Puppy with Cryptorchidism

[P0r53tGundogs]

Hi everyone, we had bad news concerning the Labrador puppy we are due to pickup on Saturday. The breeder phoned today to say the vet has diagnosed him as having Cryptorchidism which means, if the testicle doesn’t drop by 6 months, he will have to be neutered. I have the couce of the other male in the litter. What would you do in my position?

Thanks

Jamie.

[canismajor1]

It depends if you wanted to breed from him, if not ,get him neutered.

[Nickheref]

I think this is a lot more common than people think, I had a similar thing with a home bred litter, the dog I had chosen for myself was the only one out of 5 dog pups to have an undescended testicle at 7 weeks. I was very depressed driving back home after I was told and thought of swapping to another pup (my second choice dog was going to someone who had no interest in breeding and wouldn't have been too concerned especially if I paid for the operation if it proved necessary) but I liked the one I had chosen. Quite by chance a friend of my wife's came around that night who is a vet and found me almost in tears in the kitchen, she told me that it is not unusual and saw loads, some go up and down for a bit especially if the pups are worried, as in at the vets for the first time, and the majority do come down way before 6 months but vets have to paint a pretty black picture as the occasional one doesn't and if they tell the owner not to worry will they will end up in trouble if it doesn't. I fretted a bit but decided to stick with him and forced myself to stop checking him every 5 minutes as he was threatening to go to the police about my odd behaviour (sometimes he appeared to have two sometimes one sometimes none at all so I decided I didn't really know what I was doing)! About 4 weeks later the same vet came around and asked how he was, I told her that I had given up checking as what would be would be and I would give him time. She bet me a gin and tonic he would be fine by then (11 weeks old) and she would check him. She did, looked up and just said " that's a large one with ice and a slice"!! I have never been happier to pour someone a drink!

I think there is an hereditary element with some just being a bit slower to descend so worth asking about the sire's track record but I am sure a lot of people won't always tell you the truth anyway.

[Miesque]

If you're looking to breed they should be down by 8 weeks - plenty breed from those that aren't so we keep seeing them occuring. If you're not looking to breed find out if it is palpable at all -if it is it's more likely to drop eventually.

Keep in mind that if it stays in abdomen the surgery can be significantly more costly than a standard castration and after 18 months of ago the risk of the retained one becoming cancerous increases greatly so it will need to be removed

[Cornishbird]

Hi
Agree with the others cryptorchidism is far more common than we think, I did bit of research on the topic recently as our vet said of current pupster that he couldn’t feel his other teste when he went for his first vet check with us at 8 weeks. Saying we needed to wait to see if anything happened before deciding on next steps. Both were in place though by 6months, as with many things with this pupster he’s one of natures late bloomers. Which all reminded me of our last boy who was diagnosed with this too, his never dropped so we neutered him around 12 months old or so, based on our then vets advice. Each vet has different views about when to neuter I have since discovered.