite a long procedure, although if it can be done with keyhole, that doesn't seem to be the case either.  Also, I read on an American website, that latest research shows the belief  that undescended testical lead to tumours has also proved to be unfounded. Its really hard to know what to believe, however after reading here on COL how many still appear after 12 months, I think we'll bide our time for a bit.

[elaine.e]

I waited until William was 15 months old. His undescended testicle couldn't be felt and was nowhere near his groin. In fact it was lurking by one of his kidneys and took quite a bit of finding and a lengthy surgery that wouldn't have been possible by keyhole. That was 10 years ago, so it's definitely worth researching to see if things have changed since then.